I think the first thing to do as I try to figure out what direction I'm taking with this is to haul out my list of long term goals and take a good, hard look at them. Right now they just sit there in that sidebar, mocking me. Am I still interested in them? Am I still working towards them? Is there something else that should be on that list? In other words, is this still a goal, or not?
So that leaves me with 4 out of my 10 goals that I can use or rework. I'm going to add one more now that will take me up to 5 goals and then I'll rework all my microgoals.
1. Become fluent in Hebrew.
2. Grow lavender.
3. Find a way to partner with others to develop a kosher wine business, including the possibility of fruit wines.
4. Get totally out of debt and stay there!
5. Develop at least two alternative income streams (in addition to my current employment) and use the money I make to accomplish my other goals, starting with getting out of debt.
So, my microgoals are the small steps I will be taking *now* in order to move ahead with each goal.
1. Go back to Rosetta Stone and figure out how to log in again.
My Dear Child and I wanted to get ahead in Hebrew, so I bought the Rosetta Stone course a few months ago when it was on sale. We tried it a few times and then got really busy. Now I don't remember our log in. If I can't figure it out, I'm sure there's a way to reset it.
2. Go to a few gardening centres (like Home Depot, Art Knapp's, etc.) and look at lavender plants. Only buy if I find the types of lavender I'm looking for.
3. Get together with someone who expressed interest in this project.
Maybe meet for coffee and discuss the project? This person suggested another mutual friend and perhaps that would be the first thing for us to follow up on.
4. Stay current on the regular bills, paying things every payday.
5. Go to the start up meeting for 31 Canada in BC on April 7 and enroll that night. Do as much pre-planning as possible ahead of time so I can start strong.
Not bad. I think I can live with these goals for now. The underlying theme behind these goals is happiness, something I would like to expand upon soon. For now, I think I'll just finish getting this post up and editing the sidebar. It is after 2 am, after all.
Showing posts with label credit cards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label credit cards. Show all posts
Sunday, March 22, 2015
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Signs of Life
Yes, I am still here. I'm just very, very busy. And tired. And bored or frustrated with certain aspects of my life.
I got through all the Jewish Holidays. I went off to the US to the wedding I talked about before and had a fabulous time. And I've been exercising pretty well twice a week.
On the other hand, our car was totalled recently. We weren't in it; a family member was cut off on the freeway. The family member is okay but we've spent the past while arguing with ICBC over the value of the car. They did come up from their initial, offensive, offer but we're probably still out about $2,000 over what we'd have to spend to replace the car.
And more things have gone wrong with the house. If anybody tells you old houses are money pits, believe them! A leak in the main bathroom upstairs led to a gigantic hole in our kitchen ceiling and another, smaller one. Our upper cabinets are mostly down (with the contents in boxes) and the bakers rack I keep a lot of our other kitchen stuff on is sitting in the living room. Basically, the living room is unusable. We pass through it to the kitchen, bath and our daughter's room.
The floor in the bathroom and through most of the kitchen is laid and part of it is grouted. We should get our new toilet put in within anywhere from a day to a week, depending on how busy our son-in-law is and how fast he gets around to both it and to putting the vanity back in the bathroom (with the new top on it). The thought that we might finally have a fully functioning bathroom is exciting but seems slightly unreal. It will be wonderful not to have to go upstairs to use the facilities there in the middle of the night, however. I'm really looking forward to that!
Once they finish the work in the bathroom upstairs comes the messy part. The new drywall will have to be taped, mudded and sanded until a thick layer of white powder covers pretty much everything in the house (including, no doubt, my lungs). After that the new upper cupboards and new range hood can go up. If that happens before Pesach I'll be thrillled.
And then there's money. I'm so messed up there. My credit card is maxed. Actually, it was over limit until a few days ago. Now it's exactly at the limit and I have to make another payment before they add the interest or that will put me over again. I skipped a couple of transfers to my TFSA, although I still have over $1,000 in there. And I have a huge cell bill from my trip to the US. I tried to use it as little as possible but still incurred over $80 in long distance or roaming charges. A bunch of those calls were incoming ones from my hubby or daughter, so I couldn't exactly refuse to pick up!
What next? Well, I'm pretty well broke until Wednesday and I'll probably be broke again almost immediately afterwards, once I pay the various bills that absolutely, positively have to be paid. But we'll technically have money sometime this week, because we'll get the cheque from ICBC. We still have to decide what we're going to do about a new car. We have to decide new, near new or very used. We're still debating over what kind of car to get (since we have to replace it, the only sensible thing to do is to buy one this time that will fit all four kids in their car or booster seats, plus at least 2 adults). And we have to decide if we're going to do it now or wait until my hubby receives money from his late mother's estate (probably a few months away).
I got through all the Jewish Holidays. I went off to the US to the wedding I talked about before and had a fabulous time. And I've been exercising pretty well twice a week.
On the other hand, our car was totalled recently. We weren't in it; a family member was cut off on the freeway. The family member is okay but we've spent the past while arguing with ICBC over the value of the car. They did come up from their initial, offensive, offer but we're probably still out about $2,000 over what we'd have to spend to replace the car.
And more things have gone wrong with the house. If anybody tells you old houses are money pits, believe them! A leak in the main bathroom upstairs led to a gigantic hole in our kitchen ceiling and another, smaller one. Our upper cabinets are mostly down (with the contents in boxes) and the bakers rack I keep a lot of our other kitchen stuff on is sitting in the living room. Basically, the living room is unusable. We pass through it to the kitchen, bath and our daughter's room.
The floor in the bathroom and through most of the kitchen is laid and part of it is grouted. We should get our new toilet put in within anywhere from a day to a week, depending on how busy our son-in-law is and how fast he gets around to both it and to putting the vanity back in the bathroom (with the new top on it). The thought that we might finally have a fully functioning bathroom is exciting but seems slightly unreal. It will be wonderful not to have to go upstairs to use the facilities there in the middle of the night, however. I'm really looking forward to that!
Once they finish the work in the bathroom upstairs comes the messy part. The new drywall will have to be taped, mudded and sanded until a thick layer of white powder covers pretty much everything in the house (including, no doubt, my lungs). After that the new upper cupboards and new range hood can go up. If that happens before Pesach I'll be thrillled.
And then there's money. I'm so messed up there. My credit card is maxed. Actually, it was over limit until a few days ago. Now it's exactly at the limit and I have to make another payment before they add the interest or that will put me over again. I skipped a couple of transfers to my TFSA, although I still have over $1,000 in there. And I have a huge cell bill from my trip to the US. I tried to use it as little as possible but still incurred over $80 in long distance or roaming charges. A bunch of those calls were incoming ones from my hubby or daughter, so I couldn't exactly refuse to pick up!
What next? Well, I'm pretty well broke until Wednesday and I'll probably be broke again almost immediately afterwards, once I pay the various bills that absolutely, positively have to be paid. But we'll technically have money sometime this week, because we'll get the cheque from ICBC. We still have to decide what we're going to do about a new car. We have to decide new, near new or very used. We're still debating over what kind of car to get (since we have to replace it, the only sensible thing to do is to buy one this time that will fit all four kids in their car or booster seats, plus at least 2 adults). And we have to decide if we're going to do it now or wait until my hubby receives money from his late mother's estate (probably a few months away).
Friday, June 25, 2010
School's Out...For Summer!
Yesterday was the last day of school. This summer I'm lucky, in that my Eldest Daughter is home on maternity leave. That means Dear Child will hang out with her. (Not sure that Eldest Daughter considers herself lucky, since that leaves her with 4 kids every day, and 5 if my Number One Son's daughter comes too, as she did some of the time last summer.)
Next year will be a much bigger financial burden for all of us, as she'll be back at work and all the girls will have to go to day camp right through the summer. As it is, we are putting them in a couple of sessions of swimming lessons (necessitating me leaving work to pick up and drive everybody to and fro). The lessons are 4 days per week for 2 weeks (but only 1/2 an hour per day) and we hope that the sustained amount of pool time will enable everybody to move up at least one level. Last session (which was 8 classes once a week) nobody passed, although they all made progress.
DC will go to day camp for 2 weeks this year too, as my granddaughters' other grandparents are taking them out of town for 2 weeks. That will give my daughter the relative quiet of only having her nursing baby at home.
Yesterday was payday. I paid some stuff then and some more this morning. Right now I'm pleased to say that I'm current on all my bills (paid the water today) and that I have $651.14 in my TFSA, right on track for the year. Property taxes for the rural house are due next week. I have to check, but I think I have enough in the rural credit union to pay them. Yay, me!
I went away to the house last weekend and spent some money, money on myself (gasp!) as well as gas. But I just have the $50 odd dollars I charged for gas on the way back to pay back still. And I made the regular $90 payment on the credit card anyway.
So, I have to pay for swimming lessons and I'm going to start some exercise stuff of my own that I'll also have to pay for. And I only have about $150 left in my chequing account for food, etc. for the next 2 weeks. But all in all, I'm not doing too badly. And my hubby should be transferring some money over to me at month end.
Next year will be a much bigger financial burden for all of us, as she'll be back at work and all the girls will have to go to day camp right through the summer. As it is, we are putting them in a couple of sessions of swimming lessons (necessitating me leaving work to pick up and drive everybody to and fro). The lessons are 4 days per week for 2 weeks (but only 1/2 an hour per day) and we hope that the sustained amount of pool time will enable everybody to move up at least one level. Last session (which was 8 classes once a week) nobody passed, although they all made progress.
DC will go to day camp for 2 weeks this year too, as my granddaughters' other grandparents are taking them out of town for 2 weeks. That will give my daughter the relative quiet of only having her nursing baby at home.
Yesterday was payday. I paid some stuff then and some more this morning. Right now I'm pleased to say that I'm current on all my bills (paid the water today) and that I have $651.14 in my TFSA, right on track for the year. Property taxes for the rural house are due next week. I have to check, but I think I have enough in the rural credit union to pay them. Yay, me!
I went away to the house last weekend and spent some money, money on myself (gasp!) as well as gas. But I just have the $50 odd dollars I charged for gas on the way back to pay back still. And I made the regular $90 payment on the credit card anyway.
So, I have to pay for swimming lessons and I'm going to start some exercise stuff of my own that I'll also have to pay for. And I only have about $150 left in my chequing account for food, etc. for the next 2 weeks. But all in all, I'm not doing too badly. And my hubby should be transferring some money over to me at month end.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Shevy, Reappearing
Interesting, no? One minute I'm here, if a little busy with Life. The next, nothing. Two months plus of nothing.
