July change and snowflakes

Spending mostly cash this month created some lovely change in my jar this month. I am constantly in awe of how it adds up. I AM also aware that this could be money I spend each month for groceries as it is actually part of my grocery budget.  I have gone back and forth on what I would want to do with the change and honestly I do love how it becomes such a simple way to create snowflakes.

This month I had $100 in change: 1 roll of toonies, 1 roll of loonies, 2 rolls of quarters, and a roll of dimes.

I also received a 'family allowance' cheque from the government. It is based on your income, the number of kids you have and their age. It traditionally comes once a month and the amount is tabulated after you file income tax and each ' year' begins in July. 

I have watched this amount dwindle each year as our income does not merit a larger cheque. Now that DS1 is 18, he  no longer qualifies. So my cheque for a whopping $26 came this week with a notice that says since the amount is so small, they are sending me the whole year's worth in one cheque.    I had to giggle at the cheque for $26 for the whole year.

Now that money used to go towards the boys RESPs but since it was so teeny and would have no monthly friends, I tucked that amount on my snowflakes and it will go to the bank.

Adventures in babysitting

I did something yesterday I haven't done in a long, long time.

I spent five hours with a 2 year old.

Give me 25 hormonal thirteen year olds and I am generally fine. No butterflies in the stomach. No paralyzing fear of 'what if they cry for five hours straight?'

but a 2 year old....  :-)

My niece and nephew just had their second baby, which came quite early and has been hanging out in the neonatal unit. They live about 30 minutes outside of the city and she's been having to drive back and forth so she can spend time with the little one, while at the same time trying to juggle a 2 year old who can't go in the unit. Unfortunately both sides of the family live 90 minutes away and people can't get in as often as we would like to help out.

Enter Jolie, with nothing but time on her hands. So I volunteered to go in and spend the day to free up mama to go to the hospital. Now this little one doesn't really know me all that well and the few times she's seen me she  has run and hid (ouch). So there was a risk of a really long day, but hey, what is life without risk.

Off I drove and arrived about 10:30. We spent a few minutes together before mama left. Much to my surprise, we had a great day. She learned to say my name and said it about 500 times throughout the day. I learned to interpret her baby speak, mostly. We played and played and played, mostly outside. They have a sandbox with the softest and smoothest sand I have seen in a long time. Very therapeutic actually. She kept stealing my shovel though :-)

We played with her puppy, who hasn't has as much love as he probably would like with the busy schedule of a new baby so he was happy. When I sang silly songs to her she put the shovel against my lips. I laughed and told her 'aunty likes to sing. lots. so get used to it'

I actually cried a bit when we were playing in the sand as I realized that her grandmother ( my sister) would never be able to do simple things like this with her, with her advancing MS. It just doesn't seem fair.

I was scared to leave her in the house to go in the yard to get anything as I had flash nightmares of her locking the patio door and me begging sweetly for her to let aunty into the house. Next time I ask for a key LOL

I was slightly disturbed by the Wiggles. It was my first time being forced to watch them. They were wearing leather pants. I found that difficult to process :-)

It was a great day. mama got time with her new baby without worrying about getting home. I got to bond with a great 2 year old who blew me kisses as I left.

Cost for the day - 1 tank of gas.

Mental and psychological boost - priceless

Rethinking the jars

I have been using weekly money jars ( A la Gail Vaz Oxlade) for years now. Out of all the organizational things I have done to become money aware, proactive and in control, it is probably in my top 3 for most effective.

I get paid only once a month. Before jars I would be out of money long before I was out of days in the month. That is where the credit card debt began, I suspect. It would be a frantic period where (usually) the bills were paid but we were scrambling for gas, groceries etc to get to the end of the month.

After watching Til Debt Do Us Part, I decided to create a weekly pay day for myself and that would be the day I would take my jar money out of the bank. Now not all months are that perfect 28 days so I would add a day to each payday 'week' to make the weeks as balanced as possible. I preamp it out on my Moms Calendar and put stars on each payday. I am not one for really being able to stick to things and I am so proud that I have I stuck with this imaginary pay day for 5 years!

The categories I made for my jars have tweaked a bit over the years in terms of titles and amounts. Right now I have Groceries and home, entertainment, gas and spending. The gas money really goes in a wallet in my car and the spending money really goes in my wallet, but entertainment and Groceries go in physical jars I keep in my room.

