A year of snowflakes

I love keeping track of the little ways money can add up. For me, there is no side hustle. During the school year there isn't enough energy to make it happen and during the summer I am recharging. I suppose I could find something in the summer if I REALLY wanted to.

Most of the money came from Tax returns. I was able to claim both boys this past year. For 2017 tax year I will just have the one, as DS2's tuition was all paid before the turn of the year.

The rest of the money came from my change jar, and the bits of money I was able to tuck away from jar money to repurpose for savings or debt goals.


In the past, this is how the snowflakes built up:

In 2016 the snowflakes were $5872
In 2015 the snowflakes were $8064
In 2014 the snowflakes were $3112
In 2013 the snowflakes were $3671
In 2012 the snowflakes were $3136
In 2011 the snowflakes were $4350
In 2010 the snowflakes were $5070
In 2009 the snowflakes were $4295

For 2017, my total was not the largest ever, nor was it the smallest. It floated in the middle.  $4770

5 out and $70 in

As part of my procrastinatory - I can't believe I go back to work next week - momentum, I found a sports bag downstairs and wasn't sure of the contents. Inside I found DS1's hockey ref jersey and 2 pair of pants from when he was about 13 and was reffing for a bit of side income.

I posted it on our local facebook buy and sell and had a hit immediately. All 5 items, including the bag, went to a young man who will be doing his first year of reffing this winter.

$70 went into my snowflake for the month.

woo hoo

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...

A Year of Snowflakes

I feel like 2016 was a meh year in a lot of ways. Nothing horribly bad happened. I didn't suddenly hate money or budgets or savings.  I think between the meds I was on, and my health, I just didn't have enough brain energy to apply to money.  Seriously hoping 2017 shakes that off.

Snowflakes this year came from my change jars, leftovers from the weekly budget, but mostly, the income tax return.

None of this was "I earned extra money somehow" money.


In the past, this is how the snowflakes built up:

In 2015 the snowflakes were $8064
In 2014 the snowflakes were $3112
In 2013 the snowflakes were $3671
In 2012 the snowflakes were $3136
In 2011 the snowflakes were $4350
In 2010 the snowflakes were $5070
In 2009 the snowflakes were $4295

For 2016 the snowflakes came to $5872 with 60% of that coming from tax returns.

March Change

There wasn't a ton of change for March.  I guess it's like that some months.  I rolled up the bit I had  today and took it to the bank along with my snowflaked cash. I decided that my change this year would go towards my TFSA savings. I was curious to see how much I could get this way, and the change jar has been kind to me in the past.

This month was $25 in change:

• 2 rolls of quarters
• 1 roll of dimes.

I also took the $100 cash I saved.

My TFSA snowflake account currently stands at $506

First snowflakes

Literally, Wednesday night and Thursday, we had one of our bigger snowfalls this winter. It looked pretty falling down yesterday morning against the lights of the school as I trudged into work at 7:45 AM.

I finally had time after school while the banks were still open, to take in my first snowflakes. They came in from the lottery scratchers I got over Christmas. I had a decent set. Not a $10 000 set, but I will take the $62 I won, and appreciate them  I put the toonie in my money jar, and put the $60 towards my first 'snowflake' goal, which is my Back to School Jar. That jar balance is now at $230.

I am trying something different and seeing if the cash snowflakes can take care of that planned spending goal, before it becomes to my next target on the budget. (First Target is Summer 2016).

A year of snowflakes

Snowflakes make me feel powerful. They make me feel in control. Pretty awesome given how infinitesimal each little flake can be. Snowflakes remind me not to fritter away the little bits, or the bigger ones. Snowflakes remind me I have the power create change.

This year was  a big year for flakes. The biggest of them all thus far, honestly.  $8064

Remember this is not all NEW money. Some was in my regular budget and repurposed.


Where did my flakes come from? Well $642 came from the change I rolled this past year. Some of it came from my income tax return, combined with the extra I got for being able to claim some of DS1's college. So $2000 came from income tax return.   $1200 of it came from a long awaited backpay when we finally signed a contract after close to two years without one.

The remaining snowflakes came to $4222. I honestly can't list offhand all the sources for that. Some was returning bottles and cans. Some was skimming leftover money from my weekly budget to reallocate towards goals or debt. 



In 2014 the snowflakes were $3112
In 2013 the snowflakes were $3671
In 2012 the snowflakes were $3136
In 2011 the snowflakes were $4350
In 2010 the snowflakes were $5070
In 2009 the snowflakes were $4295

Ah the power of something so fragile.

Grocery/household budget

When DS1 left last fall, I took $40 out of our grocery/household budget to reallocate to his college budget. There were weeks when we noticed that $40 was gone and weeks where it was less noticeable.