And the answer is: I had a little crisis. I don't quite know how to describe it. Of confidence. Of identity. Of how I see myself. Of how others see me.
What brought this on? The silliest thing, something totally innocent. Praise.
I've known pretty much forever that I'm not great with criticism. Who knew a casual line of praise could totally undo me? Well, certainly not my blogging friend who emailed me a short note that included the following line:
"you are so good at staying committed to your goals".
I read it and a voice from deep inside said, "You don't deserve that praise." And I quietly fell apart. Couldn't post. Couldn't hide that truth. Couldn't speak it aloud. And, as time went by, things just got worse and worse.
I originally felt unworthy of praise because I'd just come through the whole financial devastation that is Passover. I'd charged a lot of food, matzo, wine, you name it on the credit card for Passover. I'd had to pay for Dog to go on his annual Pesach vacation. And I was starting to fall a little behind on certain things, while trying to pay off Dear Child's dental surgery. It seemed ludicrous to say that, because I was diverting $50 a pay period into my Tax Free Savings Account or $10 per week into my Baby Emergency Fund, I was staying committed to my goals. There were so many places where I was bleeding money.
In the interim, things have just gotten worse and worse (as I said). I bought the laminate flooring for Dear Child's room (and my Son-in-Law installed it!). More money, but money well spent. DC's room is finished except for baseboards. I also bought four new upper cupboards, IKEA ones, about the week before Passover (because I wanted pantry shelves on which to put my food). I spent about $500. If they were in and being used, I probably would also consider it money well spent. They're sitting in their boxes in my foyer. Apparently, if (at some point) I put them together my Son-in-Law will demo the existing (mostly broken and unusable) cupboards and hang the new ones.
I started having terrible tooth pain and ended up with a major root canal that now needs to be finished off with a crown. And my husband has just had pretty much the same thing. Net result, big increase in the credit card balance.
Sigh.
Despite paying off as much as possible pretty much every payday we owe way more than we did in March or April. I have a spreadsheet that tracks all the additional charges we've made to the card and when I've made each payment (in addition to the $90 per pay period that is our normal payment).
And I have continued to put money into both the Emergency Fund and the TFSA, as well as restarted deposits to my RRSP. It just seems like such a drop in the bucket compared to the other.
So, that's my story. I'm going to try to get back to writing here though, because (for all the embarrassment of having to admit all this) I find it valuable.
And the answer is: I had a little crisis. I don't quite know how to describe it. Of confidence. Of identity. Of how I see myself. Of how others see me.
What brought this on? The silliest thing, something totally innocent. Praise.
I've known pretty much forever that I'm not great with criticism. Who knew a casual line of praise could totally undo me? Well, certainly not my blogging friend who emailed me a short note that included the following line:
"you are so good at staying committed to your goals".
I read it and a voice from deep inside said, "You don't deserve that praise." And I quietly fell apart. Couldn't post. Couldn't hide that truth. Couldn't speak it aloud. And, as time went by, things just got worse and worse.
I originally felt unworthy of praise because I'd just come through the whole financial devastation that is Passover. I'd charged a lot of food, matzo, wine, you name it on the credit card for Passover. I'd had to pay for Dog to go on his annual Pesach vacation. And I was starting to fall a little behind on certain things, while trying to pay off Dear Child's dental surgery. It seemed ludicrous to say that, because I was diverting $50 a pay period into my Tax Free Savings Account or $10 per week into my Baby Emergency Fund, I was staying committed to my goals. There were so many places where I was bleeding money.
In the interim, things have just gotten worse and worse (as I said). I bought the laminate flooring for Dear Child's room (and my Son-in-Law installed it!). More money, but money well spent. DC's room is finished except for baseboards. I also bought four new upper cupboards, IKEA ones, about the week before Passover (because I wanted pantry shelves on which to put my food). I spent about $500. If they were in and being used, I probably would also consider it money well spent. They're sitting in their boxes in my foyer. Apparently, if (at some point) I put them together my Son-in-Law will demo the existing (mostly broken and unusable) cupboards and hang the new ones.
I started having terrible tooth pain and ended up with a major root canal that now needs to be finished off with a crown. And my husband has just had pretty much the same thing. Net result, big increase in the credit card balance.
Sigh.
Despite paying off as much as possible pretty much every payday we owe way more than we did in March or April. I have a spreadsheet that tracks all the additional charges we've made to the card and when I've made each payment (in addition to the $90 per pay period that is our normal payment).
And I have continued to put money into both the Emergency Fund and the TFSA, as well as restarted deposits to my RRSP. It just seems like such a drop in the bucket compared to the other.
So, that's my story. I'm going to try to get back to writing here though, because (for all the embarrassment of having to admit all this) I find it valuable.
Friday, March 5, 2010
February Goal Review and March Goals
Yes, it is a new month and yesterday was payday. Sounds like a good time to see how I did with my February goals and maybe set some new ones for March.
First of all, what were my goals for February?
1. Pay for Dear Child's birthday party.
2. Pay at least $229.75 to MasterCard
3. Stay current with all the other bills.
4. Get the treatment plan for DC's dental surgery and figure out how to pay for that.
5. Make arrangements for Dog's Passover vacation and pay at least $100 towards that.
Those sounded pretty reasonable. How did I do?
1. Dear Child's party was held at the community centre with an hour in the gym and then food upstairs. Given that my Eldest Daughter's baby was overdue at that point and we were doing renovations both upstairs and down at home, it was the only logical choice. She didn't have a party the previous year and had been promised a nice one this year. I charged the party on my MasterCard and paid for part of it in February. I finished paying for it today.
2. I made a number of payments to MasterCard in February, as well as at the beginning of March. I paid both the $229.75 and $90 (my regular payment) on 17 Feb, then paid $62.50 towards the cost of the party on the 22nd or 23rd. I paid another $90 yesterday and $400 today.
3. I am current on all the usual bills like internet, water, credit card, cell, set-asides into my credit union account, ING emergency fund, etc. It feels good.
4. Dear Child had her surgery and I charged the first of 3 monthly payments for it to my MasterCard at the beginning of the week when the surgery took place. The total bill was a little under $1,800 and each payment is between $500 and $600. $200 of the $400 I paid today was towards the dental charge. I'll have more to put towards it when my hubby gets paid again. I want to pay each dental charge off before I charge the next one.
5. I wrote to reserve Dog's place today and will send a cheque for $100 once I hear back.
All in all, I did very well! Now, what do I want to choose as goals for March (bearing in mind that Passover falls at the end of March this year and is both hectic and expensive). Let's keep it very simple.
1. Stay current on my bills this month.
2. Pay at least half of the cost of Dog's vacation ahead of time.
3. Pay down the cost of the first dental charge before the end of March.
I could add more, but I know just how much of a challenge those will be.
In addition, I'm on track with my TFSA. I've been putting in $50 each payday and it's currently sitting at $250.18. I've also got an automatic transfer of $10/week to my ING Emergency Fund. There's $251.56 in there as of today, close to half the $520 I listed as a goal for the year. Yes, I realize it's not enough but the money in the TFSA can also be taken out for any reason at any time, so it can also function as a sort of emergency fund too. I'll be happier when I have at least $1,000 put away between the two funds but right now I'm just trying to find some kind of balance and form regular habits.
First of all, what were my goals for February?
1. Pay for Dear Child's birthday party.
2. Pay at least $229.75 to MasterCard
3. Stay current with all the other bills.
4. Get the treatment plan for DC's dental surgery and figure out how to pay for that.
5. Make arrangements for Dog's Passover vacation and pay at least $100 towards that.
Those sounded pretty reasonable. How did I do?
1. Dear Child's party was held at the community centre with an hour in the gym and then food upstairs. Given that my Eldest Daughter's baby was overdue at that point and we were doing renovations both upstairs and down at home, it was the only logical choice. She didn't have a party the previous year and had been promised a nice one this year. I charged the party on my MasterCard and paid for part of it in February. I finished paying for it today.
2. I made a number of payments to MasterCard in February, as well as at the beginning of March. I paid both the $229.75 and $90 (my regular payment) on 17 Feb, then paid $62.50 towards the cost of the party on the 22nd or 23rd. I paid another $90 yesterday and $400 today.
3. I am current on all the usual bills like internet, water, credit card, cell, set-asides into my credit union account, ING emergency fund, etc. It feels good.
4. Dear Child had her surgery and I charged the first of 3 monthly payments for it to my MasterCard at the beginning of the week when the surgery took place. The total bill was a little under $1,800 and each payment is between $500 and $600. $200 of the $400 I paid today was towards the dental charge. I'll have more to put towards it when my hubby gets paid again. I want to pay each dental charge off before I charge the next one.
5. I wrote to reserve Dog's place today and will send a cheque for $100 once I hear back.
All in all, I did very well! Now, what do I want to choose as goals for March (bearing in mind that Passover falls at the end of March this year and is both hectic and expensive). Let's keep it very simple.
1. Stay current on my bills this month.
2. Pay at least half of the cost of Dog's vacation ahead of time.
3. Pay down the cost of the first dental charge before the end of March.
I could add more, but I know just how much of a challenge those will be.
In addition, I'm on track with my TFSA. I've been putting in $50 each payday and it's currently sitting at $250.18. I've also got an automatic transfer of $10/week to my ING Emergency Fund. There's $251.56 in there as of today, close to half the $520 I listed as a goal for the year. Yes, I realize it's not enough but the money in the TFSA can also be taken out for any reason at any time, so it can also function as a sort of emergency fund too. I'll be happier when I have at least $1,000 put away between the two funds but right now I'm just trying to find some kind of balance and form regular habits.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Poking My Nose Out for an Update
I feel like the poor old groundhog, scared to look out for fear of seeing my shadow. My last post was 10 days ago and I talked about the necessity of creating a Pesach cleaning plan and making myself accountable. Then I disappeared.
Well, life happens. Specifically, new babies happen! No, not mine. My Eldest Daughter's. But combine a new baby (and one whole night with no sleep while my daughter was in labour) together with 3 little girls who are off school, the Olympics, two kiddie birthday parties, various and sundry family members and close friends traipsing in and out to see the little guy and, well, you get the idea.
What, if anything has been done?
Well, my son-in-law and his dad did get the drywall down, fixed what needed to be fixed, and then put up the drywall again. It still needs taping, mudding and sanding before much of anything can be done in Dear Child's room. I did go through the big bin that had been stored but Dear Child was thrilled to see most of the items after 3 years, my hubby vetoed getting rid of certain other items and it's still 3/4 full. Sigh. Honestly, I think she could have lived without the baby doll, the baby Cabbage Patch and 2 big stuffed Care Bears at the very least! I know some will say that I should have gone through the bin by myself or forced her to give away more, but I've been on the other end of it and I still recall how upset I was (back when I was about 11).