While I am faithful to the amount of cash I pull out each week for my payday, I am not always faithful to the purpose of each jar. I have noticed it getting more and more blurred as time has gone on. Most of it gets spent on groceries and very little goes into .... say... entertainment. And while I understanding the jars are arbitrary and I am the one who decided on them...and there is no jar police coming after me if I use the entertainment money for gas, I do feel like I need to either just use one jar, or go back to the pure intention of the jars.

Reasons for using One jar: simplicity; some weeks flux and you might need more or less in a category.

Reasons for using the four jars: getting a more accurate read on what I am spending  for groceries, gas etc; actually HAVING money in the entertainment jar should something actually happen in my life where I am going to be entertained; feeling like I have more control again.

So after much deliberation, I have decided that I am going to be true to the jars again until Dec 31st. After that I will be able to know which works best for me, helps me to spend my money more responsibly, feels more natural, and makes me feel more in control while it not becoming a chore to organize.

I know there are lots of you out there who use jars or envelopes or highly developed discipline to keep it all organized using your debit or credit card.

For variable spending, do you have one category....or a few?

the fate of the extra cash

My theory is that if extra money comes your way, it needs to be funnelled to whatever destination you have planned - immediately.

If you don't, karma knows you have cash. Karma will find a way for something unexpected to come along that will take your cash.

I spent a good while yesterday mapping things out on what I wanted to do with it, and it's friend, August extra money. I would get a plan written out and then go for a walk and when I came back I would remember something else upcoming that I hadn't accounted for. So I would change the distribution. I think I did this three times yesterday. Funny how even when you have a pretty good read on your world and your expenses, if some one time expense isn't written down, it can be quickly forgotten.

So this morning, like a little Easter bunny, I went hippity hoppity around to take care of the money.  Here is how it was divided up.

• $100 towards my TFSA goal of $1000 this year. This I took right away to the bank and put in my 'high' interest (1.015%) account. I did learn that I have to go in and have someone move the money from my regular account to my TFSA account, and that I can't do it on my own. When I reach my goal of $1000 then I will go in and have them move it. They are in the process of making this something clients can do themselves with online banking, but they are not quite there yet. I will be much happier when that money is in it's official home.

• $100 for Christmas gifts for the new babies. They weren't around January 1st and I hadn't factored them into my Christmas budget for this year. We have a big family. I don't buy anything for my sisters or their children (by mutual agreement), but the great nieces/nephews are in a different category. I will give them each $50 for Christmas to go in their education savings plan. It used to be more per child but there were fewer children then. I am now a great aunt to five kids. Wow I am getting old....fast. This $100 will take care of the new ones. I have the cashed tucked away in my home safe until Christmas

• $150 for DS1 for grad gift. We talked about what he would like. He threw out ideas such as a laptop for his road trips or a good camera. He really is motivated though to save $ for a trip with his friend next year. I decided I would give him $150 of July's extra money and $150 of August's extra money. That's all he will get from mama for this trip. He wants to be an adult and I want him to know that satisfaction of having earned the money himself.

• $100 for hockey equipment. Many of the expenses are covered by the team but things like elbow pads and shoulder pads, cans, etc are not. DS mentioned he needed new elbow pads before fall and perhaps a new can so we will use this money. I am glad I had it and wasn't surprised and finding myself short of cash.

• $150 for Back to School Groceries. I always find myself needing a big  grocery trip right before school starts. Perhaps it is some sort of nesting instinct. Perhaps it is a modern day Laura Ingalls Wilder and a need to bring in the 'harvest' before it gets too cold. Everything from toiletries and cleaners to canned goods, to meats. I like to start knowing that as I go back to insanely busy for the start of school, that I don't need to be running around for things I need. I have this money tucked away too, to watch for sales so I can make the most of it.

So there is it. Money in and money out....but planned for!

Oh wow...I missed Payday

With all that happened recently, I forgot I got paid last Thursday. Time for me to go over my budget. I see that my cheque is $600 more than my 'usual' cheque. We only get paid for 10 month contracts. I take the option of getting paid over 12 so that I get a cheque or two in the summer. I don't think I could save enough to go from June to September without a cheque. The July cheque is always bigger as the work deductions only come off over the 10 month period. Also, I think I am close to maxing out on my CPP and EI. They were still on there but smaller than usual, which is my first sign.

I need to sit down this afternoon and decide how I want to allocate this money or it will all just trickle away. 

Time to plug in my Keurig on this cool and cloudy day, and do some thinking on what is coming up in the next while.