Now with DS2 gone, in THEORY, we should need less for the budget again.  I have DS2's budget already set. If we are only feeding two people, there should be a bit of surplus.   I haven't really noticed it yet but it's early.

Over the summer, I debated how I wanted to tweak the budget or IF I wanted to tweak it.

I remembered that last Christmas I found myself on a big shopping trip before DS1 came home from the States, and that I wanted to tuck some money away so I was ready for that purchase.  I decided I wanted to save $200 towards extra Christmas food shopping.

So, here is what I think I am going to do. When I take out my weekly jar allowance, I will automatically put $20 of it in a Christmas jar. 10 weeks of this and I will have my extra money.

IF there happens to be money left at the end of each week in this jar, that will become my snowflakes for the LOC.

So new mini goal: $200 extra dollars for Christmas.


It's a rainy, dreary day here. Homemade stew being created and bread in the bread machine.

Some snowflakes/August Change

I went to the bank today after work and made an extra payment on my LOC.

My change for the month was hefty. I purposely didn't spend any that I got buy when buying things, because I  needed this little psychological boost.

1 roll of Toonies - $50
1 rolls of loonies - $50
3 rolls of quarters - $30

for a total of $130

Added to that was some leftover gas money and grocery money which added up to $100.

Together that was $230 down on my LOC.

I need to keep up the focus and get this debt DOWN.

July Change

I was excited to be saving change this month for my RRSP snowflake goal.

Alas, it was not to be.

The change went towards paying for my vehicle repair.

This month I had:

• 1 roll of toonies - $50
• 1 roll of loonies - $25
• 1 roll of quarters - $10
• 1 roll of dimes - $5
• 1 roll of nickels - $2

for a grand total of $92

A one shot snowflake

I hadn't really paid attention to the ads on tv for the UCCB... universal child care benefit...for Canadian parents out there.  My kids are both graduated and I guess I tuned it out.

It wasn't until I read Eboo's page this morning that it registered in my head there might be something for moi.

This is a new program for parents with kids under 18 that is not based on income, which is  a relief.

Since DS2 only turned 18 in April, I received $60 x 4 months for him.

I wish they had had this when my kids were younger. Sure could have would have come in handy.

But I happily took my $240 to the bank today and tucked it into the boys' college funds.

A nice surprise for a Monday.

Mini Goal met

On Fri June 5 I set myself a new mini goal of snowflaking an extra $490 before July 25th.

Thanks to a successful snowflaking plus rolling a bit of leftover grad money, I have done so.  I now have the estimated $1100 needed for DS2's vehicle plates (insurance). I believe it comes due in October.

What this means is that the regular budget money I had set aside from the end of July payday, can now be directed towards Christmas 2015. I can meet this next savings goal by the end of September.

Yeah snowflakes!!

PS: I put a window up at the top of the page to keep me focused on my July goals. My progress is recorded there.

Endings and beginnings

Well it's an empty room. I leave the room as I entered it all those years ago....well almost. The big shelving unit at the back came with me, but stays. The lockers on the right came with me too, but they will stay (and eventually get recycled as they are in rough shape)

I arrived yesterday morning around 7:30 and packed the remaining 20 or so boxes. The caretakers and I moved all my stuff out to the hall to await the movers. The new resident of the school came and dropped some stuff off (that you can see on the counters and shelves at the back).

I stood here from the doorway for several long minutes. There was a lot of living in this room. A lot of learning. SO much laughter. I knew every nook and cranny of this room (and the school). Every sound. I grew as a teacher, a colleague, and a person. The hours I spent here...nights...weekends.

There was a few tears and then I made myself leave. It really don't feel quite real yet.

I headed over to my new school and got my keys. My new room is empty. There was a LOT of shuffling of teachers around as people were bumped from room to room. They worked hard and I appreciate it.  My new room is a lot smaller, and I do not have control of my own heat and AC. My hot flashes will miss that. My new room windows do not open. I will miss that too.  Now I just have to wait for the cleaning staff over there to do their summer cleaning, and for the movers to take my stuff over, and then the unpacking begins.

When I moved into the above room I spent a LOT of my summer there, unpacking, settling in...getting comfortable in my new dwelling. I expect to do a fair bit of that too.  That will have to wait for a week or two I am told.

So for a week or two, I have summer. Time to rest..to let the vibrating in my head stop.

After I was off work I went for lunch with a friend (whom I used to work with before, and will, now, again). She treated. I hit the library for  a few books and I went to the recycling depot to take bottles in. I now have $30 to add to my mini goal. Woo hoo!

I came home to an odd feeling of no pressure and nothing to do. Don't get me wrong. My house is  a disaster...there is lots to do.