Other than that, I've done a lot of laundry and hung up more of DC's things (in my closet) and I started sorting out paperwork that's stacked on the trunk and table (in an area I'm not supposed to even be in yet). I also started to make a detailed list in excel based on a spreadsheet I saw elsewhere. I worked on it for about 2 hours and was very satisfied with it. I just wanted to add another worksheet for Things To Buy, so I did that and tried to edit the tab of the worksheet to say "To Buy" and excel totally messed up on me at that point. It tried to tell me there was something wrong with what I was calling it (there wasn't), and listed that it couldn't be more than so many characters, no special characters and couldn't be blank. It wouldn't let me get out of the tab, wouldn't let me switch to another sheet, wouldn't let me save, wouldn't even let me close excel! It took 2 tries using Task Manager to eventually force excel to close. Needless to say, I lost the entire thing. I was not a happy camper and went to bed that night in a huff! The next day I recreated it from scratch and successfully saved it. In fact, I improved on the format, but I still didn't like having to do all that work twice! And, of course, that was a "planning the work" segment. Still have to work the plan!
As for money, I've been paying my bills and trying to get the MasterCard back down to where it was before. I did pay off the flooring I bought but then ended up having to charge DC's birthday party, which was held out of the house for what should be obvious reasons! I've since paid down another $90. That pretty much covered last month's interest charge ($91.43). Then I paid part of the money for the party but have to wait another couple of weeks to finish paying that off. And, today, I charged the first 1/3 of DC's dental surgery. We're paying it in 3 payments, each a month apart. I'm hoping that my hubby will get paid the commission on a couple of bigger jobs he's done recently by the end of March. Then we can pay the surgery off and be done with it. The good news is that it turned out to cost considerably less than originally anticipated, about $1,700 when we'd been led to expect that it would be about $3,000.
Right now I'm just trying to get through the week until Thursday, when the surgery takes place. And take baby steps on my cleaning plan until then.
Well, life happens. Specifically, new babies happen! No, not mine. My Eldest Daughter's. But combine a new baby (and one whole night with no sleep while my daughter was in labour) together with 3 little girls who are off school, the Olympics, two kiddie birthday parties, various and sundry family members and close friends traipsing in and out to see the little guy and, well, you get the idea.
What, if anything has been done?
Well, my son-in-law and his dad did get the drywall down, fixed what needed to be fixed, and then put up the drywall again. It still needs taping, mudding and sanding before much of anything can be done in Dear Child's room. I did go through the big bin that had been stored but Dear Child was thrilled to see most of the items after 3 years, my hubby vetoed getting rid of certain other items and it's still 3/4 full. Sigh. Honestly, I think she could have lived without the baby doll, the baby Cabbage Patch and 2 big stuffed Care Bears at the very least! I know some will say that I should have gone through the bin by myself or forced her to give away more, but I've been on the other end of it and I still recall how upset I was (back when I was about 11).
Other than that, I've done a lot of laundry and hung up more of DC's things (in my closet) and I started sorting out paperwork that's stacked on the trunk and table (in an area I'm not supposed to even be in yet). I also started to make a detailed list in excel based on a spreadsheet I saw elsewhere. I worked on it for about 2 hours and was very satisfied with it. I just wanted to add another worksheet for Things To Buy, so I did that and tried to edit the tab of the worksheet to say "To Buy" and excel totally messed up on me at that point. It tried to tell me there was something wrong with what I was calling it (there wasn't), and listed that it couldn't be more than so many characters, no special characters and couldn't be blank. It wouldn't let me get out of the tab, wouldn't let me switch to another sheet, wouldn't let me save, wouldn't even let me close excel! It took 2 tries using Task Manager to eventually force excel to close. Needless to say, I lost the entire thing. I was not a happy camper and went to bed that night in a huff! The next day I recreated it from scratch and successfully saved it. In fact, I improved on the format, but I still didn't like having to do all that work twice! And, of course, that was a "planning the work" segment. Still have to work the plan!
As for money, I've been paying my bills and trying to get the MasterCard back down to where it was before. I did pay off the flooring I bought but then ended up having to charge DC's birthday party, which was held out of the house for what should be obvious reasons! I've since paid down another $90. That pretty much covered last month's interest charge ($91.43). Then I paid part of the money for the party but have to wait another couple of weeks to finish paying that off. And, today, I charged the first 1/3 of DC's dental surgery. We're paying it in 3 payments, each a month apart. I'm hoping that my hubby will get paid the commission on a couple of bigger jobs he's done recently by the end of March. Then we can pay the surgery off and be done with it. The good news is that it turned out to cost considerably less than originally anticipated, about $1,700 when we'd been led to expect that it would be about $3,000.
Right now I'm just trying to get through the week until Thursday, when the surgery takes place. And take baby steps on my cleaning plan until then.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Review Day & February Goals
It was Wednesday. It was payday. And my Hubby had transferred money to my account. Guess what I did this morning before breakfast? I paid bills, of course!
That made me think about my goals for the year. How am I doing with those? What should I work on this month?
Overall, I'm doing well with the money. Both the Home Depot payment plans are history. That's just over $1,500 worth of debt we've paid off between about November and now. I have post-dated cheques for another debt we're chewing away at and I'm on track with that. I've opened a TFSA and there's already $150 in it. I have $10/week going into my ING Emergency Fund. No, that's not a lot but it's going in there nice and regular. The IKEA account is all paid off and can no longer be used because they changed companies that provide the credit card services. As of today, I think I'm current on all my bills. The one thing I still need to do for this pay period is to go to the credit union, take out $45 in cash and then deposit it into my other credit union via the ATM. That's the set-aside money each payday for my electric bill, garbage, property taxes and fuel oil at our rural home. Next winter, when it's time for a fuel oil delivery, I'll have the money all saved up.
On the other hand, I've been charging stuff for the city house on my MasterCard. In fact, Capital One put a fraud hold on my card after the third time I used it in 2 days! What did I buy? I spent $20.11 at IKEA on 4 D cell batteries, 10 votive candle holders and a pair of sheer drapes (2 panels). I bought $129.37 worth of DriCore (including a levelling kit) at one Home Depot and, the next day at a different Home Depot, I spent $229.75 on tiles for the foyer and 3rd bedroom, as well as concealing film for the bedroom windows, a closet pole that will fit Dear Child's closet at the rural house (it's an odd size) and a grouting sponge. Bad? Not really. I had to buy the reno supplies before the end of January to be able to cash in on the home renovation tax credit. And I needed the supplies to finish important projects that will make our part of the house a lot better looking. Plus, I've paid down $149.48 of that already today.
The fraud thing was actually pretty funny. I've barely used the card over the past year or more, so 3 transactions in 2 days was obviously suspicious! I got that all straightened out with a quick phone call.
What are my goals for February?
1. Pay for Dear Child's birthday party.
2. Pay at least $229.75 to MasterCard
3. Stay current with all the other bills.
4. Get the treatment plan for DC's dental surgery and figure out how to pay for that.
5. Make arrangements for Dog's Passover vacation and pay at least $100 towards that.
Got any goals for February that you'd like to share?
That made me think about my goals for the year. How am I doing with those? What should I work on this month?
Overall, I'm doing well with the money. Both the Home Depot payment plans are history. That's just over $1,500 worth of debt we've paid off between about November and now. I have post-dated cheques for another debt we're chewing away at and I'm on track with that. I've opened a TFSA and there's already $150 in it. I have $10/week going into my ING Emergency Fund. No, that's not a lot but it's going in there nice and regular. The IKEA account is all paid off and can no longer be used because they changed companies that provide the credit card services. As of today, I think I'm current on all my bills. The one thing I still need to do for this pay period is to go to the credit union, take out $45 in cash and then deposit it into my other credit union via the ATM. That's the set-aside money each payday for my electric bill, garbage, property taxes and fuel oil at our rural home. Next winter, when it's time for a fuel oil delivery, I'll have the money all saved up.
On the other hand, I've been charging stuff for the city house on my MasterCard. In fact, Capital One put a fraud hold on my card after the third time I used it in 2 days! What did I buy? I spent $20.11 at IKEA on 4 D cell batteries, 10 votive candle holders and a pair of sheer drapes (2 panels). I bought $129.37 worth of DriCore (including a levelling kit) at one Home Depot and, the next day at a different Home Depot, I spent $229.75 on tiles for the foyer and 3rd bedroom, as well as concealing film for the bedroom windows, a closet pole that will fit Dear Child's closet at the rural house (it's an odd size) and a grouting sponge. Bad? Not really. I had to buy the reno supplies before the end of January to be able to cash in on the home renovation tax credit. And I needed the supplies to finish important projects that will make our part of the house a lot better looking. Plus, I've paid down $149.48 of that already today.
The fraud thing was actually pretty funny. I've barely used the card over the past year or more, so 3 transactions in 2 days was obviously suspicious! I got that all straightened out with a quick phone call.
What are my goals for February?
1. Pay for Dear Child's birthday party.
2. Pay at least $229.75 to MasterCard
3. Stay current with all the other bills.
4. Get the treatment plan for DC's dental surgery and figure out how to pay for that.
5. Make arrangements for Dog's Passover vacation and pay at least $100 towards that.
Got any goals for February that you'd like to share?
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Money, Teeth and Computer Viruses
I'm plugging away, paying bills as I get money (whether from work or Hubby when he gets paid or wherever). The problem is that sometimes it takes me a couple of days to get money from Point A to Point B. When Hubby gets paid he transfers money to me for bills but that goes into my old bank account. I take cash out from there, then have to physically go into the credit union when it's open to deposit it so I don't have a hold on the money. Unfortunately, the credit union is on a major street that doesn't allow street parking 3 to 6 pm and where it's very busy the rest of the time. So, it's challenging to get there and be able to find a place to park.
This past week I took some of the money out in cash and used telephone banking to make another payment from the old bank account to my MasterCard. I finally got the cash into the credit union the other day and made some more payments today. First of all, I had to take care of my internet bill, which I somehow forgot at the end of last month. Then I put money towards Home Depot and (yet again) MasterCard.
So far with the MasterCard I've paid off all the stuff I charged in the Okanagan and then made two more payments of $90 each. So I've reduced the balance to just a little below the amount on last month's statement (because the bedframes were just over $170). However, the interest charge won't be added to the account for another day or so. That will push me up by $90 odd but I'll hit it again next week with at least $90. The net result will be that I won't have reduced my balance over the previous month but I'll have paid for everything I bought.
I've also had some other expenses this week. Dear Child went back to the dentist and he pulled another tooth that wasn't supposed to come out yet. It was the crowned tooth next to the one that already came out and its roots had also resorbed. The tooth was so loose that it was just hanging by a thread. A dab of topical freezing and the dentist was able to get it out with his fingers. That set me back by about $50, including the xray. And then I let my youngest son talk me into buying more RAM for my laptop. I only had 1 MB, which is really low. So $60 later I have 2.5 MB. At the same time he cleaned up my computer, which had acquired a really annoying trojan that was masquerading as a virus checker. I'm still not sure how I got it. It just showed up as I was reading blogs a couple of nights ago and was popping up very realistic windows about how this, that and the other file was infected, and did I want to run my antivirus. I really couldn't make a move without several popups appearing and I didn't want to do anything that involved logging in anywhere using any of my passwords. Hooray for my techie son! Well, both my techie sons, since the older one actually works in the IT field, but the younger son was the one that was available.
On top of all that, work has been insane and I've been trying to put in extra hours.
So, that's been my life this week. How was yours?
This past week I took some of the money out in cash and used telephone banking to make another payment from the old bank account to my MasterCard. I finally got the cash into the credit union the other day and made some more payments today. First of all, I had to take care of my internet bill, which I somehow forgot at the end of last month. Then I put money towards Home Depot and (yet again) MasterCard.
So far with the MasterCard I've paid off all the stuff I charged in the Okanagan and then made two more payments of $90 each. So I've reduced the balance to just a little below the amount on last month's statement (because the bedframes were just over $170). However, the interest charge won't be added to the account for another day or so. That will push me up by $90 odd but I'll hit it again next week with at least $90. The net result will be that I won't have reduced my balance over the previous month but I'll have paid for everything I bought.
I've also had some other expenses this week. Dear Child went back to the dentist and he pulled another tooth that wasn't supposed to come out yet. It was the crowned tooth next to the one that already came out and its roots had also resorbed. The tooth was so loose that it was just hanging by a thread. A dab of topical freezing and the dentist was able to get it out with his fingers. That set me back by about $50, including the xray. And then I let my youngest son talk me into buying more RAM for my laptop. I only had 1 MB, which is really low. So $60 later I have 2.5 MB. At the same time he cleaned up my computer, which had acquired a really annoying trojan that was masquerading as a virus checker. I'm still not sure how I got it. It just showed up as I was reading blogs a couple of nights ago and was popping up very realistic windows about how this, that and the other file was infected, and did I want to run my antivirus. I really couldn't make a move without several popups appearing and I didn't want to do anything that involved logging in anywhere using any of my passwords. Hooray for my techie son! Well, both my techie sons, since the older one actually works in the IT field, but the younger son was the one that was available.
On top of all that, work has been insane and I've been trying to put in extra hours.
So, that's been my life this week. How was yours?
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Steps Forward and Back
I had some ambitious goals for 2010. My first payday for the year was yesterday. How am I doing?
First of all, I took one fairly big step backwards at the end of December when we were going away to our rural house. I bought discontinued bedframes at IKEA for $170.98 and charged it on my MasterCard. Yes, the card I've barely used in over a year, the same card that just increased my credit limit by $3,000. I'm really glad I bought them though. We've been sleeping on mattresses on the floor at the house and it's not that comfy. Having the bedframes will really help. We got them to the house in our car by putting down half the back seat and running them up between the front seats. There wasn't time while we were there to put them together but I hope to do them on the next trip.
Then we were at the house for the weekend and I charged groceries and birthday presents for Dear Child to the tune of $159.14. I did have money left in my chequing account but I thought that a cheque I'd written for $162 hadn't cleared yet. I didn't want to end up bouncing a cheque, so I charged it all. Turns out, luckily, that the cheque had cleared and I just hadn't noticed.
So, the net result was that my card balance went up from $5,868.52 to (gulp) $6,198.64, almost $200 over my old limit and $330.12 higher in total. And it will be worse in a couple of days when the interest hits my account.
However, there is also good news on the horizon. First of all, I got a raise! Okay, it's not huge, just 2% but there were no raises last year so this is good. I've paid the $159.14, plus paid the water and made a payment to Home Depot. Oh! Oh, oh, oh!!!! I almost forgot! I paid off the first Home Depot payment plan on December 31st! That's one of my goals for the year (because it was due January 1st).
I also took a big step toward another one of my goals today. I had to go in to the credit union to activate my new, permanent debit card (the temporary card they gave me when my card was skimmed was only good for 30 days) so I opened my Tax Free Savings Account at the same time and put $50 into it. My goal this year is to get it up to $1,300 by the end of the year. Yes, I know that you can put in $5,000 per year (and that my eligible amount for this year is $10,000 because unused amounts carry forward from year to year) but let's be realistic. It'll be a stretch to make my goal. There's no way I'd ever be able to put $416.66 away each month, unless I did it at the expense of paying down debt. How dumb would that be? Ooh, I'll earn maybe 2% on $5,000 of savings while paying 17% on $6,000 worth of debt. Don't think so. On the other hand, having an extra grand or so in an account that can be accessed if I need it is a good add-on to the ever-underfunded Emergency Fund.
While I was at the credit union I deposited cash to my rural credit union account (via the ATM). Why cash? Well, I pay to order cheques and they take a minimum of 5 business days to clear from the one credit union to the other. Cash should clear once the amount of the deposit is verified the next business day. The cash was for all the rural set-asides I've created. That includes the electric bill, property tax, garbage pickup and fuel oil. When next December rolls around and I need another tank of fuel oil the money will all be there. How grown up and responsible is that?
So, all in all, I'm doing fairly well in the financial area. And I've been walking for half an hour 5 days out of the past 7 (yet another goal).
First of all, I took one fairly big step backwards at the end of December when we were going away to our rural house. I bought discontinued bedframes at IKEA for $170.98 and charged it on my MasterCard. Yes, the card I've barely used in over a year, the same card that just increased my credit limit by $3,000. I'm really glad I bought them though. We've been sleeping on mattresses on the floor at the house and it's not that comfy. Having the bedframes will really help. We got them to the house in our car by putting down half the back seat and running them up between the front seats. There wasn't time while we were there to put them together but I hope to do them on the next trip.
Then we were at the house for the weekend and I charged groceries and birthday presents for Dear Child to the tune of $159.14. I did have money left in my chequing account but I thought that a cheque I'd written for $162 hadn't cleared yet. I didn't want to end up bouncing a cheque, so I charged it all. Turns out, luckily, that the cheque had cleared and I just hadn't noticed.
So, the net result was that my card balance went up from $5,868.52 to (gulp) $6,198.64, almost $200 over my old limit and $330.12 higher in total. And it will be worse in a couple of days when the interest hits my account.
However, there is also good news on the horizon. First of all, I got a raise! Okay, it's not huge, just 2% but there were no raises last year so this is good. I've paid the $159.14, plus paid the water and made a payment to Home Depot. Oh! Oh, oh, oh!!!! I almost forgot! I paid off the first Home Depot payment plan on December 31st! That's one of my goals for the year (because it was due January 1st).
I also took a big step toward another one of my goals today. I had to go in to the credit union to activate my new, permanent debit card (the temporary card they gave me when my card was skimmed was only good for 30 days) so I opened my Tax Free Savings Account at the same time and put $50 into it. My goal this year is to get it up to $1,300 by the end of the year. Yes, I know that you can put in $5,000 per year (and that my eligible amount for this year is $10,000 because unused amounts carry forward from year to year) but let's be realistic. It'll be a stretch to make my goal. There's no way I'd ever be able to put $416.66 away each month, unless I did it at the expense of paying down debt. How dumb would that be? Ooh, I'll earn maybe 2% on $5,000 of savings while paying 17% on $6,000 worth of debt. Don't think so. On the other hand, having an extra grand or so in an account that can be accessed if I need it is a good add-on to the ever-underfunded Emergency Fund.
While I was at the credit union I deposited cash to my rural credit union account (via the ATM). Why cash? Well, I pay to order cheques and they take a minimum of 5 business days to clear from the one credit union to the other. Cash should clear once the amount of the deposit is verified the next business day. The cash was for all the rural set-asides I've created. That includes the electric bill, property tax, garbage pickup and fuel oil. When next December rolls around and I need another tank of fuel oil the money will all be there. How grown up and responsible is that?
So, all in all, I'm doing fairly well in the financial area. And I've been walking for half an hour 5 days out of the past 7 (yet another goal).
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Starting 2010 the DIY Way
Well, as I was writing in the response I made to RivkA's comment to my previous post, I have to decide whether or not we're going to replace Dear Child's floor once we get access back to her room (since right now it's taped shut with clear tarp over the door, closet and dresser). I think it will probably cost about $400 for both the DriCore and the flooring itself. Oh, and baseboards.
It's certainly the right time to do this while all the furniture (except the dresser) is already out of the room. And there's no question that the horrible carpeting that was here when we moved in should go. Even if it was nice carpeting I'd want to replace it with wood because of my asthma. And, believe me, it's not nice. I had a very large straw mat I got in Fiji probably 25 years ago down over most of the exposed floor surface before and a small sheepskin right by the bed. Wood would be so much nicer. Wood is good.
However, it's money I hadn't planned on spending and it would end up going on yet another no interest payment plan at Home Depot. Now, it's true that it looks like my Hubby's commissions are picking up somewhat and he has a big job or 2 in process right now but probably won't see money for them for a couple of months. It doesn't make sense to wait until the money is in hand though from the point of view of getting our daughter back into her room. And getting our living room, kitchen and dining table back to normal.
I also have to think about how long it's going to take to actually do the floor. I'm not the fastest person at these things but I do a good job. Probably a couple of evenings for the DriCore and about the same for the floor (although if I go with engineered I'll be gluing it, which takes longer and also needs an extra day to dry). I don't want to do the baseboards. I hate the mitred cuts. If my Son-in-Law will cut the baseboards that will be okay. He did a pretty good job of them in the girls' room upstairs.
So I think I've rationalized myself into an additional reno job over and above the ones I really need to do around here (like finishing the bathroom or redoing my kitchen cabinets, or putting in the tile floor). And this is after I laid the floor in the girls' room with my Eldest Daughter's able assistance (also not something that had been on my list). I'd ask her to help me with this one in exchange but I feel guilty about asking someone who's 8 months pregnant to help lay a floor. My Hubby is totally not handy with renos and my S-in-L has more than enough renos to do in his part of the house right now. Sigh.