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DS2 and I worked on thank you card for his two academic awards from Grad. $500 total. He graduated with a bilingual diploma with High Honours. I am very proud of him. We had mass in the morning, then the awards in the afternoon.  We went for supper as a family along with my parents, my aunt and uncle, my three sisters, 3 cousins and his scout leader and his wife. (I had saved for this :-) 

This pic is almost a duplicate of DS1's grad hat toss, except that DS1's class did balloons too. They threw their hats before we even  got out there so I stole this pic from one of his teachers.

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Last night we had a fire around our little fire pit. It seems a bit sacriligeous given the incredible number of forest fires in the north right now, but it is  a family ritual. Just the four of us, and the two cats. It was our last night as a family of four all at home.

 DS2 left this morning for his scout camp. He will be home now and again during the summer, but won't really even be home to stay, again. I now have both my boys on rented time with me. I was glad it was dark. I cried a little bit. DS1 sensed it and turned to his brother, "She's doing it isn't she?"  DS2, "Of course she is. Are you new?" They laughed together.

(The are you new is a joke between the three of us meaning 'are you new to the family?' ....did you expect otherwise?)

And so the day begins (albeit at 11:15 as I type this)  and so does summer.

As I sit here sipping my coffee, in my housecoat. Time to plan for the summer.

June Change

I used a lot more cash this month...and charged a lot to the CC too, come to think of it (all of it paid off), so there is more change this month than some of the drought plagued past few months.

On the weekend I rolled

• 1 roll of toonies - $50
• 1 roll of loonies - $25
• 1 roll of quarters - $10

for a grand total of  $85.

This goes towards my "I don't think I will make it" mini goal of $490 saved towards plates before July 25th.

$490 - $85 = $405 to go

I do have some cash that has to go in. I will probably take that in on July 2nd

May change

It was a lean month for change here.

A few rolls to go to the bank with some $ I had snowflaked off grocery and gas.

1 roll of quarters - $10
1 roll of dimes - $5
2 rolls nickels - $4
2 rolls of pennies - $1

The pennies were waiting for a 'just need a dollar more to make things even' month.

Total $20

I also did four half periods of noon supervision which netted me $5.50 for each half period. That gives me another $21.


This $40 got me enough to meet me $200 mini goal. I took it to the bank  yesterday and I now have met my $2000 goal for TFSA for 2015.  I will formally apply it to my TFSA  in July when I have time to go in and do the paperwork.

Yeah mini goal.

Long weekend wrap up

It's been a very peaceful long weekend for me, complete with a bonus day of today.

I didn't hit the lake like DH and DS or like most of my friends and staff, but I feel like I got things done, and relaxed too.

Eating out of pantry and freezer: success

I found lots of little bits, which I paired with rice or a little bit of salad (colitis still has a hate on for veggies and fruits) and I didn't feel deprived. Friday night I used frozen ground beef and made a little taco salad for myself ( ok mostly meat and cheese and such, so I use the word 'salad' loosely). Saturday I had poached eggs on toast for lunch. I found some turkey chili in the freezer and some of my mom's home made buns, so supper was good to go.  Sunday morning I made myself a couple pancakes and paired it with a few strawberries. Sunday lunch I had a bowl of turkey noodle soup from some containers in the fridge freezer. For supper I found some M and M meatshop pulled pork, and put that with some coleslaw and another of my mom's buns.   Cost out of pocket for all this? $0

School work: success

But I say that with the caveat that it is never finished. I put in 3 hours on Saturday, 3 hours on Sunday and 5 hours today marking projects and exams. No prep work got done and there is still a pile of marking, but I feel good about what was done. Most people take their marking home now to do, but I just am so much more successful going to the school, spreading out without TV (or nap) distractions, and being able to sort and tidy and search while I work, instead of hauling home tons of things, only to find I am missing stuff.

Free to a good home: busted

I had put a few things out on the edge of the lawn that wouldn't be worth anything to put up on a buy and sell page, but that we had no need of anymore and were just sitting in the garage taking up space.  DH came home to find one large piece of luggage still there. Mine. He got mad and hauled it back in. I didn't tell him about the other things. They were all mine and none of them were gifts from him, but it still would have ticked him off. He would rather hoard things and not use them, ever, and complain about them being in the way.

House cleaning: success

Like school work, it's never done, but many of those little things got checked off the list. Probably nothing anyone else would ever notice, but I do. So there.

Walking: fail

It just was not colitis safe, unless I didn't eat or drink anything for hours before I wanted to go.

Summer college tuition: fail

I went to the bank Saturday to get the draft to send down to the States. They have (again) changed how they do US drafts, and it has to be done 'upstairs'. Of course, "upstairs' is not open on the weekend so I have to go back tomorrow after work.


Errands: success

I returned a book, two magazines and a CSI New York DVD to the library (curse you sad Canadian version of Netflix which has so few choices).  The book and magazines appeased my need to want to buy something new.