And from a financial viewpoint I do worry to a certain extent about the effect of taking on additional debt just as I'm paying off some from last year. It's not that I'm worried we won't have the money to pay it off when it comes due. I'm actually pretty good at that. It's just that I hate to be moving in the "wrong direction" if you know what I mean. I guess I just have to be really vigilant about paying other stuff when I'm supposed to, setting aside money for things that will come due later, putting that little bit away every week into the Emeergency Fund, etc. etc. You know, all those good habits I said I was going to develop this year.
And I did pay off the first of the 2 Home Depot amounts. On time. The next one is due in February and will be more challenging but I'm sure we can do it.
It's certainly the right time to do this while all the furniture (except the dresser) is already out of the room. And there's no question that the horrible carpeting that was here when we moved in should go. Even if it was nice carpeting I'd want to replace it with wood because of my asthma. And, believe me, it's not nice. I had a very large straw mat I got in Fiji probably 25 years ago down over most of the exposed floor surface before and a small sheepskin right by the bed. Wood would be so much nicer. Wood is good.
However, it's money I hadn't planned on spending and it would end up going on yet another no interest payment plan at Home Depot. Now, it's true that it looks like my Hubby's commissions are picking up somewhat and he has a big job or 2 in process right now but probably won't see money for them for a couple of months. It doesn't make sense to wait until the money is in hand though from the point of view of getting our daughter back into her room. And getting our living room, kitchen and dining table back to normal.
I also have to think about how long it's going to take to actually do the floor. I'm not the fastest person at these things but I do a good job. Probably a couple of evenings for the DriCore and about the same for the floor (although if I go with engineered I'll be gluing it, which takes longer and also needs an extra day to dry). I don't want to do the baseboards. I hate the mitred cuts. If my Son-in-Law will cut the baseboards that will be okay. He did a pretty good job of them in the girls' room upstairs.
So I think I've rationalized myself into an additional reno job over and above the ones I really need to do around here (like finishing the bathroom or redoing my kitchen cabinets, or putting in the tile floor). And this is after I laid the floor in the girls' room with my Eldest Daughter's able assistance (also not something that had been on my list). I'd ask her to help me with this one in exchange but I feel guilty about asking someone who's 8 months pregnant to help lay a floor. My Hubby is totally not handy with renos and my S-in-L has more than enough renos to do in his part of the house right now. Sigh.
And from a financial viewpoint I do worry to a certain extent about the effect of taking on additional debt just as I'm paying off some from last year. It's not that I'm worried we won't have the money to pay it off when it comes due. I'm actually pretty good at that. It's just that I hate to be moving in the "wrong direction" if you know what I mean. I guess I just have to be really vigilant about paying other stuff when I'm supposed to, setting aside money for things that will come due later, putting that little bit away every week into the Emeergency Fund, etc. etc. You know, all those good habits I said I was going to develop this year.
And I did pay off the first of the 2 Home Depot amounts. On time. The next one is due in February and will be more challenging but I'm sure we can do it.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
A Little Math
I mentioned paying down money on my credit card in two ways in my last post. I haven't yet started making the direct payments I listed as a goal but here's an update on the regular monthly payments I'm already making. I (aim to) pay $90 every 2 weeks and last month I was charged $87.36 in interest. So I lowered my credit card debt by a total of $92.64 last month. The previous month I only made one of the 2 payments because I was juggling a lot of other bills and was trying to get current on everything. I paid $88.19 in interest and therefore my $90 in payments lowered my debt by a whopping $1.81 that month. So I was charged $0.83 less in interest this month than in November.
In January I'll be charged less interest than I was this month and so on. So, when I say that I'll pay down $1,080 in regular credit card payments, that means just one of my $90 payments each month will reduce my debt by that amount. My other payment each month goes mostly towards interest at this point but a couple of dollars of that are going towards reducing the debt too and that amount is rising by close to a dollar per month. I'm definitely no math whiz and won't even take a crack at figuring out what the interest charge will be a month from now (and therefore the difference between the $90 paid and the interest charged), but lets ballpark the difference at $3.50. Then, in February, it would be around $4.50, in March around $5.50 and so on up to $14.50 in December of next year. It will be more than that because of the way compounding works, but I'm trying to keep it simple. Add all those small amounts together and I get $113 extra in debt reduction over what I budgeted for in my goals!
It gets even better. I overlooked the fact that I pay every 2 weeks, not twice a month. That means there are 2 extra payments per year or another $180 that I'll be automatically paying down that I didn't even think about when I first wrote out my goals! That's almost another $300 I'll pay down without even doing anything different. And, when I start making those extra payments of $50 every two weeks, that will bring down my balance even faster, meaning even smaller interest charges every month than I had figured on! I love to see compound interest working in my favour for a change. And what I had originally dismissed from my calculations as an almost immaterial amount will snowflake gradually into a serious amount of money by the end of next year!
Of course, all this is contingent on making the payments as planned and not charging anything new (or paying it off within the month, which would have a minimal effect on the interest charged). But just running these numbers, rough as they are, makes me feel so good! I really can make significant progress in reducing my debt! I'm going to get out of debt as soon as possible and buy my little piece of land (and then pay it off before we hit retirement age).
In January I'll be charged less interest than I was this month and so on. So, when I say that I'll pay down $1,080 in regular credit card payments, that means just one of my $90 payments each month will reduce my debt by that amount. My other payment each month goes mostly towards interest at this point but a couple of dollars of that are going towards reducing the debt too and that amount is rising by close to a dollar per month. I'm definitely no math whiz and won't even take a crack at figuring out what the interest charge will be a month from now (and therefore the difference between the $90 paid and the interest charged), but lets ballpark the difference at $3.50. Then, in February, it would be around $4.50, in March around $5.50 and so on up to $14.50 in December of next year. It will be more than that because of the way compounding works, but I'm trying to keep it simple. Add all those small amounts together and I get $113 extra in debt reduction over what I budgeted for in my goals!
It gets even better. I overlooked the fact that I pay every 2 weeks, not twice a month. That means there are 2 extra payments per year or another $180 that I'll be automatically paying down that I didn't even think about when I first wrote out my goals! That's almost another $300 I'll pay down without even doing anything different. And, when I start making those extra payments of $50 every two weeks, that will bring down my balance even faster, meaning even smaller interest charges every month than I had figured on! I love to see compound interest working in my favour for a change. And what I had originally dismissed from my calculations as an almost immaterial amount will snowflake gradually into a serious amount of money by the end of next year!
Of course, all this is contingent on making the payments as planned and not charging anything new (or paying it off within the month, which would have a minimal effect on the interest charged). But just running these numbers, rough as they are, makes me feel so good! I really can make significant progress in reducing my debt! I'm going to get out of debt as soon as possible and buy my little piece of land (and then pay it off before we hit retirement age).
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Goals for 2010
Okay, so here are my financial goals for 2010, with a few goals for our rural house and my fitness thrown in. There are a lot more goals here than last year but many of them should be relatively easy to carry out. For instance, I already wrote and sent in all the post-dated cheques for that $1,500 of debt and the $1,080 in regular credit card payments will happen if I just pay $90 every 2 weeks. In fact it will be more than that but I don't know exactly how much more. Last month I paid just over $88 in interest, so there's about an extra $2 that I'm paying down, plus the interest I'm charged goes down every month as my balance declines.
Just before I start listing goals I wanted to share that I logged onto my credit card website the other day to see if my most recent payment had posted and if the statement was available. It wasn't, but I got a shock when I looked at my available credit. I guess starting to pay $90 every 2 weeks has had an effect. My credit limit has just been increased by $3,000! You keep hearing about the opposite happening these days. People are complaining that their credit limit has been cut or that their interest rates have increased. Well, not only has my credit limit increased, but I've noticed over the past several months that my interest rate actually declined at least twice!
Financial Goals
Rural House Goals
Physical Goals
Okay, so there are my goals. How about yours?
- Pay down $1,300 directly in credit card debt. Pay down $1,500 in other debt. Pay down $1,080 in regular credit card payments. Total: $3,880. Round up to $3,900.
- Open a TFSA and put $1,300 into it.
- Put a minimum of $520 into the Emergency Fund.
- Put a minimum of $520 into my RRSP.
- Keep putting money into my set aside accounts, rural credit union account, etc.
- Keep current on all my bills.
- Come up with $3,000 for Dear Child’s dental surgery.
- Pay off both Home Depot payment plans on time.
- Plan out and create a garden in the front of the house (south west side of driveway area).
- Plant lavender border.
- Go to house 2x per month in summer.
- Finish new floor in master bedroom.
- Get weight down to 120.
- Walk for at least a half hour per day (or use elliptical for same length of time).
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
How to Spend Money
What's that you say? You don't have any problem spending money? Well, neither do I. Sometimes I spend it intelligently; sometimes not so much.
Today was a good day, moneywise. I got paid and promptly turned around and paid a whole bunch of bills. I paid my cell, water, internet and IKEA in full and am totally current on those. The IKEA card is closed now because they switched providers and I haven't filled out another application. I paid $90 to MasterCard, which covers the interest with a dollar and change left over and I'll keep paying them $90 every payday. (My big problem with them has been that I've only been paying once a month when money has been tight and, at that rate, I should have the card paid off in 500 years or so!) And I paid Home Depot $106, right on track to have the first of two purchase plans paid off just before it comes due at the beginning of January.
There's a few things that come out automatically, either as pre-authorized charges or as post-dated cheques and the money is in place for all but one of those. My hubby will have to transfer money into my old bank account when he gets paid at the end of the month and that will cover the service charges and that pre-authorized payment.
Then I went out after everybody got home and bought $50 worth of groceries to last us until Monday and $25 worth of gas. I'm pretty much broke again but it feels really good to have taken care of all the important things. I feel today was a success.
Today was a good day, moneywise. I got paid and promptly turned around and paid a whole bunch of bills. I paid my cell, water, internet and IKEA in full and am totally current on those. The IKEA card is closed now because they switched providers and I haven't filled out another application. I paid $90 to MasterCard, which covers the interest with a dollar and change left over and I'll keep paying them $90 every payday. (My big problem with them has been that I've only been paying once a month when money has been tight and, at that rate, I should have the card paid off in 500 years or so!) And I paid Home Depot $106, right on track to have the first of two purchase plans paid off just before it comes due at the beginning of January.
There's a few things that come out automatically, either as pre-authorized charges or as post-dated cheques and the money is in place for all but one of those. My hubby will have to transfer money into my old bank account when he gets paid at the end of the month and that will cover the service charges and that pre-authorized payment.
Then I went out after everybody got home and bought $50 worth of groceries to last us until Monday and $25 worth of gas. I'm pretty much broke again but it feels really good to have taken care of all the important things. I feel today was a success.
Monday, November 9, 2009
I'm Recovering, So it Must be Time to Overdo
This was another typically crazy Sunday. I spent about 6 and a half hours laying a laminate floor (including putting down underlay) in my granddaughters' bedroom with my Eldest Daughter. Hubby took Dear Child and the older of the 2 girls to the movies, which kept them out of our hair. The "baby" on the other hand was at home and we tried to keep her occupied with videos and dressing up. There were still a lot of interruptions and she managed to put off her nap for literally hours. What we wouldn't have done for a typical day where she sleeps soundly for 2 1/2 hours right after lunch!
However, we did almost finish, except for the last row where about half a dozen boards need to be ripped. We felt 8:30 pm was a little late to be using the power saws outside. I think we can probably finish up tomorrow after everybody is done with work and school. If not, we're all off on Wednesday for Remembrance Day. There's still a new heat register to buy and the baseboards to buy and install. Luckily they have a nailer that takes both staples and brads. Equally luckily, I don't have to pay for any of this because it's not my part of the house.
Afterwards I sat down to look at my bills and my bank balances again. Yes, I had to pay some more bills and still have more to pay. I have money for some of the remaining ones, but not all, and it's not going to get any better on my payday because I'll be getting just over half a cheque. Darn being sick anyway! Once I update my bank book and transfer some more money to the credit union I'll be able to finish paying as many bills as possible.
I'm mostly recovered from the flu now, although I'm still coughing and having some difficulties breathing. And I'm tired a lot. By the end of this afternoon I could barely get off the floor to go cut boards and I got kind of shaky but I made it. Oh yeah. Remember when I said maybe I'd lose some weight? I dropped 6 pounds and ended up at 125 (my goal is 120) and I've only gained back one pound since I started eating normally again and getting better hydrated. I bet my upcoming book, entitled "The H1N1 Diet" will be a best-seller! No calorie counting, no exercise and you can lose five pounds a week. What a deal!
However, we did almost finish, except for the last row where about half a dozen boards need to be ripped. We felt 8:30 pm was a little late to be using the power saws outside. I think we can probably finish up tomorrow after everybody is done with work and school. If not, we're all off on Wednesday for Remembrance Day. There's still a new heat register to buy and the baseboards to buy and install. Luckily they have a nailer that takes both staples and brads. Equally luckily, I don't have to pay for any of this because it's not my part of the house.
Afterwards I sat down to look at my bills and my bank balances again. Yes, I had to pay some more bills and still have more to pay. I have money for some of the remaining ones, but not all, and it's not going to get any better on my payday because I'll be getting just over half a cheque. Darn being sick anyway! Once I update my bank book and transfer some more money to the credit union I'll be able to finish paying as many bills as possible.
I'm mostly recovered from the flu now, although I'm still coughing and having some difficulties breathing. And I'm tired a lot. By the end of this afternoon I could barely get off the floor to go cut boards and I got kind of shaky but I made it. Oh yeah. Remember when I said maybe I'd lose some weight? I dropped 6 pounds and ended up at 125 (my goal is 120) and I've only gained back one pound since I started eating normally again and getting better hydrated. I bet my upcoming book, entitled "The H1N1 Diet" will be a best-seller! No calorie counting, no exercise and you can lose five pounds a week. What a deal!
Friday, October 16, 2009
Falling Short of My Goals
Time seems to be getting away from me. Tomorrow is Friday (well, technically it's already Friday but I haven't been to bed yet, so it doesn't count). Where did the rest of the week go? And how did it get to be the middle of October so fast? The year will be over before I know it and I don't feel like I've accomplished too much.
I set very few financial goals for myself at the end of 2008 and I haven't really looked back at them. Let's see how I'm doing. Just to refresh everybody's memory they were:
1. Pay down a minimum of $6,000 of debt in 2009.
2. Have at least $1,000 in an emergency fund by the end of 2009.
3. Establish an account for "Set Asides" (otherwise known as a Freedom or Escrow Account).
4. Get current and stay current with all the monthly bills.
Have I done any of them?
1. We paid off about $1,800 in debt at Home Depot but have charged about $1,600 more since then. Of course, I had put in a limitation that new debt for the house renos didn't count and about $600 is for our bathroom reno, with the balance for our storage shed. The credit cards are still close to being maxed, if not maxed. Am I going to have a big chunk of money come in with which to pay down debt? No, I had that a couple of months ago and then we had to sink close to $2,500 into the car instead.
2. I have about $130 in my EF right now and I stopped the automatic transfer a few months ago because I was going to switch the bank it was coming out of. Only I never started it up again from the new account.
3. I haven't done a thing about a setaside account.
4. I'm working on getting current again but I was 2 to 3 months behind on most bills as recently as 2 weeks ago.
Clearly, it's not going too well. And I don't know how much I can accomplish in the next 2.5 months. I have to try something though. What actions can I take now?
1. The most important at the moment is having the money in place to pay Home Depot when the 2 payment plans come due. The first one is for $528.44 and is due January 1st. I literally have $0.69 in the Home Depot fund right now. I have 5 paydays between now and the end of the year. I obviously need to transfer $106 each paycheque in order to have enough. Wow. I don't have the date for the other one in front of me right now, so we'll leave that for another time.
2. I have to start up the automated weekly transfers into my ING account from my credit union. I don't think I can go back to $12 per week just at the moment but I think $5 is workable. At least it will be something. And when I'm done with Home Depot I can increase it.
3. I have to set up at least one set-aside account and put money into it once a month. I think it should be for property taxes and that I should deposit $10/month. (Yes, my property taxes for my rural place really are that low.)
4. I have to pay a couple more bills to get current (or closer to current). And I have to pay my Eldest Daughter back the $100 she fronted me for gas money for the trip last Monday. That $100 also gave us enough for a week's worth of gas for the van.
That's 4 simple steps for me to take to get back on track.
I set very few financial goals for myself at the end of 2008 and I haven't really looked back at them. Let's see how I'm doing. Just to refresh everybody's memory they were:
1. Pay down a minimum of $6,000 of debt in 2009.
2. Have at least $1,000 in an emergency fund by the end of 2009.
3. Establish an account for "Set Asides" (otherwise known as a Freedom or Escrow Account).
4. Get current and stay current with all the monthly bills.
Have I done any of them?
1. We paid off about $1,800 in debt at Home Depot but have charged about $1,600 more since then. Of course, I had put in a limitation that new debt for the house renos didn't count and about $600 is for our bathroom reno, with the balance for our storage shed. The credit cards are still close to being maxed, if not maxed. Am I going to have a big chunk of money come in with which to pay down debt? No, I had that a couple of months ago and then we had to sink close to $2,500 into the car instead.
2. I have about $130 in my EF right now and I stopped the automatic transfer a few months ago because I was going to switch the bank it was coming out of. Only I never started it up again from the new account.
3. I haven't done a thing about a setaside account.
4. I'm working on getting current again but I was 2 to 3 months behind on most bills as recently as 2 weeks ago.
Clearly, it's not going too well. And I don't know how much I can accomplish in the next 2.5 months. I have to try something though. What actions can I take now?
1. The most important at the moment is having the money in place to pay Home Depot when the 2 payment plans come due. The first one is for $528.44 and is due January 1st. I literally have $0.69 in the Home Depot fund right now. I have 5 paydays between now and the end of the year. I obviously need to transfer $106 each paycheque in order to have enough. Wow. I don't have the date for the other one in front of me right now, so we'll leave that for another time.
2. I have to start up the automated weekly transfers into my ING account from my credit union. I don't think I can go back to $12 per week just at the moment but I think $5 is workable. At least it will be something. And when I'm done with Home Depot I can increase it.
3. I have to set up at least one set-aside account and put money into it once a month. I think it should be for property taxes and that I should deposit $10/month. (Yes, my property taxes for my rural place really are that low.)
4. I have to pay a couple more bills to get current (or closer to current). And I have to pay my Eldest Daughter back the $100 she fronted me for gas money for the trip last Monday. That $100 also gave us enough for a week's worth of gas for the van.
That's 4 simple steps for me to take to get back on track.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Spending Money We Ain't Got
I don't have much in the way of cash to throw around but I've sure been spending a lot this past couple of days!
First of all, we bought a garden storage shed yesterday from Home Depot. It's going to be delivered Friday and we hope to get it up either before Shabbos or on Sunday. They say it can be assembled by 2 people in 1 hour, but we'll see! With tax and delivery, it was just a hair over $1,000 and getting it was a bit of a story.
We have more stuff to store than fits comfortably in our place and, in order to be able to clear the area where the foyer floor still needs to be done, we bit the bullet and decided to buy a shed. Among other things, the kids don't want Hubby's bike hanging out in the laundry room anymore and it needs to be somewhere protected from the elements, seeing as he rides it to work every day. We went to the closest Home Depot with the girls and looked at all the sheds. They have them all set up on a corner of the parking lot and Dear Child and the 4 year old had a great time checking them all out! We tried to buy the one we wanted but it wasn't in stock at that Home Depot. The sales associate pulled up the stock at all the other stores up on the screen and we saw that Burnaby had the most, with 6 in stock.
We went home, called Burnaby, and ordered it over the phone. Five minutes later the guy we talked to called back. Our Home Depot card didn't have enough room on it! The store was closing so we had to go in the next day (when I had all 3 girls) to ask for a credit limit increase. Now, our card always had a $2,000 limit and we've had 3 or 4 "Do Not Pay" deals on it at various times but currently we just have the $500 worth of bathroom fixtures on there that won't come due until January (it was a 1 year deal, where most of them are for 6 months). So, how did we not have enough room on the card?
Well, I'd heard of people's credit limits being lowered and that's exactly what Home Depot had done to us without any fanfare at all. Our $2,000 limit had been whittled down to $600! Now, we don't carry a balance on this card as regular revolving credit because the interest rate is an insane 28% but we have made very good use of the "Do Not Pay" feature repeatedly, by charging renovations on it and then paying the card in the week before the offer comes due. Home Depot hasn't made any money off us in interest but we've bought well over $3,000 worth of stuff from them in the past 2 years.
Anyway, we had to go ask for an "increase" back up to $1,600 and we got it. It took an hour of our time, what with driving out there and back and it meant standing around with 3 little girls stuffed in a cart, complaining, but it's done.