I went to the bank to get my Week 4 jar money.

I filled up on gas for the week. I didn't use much last week so I didn't need much, even with the jump in the prices. My weekly budget is $60 and in the winter, I use that much.  I got away with $25 needed to fill up. $15 went into my 'gas' wallet. I save bits here and there to go towards  oil changes or extra gas money should I want to go out of  town and need more $. The remaining $20 went into my 'snowflake goal' wallet, which brings my total thus far to $70/$200

I went to Walmart to pick up a few things. I used $80 of my weekly $180. Half of it went towards household things like laundry soap, toilet paper, kleenex and catfood.


Fresh air time: success

I got the lawn cut. I sat outside and enjoyed sunshine and breeze. It was chilly and windy here but there were patches of good moments. It frozen each night here - to give you an idea of how chilly.

So today while I was at work, DH tried to fix our laminate flooring. It was starting to separate at some of the seams. Quite a bit. He spent four hours trying to do four boards. I am glad I wasn't here to witness it :-)  I still have crap laying in my hallway, not put away from his handiwork.

Supper was just the two of us. Home made BBQ burgers and Caesar salad. Tres simple. I had four questionable apples in the fridge that I turned into an apple crisp. My I do love the smell of apple crisp baking in the oven. Can someone tell me why I have FOUR jars of cinnamon?? sheesh

Now I am just puttering with dishes while the hockey game is on. When the dishes are done, it will be time to enjoy THIS:

Not all of it. Just a glass :-)

A new mini snowflake goal

I am pleased with the success of my last snowflake goal of $180. The best part was this renewed focus and a bit of zip in my step. It was badly needed in the wake of all the unplanned expenses for DS2's car and the ' I don't even want to think about college money' mind phase.

My next goal is for $200 in snowflakes. Goal deadline is before the end of June.

At the end of May I will have $1800 set aside for my TFSA (EF). My goal for 2015 was $2000.

Each month I (try) to put $250 towards this goal.  I know that if I didn't make a mini goal, my money at the end of June paycheque would get me there.

There is just something, though, that wants me to try to get there before.

I know there are tons of other expenses, known to me and unknown, that will come my way in the next 7 weeks. I can't control those.

This little tiny mini, I can.

And I seem to need to feel like I have a bit of money control these days.

So mini goal it is :-)

Tomorrow is jar filling day, as I 'create' four paydays each month when I really only get paid once a month. Unless something comes up between now and tomorrow morning, or I lose total will power, I will have $50 in grocery snowflakes to go to that goal.

Let it snow! (figuratively, please.)

77 Snowflakes

DS2 texted this morning "oh yeah...check my jeans pocket. There's a cheque for you in there"

Sure enough, there was one for $77 from his school.

77 beautiful little snowflakes that will make a great addition to my quest for $180 this month.

It was a refund from the school for part of his tour. I had forgotten about the one tour I had prepaid for, which had been cancelled due to very high wind gusts. 

Santorini is one of the most beautiful spots on their cruise. The tour fee was the most most expensive too.

I will happily take those $77 

I went to the bank today. With the money I had gleaned from my variable spending, plus this, plus the $20 I got taking in bottles to the recycling depot today, I made my goal ( a week early).

$180 went down on it today. Didn't seem to want to keep that money in the house. Too easy to just 'use a bit' for something and then it would be gone.

Thanks everyone who rooted me on. It felt good to have a mini goal AND achieve it.

Income Tax arrived

It took a lot longer to process this time, it feels like.

Maybe it feels like this every year :-)

No worries though. It's just going into the bank while I figure out what comes next for bills and such.

And they will come.

Oh yes, they will come :-)

For now, I will just enjoy that $2000 and the possibilities.

The backpay has arrived

As I had mentioned here, all the final pieces have fallen into place with the prolonged contract negotiations at work.  April's paycheque included the back pay from the almost two years of limbo.

Everyone at work has been curious how much it would be, and what would be left after deductions.

What I liked about our pay stub was that most of the deductions were listed twice...one for the regular deduction and one reflecting  the backpay piece. Then you could see the actual monetary amount that came off from the backpay piece. The only ones that did not show twice were the federal and provincial taxes, but I could look at March and Feb (which were the same) and just subtract the difference. I don't believe that the last time we were in this situation, things were listed separately.

Deductions came off for the two taxes, EI (Employment Insurance), CPP (Canada Pension Plan), my Pension and a dibble for professional dues.

The verdict....48.9% of the backpay never made it to my account.

I net $1200. I am grateful for the money. It would have been great to have all 100% of it, but that would never happen :-)

 I see it as a bonus or a gift. I have added it to my snowflake jar and placed it in my BMO savings while I think about it.