On a similar note, my $2,000 limit at IKEA was cut in half some months ago. Other than the time I was carrying the cost of the mirror that I was trying to return on it, I normally charge small amounts on this card and pay it off in full (it's also 28% interest) when it's due. This last statement there was a notice that IKEA is changing their card provider and this card was only good for purchases made before August 2nd! What a neat way to deal with everybody all at once! They still have to pay their balances on this card but nobody can charge anything further unless they apply again through the new provider. Very clever.
However, back to me and the money I've been spending. Today I went to see a physiotherapist who specializes in sports medicine and a lot of neat things like acupuncture about my shoulder, which has been killing me. I injured it almost 20 years ago in a car accident and have adhesions under my shoulder blade.. Recently it's been hurting inside my shoulder when I make very small motions with my arm and I finally decided to look into it.
The physio was very thorough and it turns out I have a lot of damage, both from the accident and how I've been compensating for the injury over the years as well as from a low back problem. I have a vertebra that's missing the projections that hold it in place that's caused me serious back pain and weakness or tingling in my leg off and on over the years. He said I hold myself way out of line because of all this and it's not going to be easy to change it because I've been doing this for so long but I have to really start working on it because things are just going to get worse as I get older. Right now I'm having shoulder problems and the migraines are starting to come back. Next it's likely to be worse issues with my back and leg. I always knew if my back moved significantly that I could become a paraplegic (L5 is the vertebra that the nerves for your right leg run through) but he also said that I could start having bowel and bladder issues too. Uh, no thanks. I'm not interested in a wheelchair and diapers.
So, the alternative is to really develop the core muscles and hold the back in place with them. Of course, he's telling this to the girl who hates exercise with a passion (remember when I belonged to that gym?). The only exercise I ever liked was fencing and Tai Chi sword (at least 10 years ago) and he told me gently that, at this point in time, my right arm is in no shape to hold a sword.
I'm going to have to go back weekly and I had to go to a pharmacy and buy a couple of items to use all the time from now on. The first is a pair of core shorts. They look like bicycle shorts, but have that kind of Playtex "Cross Your Heart" technology, except that the bands of elastic cross over the front of your abdomen and around your sacrum. It holds you in really tight and he said to wear them all the time.
Then, there's this funny Sit Fit thing that I have to sit on at work. It's kind of like a whoopee cushion, round and partially filled with air, but the air stays in and you kind of wobble on it if you don't sit up all nice and balanced. So the physio and the new goodies set me back to the tune of $200, weekly appointments are $50 (although most of that will be reimbursed by my extended medical) and I still have a cute little belt (made by Obus) to buy that I'm supposed to wear when I'm lifting (no not Olympic lifting, lifting kids in and out of car seats, etc.).
I'm the girl who never buys stuff for myself and look at me now! Cute clothes and a vacation would have been a lot more fun!
First of all, we bought a garden storage shed yesterday from Home Depot. It's going to be delivered Friday and we hope to get it up either before Shabbos or on Sunday. They say it can be assembled by 2 people in 1 hour, but we'll see! With tax and delivery, it was just a hair over $1,000 and getting it was a bit of a story.
We have more stuff to store than fits comfortably in our place and, in order to be able to clear the area where the foyer floor still needs to be done, we bit the bullet and decided to buy a shed. Among other things, the kids don't want Hubby's bike hanging out in the laundry room anymore and it needs to be somewhere protected from the elements, seeing as he rides it to work every day. We went to the closest Home Depot with the girls and looked at all the sheds. They have them all set up on a corner of the parking lot and Dear Child and the 4 year old had a great time checking them all out! We tried to buy the one we wanted but it wasn't in stock at that Home Depot. The sales associate pulled up the stock at all the other stores up on the screen and we saw that Burnaby had the most, with 6 in stock.
We went home, called Burnaby, and ordered it over the phone. Five minutes later the guy we talked to called back. Our Home Depot card didn't have enough room on it! The store was closing so we had to go in the next day (when I had all 3 girls) to ask for a credit limit increase. Now, our card always had a $2,000 limit and we've had 3 or 4 "Do Not Pay" deals on it at various times but currently we just have the $500 worth of bathroom fixtures on there that won't come due until January (it was a 1 year deal, where most of them are for 6 months). So, how did we not have enough room on the card?
Well, I'd heard of people's credit limits being lowered and that's exactly what Home Depot had done to us without any fanfare at all. Our $2,000 limit had been whittled down to $600! Now, we don't carry a balance on this card as regular revolving credit because the interest rate is an insane 28% but we have made very good use of the "Do Not Pay" feature repeatedly, by charging renovations on it and then paying the card in the week before the offer comes due. Home Depot hasn't made any money off us in interest but we've bought well over $3,000 worth of stuff from them in the past 2 years.
Anyway, we had to go ask for an "increase" back up to $1,600 and we got it. It took an hour of our time, what with driving out there and back and it meant standing around with 3 little girls stuffed in a cart, complaining, but it's done.
On a similar note, my $2,000 limit at IKEA was cut in half some months ago. Other than the time I was carrying the cost of the mirror that I was trying to return on it, I normally charge small amounts on this card and pay it off in full (it's also 28% interest) when it's due. This last statement there was a notice that IKEA is changing their card provider and this card was only good for purchases made before August 2nd! What a neat way to deal with everybody all at once! They still have to pay their balances on this card but nobody can charge anything further unless they apply again through the new provider. Very clever.
However, back to me and the money I've been spending. Today I went to see a physiotherapist who specializes in sports medicine and a lot of neat things like acupuncture about my shoulder, which has been killing me. I injured it almost 20 years ago in a car accident and have adhesions under my shoulder blade.. Recently it's been hurting inside my shoulder when I make very small motions with my arm and I finally decided to look into it.
The physio was very thorough and it turns out I have a lot of damage, both from the accident and how I've been compensating for the injury over the years as well as from a low back problem. I have a vertebra that's missing the projections that hold it in place that's caused me serious back pain and weakness or tingling in my leg off and on over the years. He said I hold myself way out of line because of all this and it's not going to be easy to change it because I've been doing this for so long but I have to really start working on it because things are just going to get worse as I get older. Right now I'm having shoulder problems and the migraines are starting to come back. Next it's likely to be worse issues with my back and leg. I always knew if my back moved significantly that I could become a paraplegic (L5 is the vertebra that the nerves for your right leg run through) but he also said that I could start having bowel and bladder issues too. Uh, no thanks. I'm not interested in a wheelchair and diapers.
So, the alternative is to really develop the core muscles and hold the back in place with them. Of course, he's telling this to the girl who hates exercise with a passion (remember when I belonged to that gym?). The only exercise I ever liked was fencing and Tai Chi sword (at least 10 years ago) and he told me gently that, at this point in time, my right arm is in no shape to hold a sword.
I'm going to have to go back weekly and I had to go to a pharmacy and buy a couple of items to use all the time from now on. The first is a pair of core shorts. They look like bicycle shorts, but have that kind of Playtex "Cross Your Heart" technology, except that the bands of elastic cross over the front of your abdomen and around your sacrum. It holds you in really tight and he said to wear them all the time.
Then, there's this funny Sit Fit thing that I have to sit on at work. It's kind of like a whoopee cushion, round and partially filled with air, but the air stays in and you kind of wobble on it if you don't sit up all nice and balanced. So the physio and the new goodies set me back to the tune of $200, weekly appointments are $50 (although most of that will be reimbursed by my extended medical) and I still have a cute little belt (made by Obus) to buy that I'm supposed to wear when I'm lifting (no not Olympic lifting, lifting kids in and out of car seats, etc.).
I'm the girl who never buys stuff for myself and look at me now! Cute clothes and a vacation would have been a lot more fun!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Wednesday and Posting Works
Okay, I'm opening this in Firefox again on a different computer and it works. I guess I'm going to have to try putting Firefox on my laptop (I normally use Internet Explorer) and see if it works consistently. Right now I have a sample of 2 attempts, 2 successes. Interesting, but not statistically significant.
Today is Wednesday and I just got paid. I've been working a bunch of extra hours because my co-worker has been taking vacation so why don't I have very much money? I got my vacation pay for the year on my last cheque and didn't transfer it right away into ING (bad girl). I wanted to do that today, but that will only leave me with just under $600 and all my bill payments and end of month/beginning of month expenses that come out automatically total more than that! Plus, it might be nice to be able to buy groceries and gas for the next two weeks and I'm planning to go to the house for the BC Day long weekend just prior to when I get paid again. Translation? I've been spending my vacation pay and I'm not going to be able to fix it until after the next payday (which will also be for more hours than normal). What I really should do at that point is to transfer the money as fast as I can, because what's sitting in ING can't be frittered away.
I'm actually going to pay the bills from my laptop later (because I then save a print screen of the confirmations) but here's a list of what I'm planning to pay today (although not the exact amounts because I don't have them with me).
MasterCard $90, my usual every 2 weeks payment
Shaw internet ~$45
Bell cell ~$90
H2O ~$40
IKEA ~$45, the full balance owing from my trip there a couple of weeks ago
In other words, just over $300 worth of payments. And I want to get to my credit union so I can deposit my BC Benefit and another small cheque into my rural credit union account to cover my monthly service charge and the electric bill that will be coming out shortly. I think that's pretty good for today.
EDIT: Okay, I didn't get to the credit union (truthfully, I forgot all about it) but I did pay a total of $334.91 on those 5 bills and the 2 cheques to be deposited are sitting in my purse. I've been looking at my MasterCard statements and I see that sometimes (more often than I had realized) I only pay once, which really just takes care of the interest. I've made reducing my MasterCard debt by at least $100/month one of my mini goals now and I'll be keeping a closer eye on it. I actually want to get that card down below $5,000 before the end of the year. That would mean I'd have to pay off a little less than $900 in 6 months time ($150/month). We'll see how that goes.
Today is Wednesday and I just got paid. I've been working a bunch of extra hours because my co-worker has been taking vacation so why don't I have very much money? I got my vacation pay for the year on my last cheque and didn't transfer it right away into ING (bad girl). I wanted to do that today, but that will only leave me with just under $600 and all my bill payments and end of month/beginning of month expenses that come out automatically total more than that! Plus, it might be nice to be able to buy groceries and gas for the next two weeks and I'm planning to go to the house for the BC Day long weekend just prior to when I get paid again. Translation? I've been spending my vacation pay and I'm not going to be able to fix it until after the next payday (which will also be for more hours than normal). What I really should do at that point is to transfer the money as fast as I can, because what's sitting in ING can't be frittered away.
I'm actually going to pay the bills from my laptop later (because I then save a print screen of the confirmations) but here's a list of what I'm planning to pay today (although not the exact amounts because I don't have them with me).
MasterCard $90, my usual every 2 weeks payment
Shaw internet ~$45
Bell cell ~$90
H2O ~$40
IKEA ~$45, the full balance owing from my trip there a couple of weeks ago
In other words, just over $300 worth of payments. And I want to get to my credit union so I can deposit my BC Benefit and another small cheque into my rural credit union account to cover my monthly service charge and the electric bill that will be coming out shortly. I think that's pretty good for today.
EDIT: Okay, I didn't get to the credit union (truthfully, I forgot all about it) but I did pay a total of $334.91 on those 5 bills and the 2 cheques to be deposited are sitting in my purse. I've been looking at my MasterCard statements and I see that sometimes (more often than I had realized) I only pay once, which really just takes care of the interest. I've made reducing my MasterCard debt by at least $100/month one of my mini goals now and I'll be keeping a closer eye on it. I actually want to get that card down below $5,000 before the end of the year. That would mean I'd have to pay off a little less than $900 in 6 months time ($150/month). We'll see how that goes.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Yet Another Payday Wednesday
I got paid today. What did I do with it? And what else did I accomplish?
Well, Dear Child had to be up and in the van at 6:45 am this morning so her brother-in-law could drop her off at her sister-in-law's house on his way to work. She spent the day there both yesterday and today, playing with her niece who is also 6.
I didn't have to leave until 8 am, so I paid a whole raft of bills before I even went to work. I paid the water bill, MasterCard (the $90 I pay each payday plus $20 to cover the $20 in new charges that I'd put on it), my cable internet, a majority of my cell bill (the balance I have to ask about because I don't understand the charges) and my garbage bill for my rural home. Yes, it didn't have to be paid until August, but I paid it now.
I felt good! Then I drove Eldest Daughter to work, took her 4 year old to summer camp and went to work. At 1 pm I picked my granddaughter up from camp and drove her home. A friend of Eldest Daughter was here looking after Boo Boo (the 2 year old), so I dropped the older girl off and went back to work. I was so busy that I worked late!
Well, Dear Child had to be up and in the van at 6:45 am this morning so her brother-in-law could drop her off at her sister-in-law's house on his way to work. She spent the day there both yesterday and today, playing with her niece who is also 6.
I didn't have to leave until 8 am, so I paid a whole raft of bills before I even went to work. I paid the water bill, MasterCard (the $90 I pay each payday plus $20 to cover the $20 in new charges that I'd put on it), my cable internet, a majority of my cell bill (the balance I have to ask about because I don't understand the charges) and my garbage bill for my rural home. Yes, it didn't have to be paid until August, but I paid it now.
I felt good! Then I drove Eldest Daughter to work, took her 4 year old to summer camp and went to work. At 1 pm I picked my granddaughter up from camp and drove her home. A friend of Eldest Daughter was here looking after Boo Boo (the 2 year old), so I dropped the older girl off and went back to work. I was so busy that I worked late!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Money In, Money Out
Yesterday was payday. What did I do? I paid a bunch of bills. First, I paid the tab I run at the cafe in the building where I work, then I paid the bottled water company, MasterCard and the cable company for my internet. That last one was a biggie, 3 months worth of service.
As I wrote yesterday, my account had gotten kicked off the pre-authorized payment plan and then I didn't get a bill until a couple of weeks ago (immediately followed by a second bill). Now it's taken care of and I have it listed as a bill on my credit union account so I can pay it easily. I think I'll leave it like this for a while rather than getting back onto PAP on my "new" account. (Yes, I know I've had this credit union account for about 6 months now but it's still pretty new to me!)
I paid $40 yesterday for 3 tunics, 2 long-sleeved shirts, a gym skort and 2 sweatshirts (with school logo)! That was a killer deal. Buying used is good! Today after school I took Dear Child to the official uniform store (45 minutes drive from the school) and bought 2 short-sleeved shirts for hot weather, a gym tshirt (with logo), 5 pairs of knee socks (4 navy, 1 white) and 4 pair of navy tights. I got 10% off the purchase price of everything this week (why I bought them now) and still paid just over $100!
Just think if I'd had to buy everything there! It would have cost close to $300, but I spent less than 1/2 that.
I brought DC home to her father and went grocery shopping at the deli and Superstore. I spent about $100 on food and had a bit of a disaster in the store. I was buying my Bolthouse Protein Drink that I have for breakfast and it was at a really good price. I took 2 bottles and the next 2 bottles behind them just kind of jumped off the shelf (which I think must have been slanted), hit the floor and exploded all over me! I was wearing flip flops and a long denim skirt and I was a mess. I was squishing protein drink between my toes and was sticky wet with the drink up to my knees and all inside my skirt. Yuck! They let me go in the back where they keep the produce and wash up at a sink with paper towels. Then I got to the checkout and couldn't find my cell phone with all my debit cards tucked into the case! Luckily it had fallen out of my purse in the car rather than somewhere in the store, but it was a pain and I was verging on a panic attack. I was just terrified that I'd lost it when I got doused.
Anyway, I'm off to bed. It's Sports Day at school tomorrow and I have to make sure DC is ready for it with a bunch of extra things, including sunscreen.
As I wrote yesterday, my account had gotten kicked off the pre-authorized payment plan and then I didn't get a bill until a couple of weeks ago (immediately followed by a second bill). Now it's taken care of and I have it listed as a bill on my credit union account so I can pay it easily. I think I'll leave it like this for a while rather than getting back onto PAP on my "new" account. (Yes, I know I've had this credit union account for about 6 months now but it's still pretty new to me!)
I paid $40 yesterday for 3 tunics, 2 long-sleeved shirts, a gym skort and 2 sweatshirts (with school logo)! That was a killer deal. Buying used is good! Today after school I took Dear Child to the official uniform store (45 minutes drive from the school) and bought 2 short-sleeved shirts for hot weather, a gym tshirt (with logo), 5 pairs of knee socks (4 navy, 1 white) and 4 pair of navy tights. I got 10% off the purchase price of everything this week (why I bought them now) and still paid just over $100!
Just think if I'd had to buy everything there! It would have cost close to $300, but I spent less than 1/2 that.
I brought DC home to her father and went grocery shopping at the deli and Superstore. I spent about $100 on food and had a bit of a disaster in the store. I was buying my Bolthouse Protein Drink that I have for breakfast and it was at a really good price. I took 2 bottles and the next 2 bottles behind them just kind of jumped off the shelf (which I think must have been slanted), hit the floor and exploded all over me! I was wearing flip flops and a long denim skirt and I was a mess. I was squishing protein drink between my toes and was sticky wet with the drink up to my knees and all inside my skirt. Yuck! They let me go in the back where they keep the produce and wash up at a sink with paper towels. Then I got to the checkout and couldn't find my cell phone with all my debit cards tucked into the case! Luckily it had fallen out of my purse in the car rather than somewhere in the store, but it was a pain and I was verging on a panic attack. I was just terrified that I'd lost it when I got doused.
Anyway, I'm off to bed. It's Sports Day at school tomorrow and I have to make sure DC is ready for it with a bunch of extra things, including sunscreen.
Monday, March 16, 2009
To Dos and Ta Das
Here is my To Do List for today, with what I accomplished marked off on it.
Go to IKEA
Buy pink and white bins for Dear Child’s room DONE
Ask about white cover to fit sofa bed NO
Look at quilt covers DONE
Look at kitchen cabinets NO
Go through big toy box and weed out DONE
Go through non-fragile boxes in DC’s room, eliminate, consolidate & put in DC’s closet IN PROG
Do laundry, get it all off DC’s bed IN PROG
Buy new frying pan DONE
Take clothes for donation DONE
Take books for donation NO
Take other household items for donation NO
This week I've been concentrating on my Dear Child's room. I went to IKEA because there was no way I could organize her room without some more bins. Every time I look her Barbie dolls and Webkinz have multiplied again. I can barely find her bed under all the stuffed animals (okay and laundry too, because the laundry equipment is on the other side of the door in her room that leads to the other half of the house). Clean, unfolded laundry tends to end up at the foot of her bed.
I did 2 loads of laundry and still need to do more, especially white laundry. I also went through 3 boxes in her room and got rid of 2. No, I didn't get rid of everything in 2 boxes. I repacked the biggest box, took things out I need to use, threw away some junk, recycled a phone book, etc. And some things are still lying around, waiting for a more appropriate box to go into.
I got rid of a huge box from the restoration company that was mostly junk in the form of baby toys (rattles, anyone?), stuffed animals she never played with and sadly deflated balls and balloons. Cleverly, I did this while she was at a play date because (like her mother) DC refuses to part with the smallest scrap of paper, gift from strangers holding yard sales, etc. This was all stuff she hadn't seen or played with in at least 2 and a half years and I kept toys that actually held meaning (like the crocheted Beatrix Potter character) or that I knew she'd really play with (like a Ken to go with all those Barbies). But it wasn't in her room. No, it was in the living room.
I also took Eldest Daughter to Wal-Mart for something she wanted and managed to get a replacement for my frying pan, which met a burnt and sticky end the other week when Hubby left the heat on under it after dinner was done. And I dropped off 2 bags of outgrown kiddy clothes and toys in good shape in one of those big metal bins. I meant to go back with some of the books I'm getting rid of because they have a book bin beside the clothing one but it started to snow again so I didn't. It looks like you have to feed the bin one book at a time and I have a big box. I'd rather do it on a decent day. And I'm still not sure where to take the miscellaneous household items. Is there a place to drop things off at Value Village?
Yes, I said it was snowing. This is just ridiculous. All the spring flowers are out and I saw pussy willows on the trees a few days ago. It isn't supposed to snow here, period. And certainly not during Spring Break. Luckily, it was very wet snow and has totally disappeared already. Of course, it may start again in the middle of the night but I sincerely hope not.
Anyway, what does any of this have to do with my financial situation? Well, I must admit, I put the stuff from IKEA (about $45 worth) on my IKEA card. It has a horrible interest rate (28%) but I haven't been carrying a balance and I do hope to pay off the card in a timely manner. I'm afraid Pesach is usually a time when there's a fair bit of juggling in order to pay for everything but at least I get 3 paycheques next month.
Go to IKEA
Buy pink and white bins for Dear Child’s room DONE
Ask about white cover to fit sofa bed NO
Look at quilt covers DONE
Look at kitchen cabinets NO
Go through big toy box and weed out DONE
Go through non-fragile boxes in DC’s room, eliminate, consolidate & put in DC’s closet IN PROG
Do laundry, get it all off DC’s bed IN PROG
Buy new frying pan DONE
Take clothes for donation DONE
Take books for donation NO
Take other household items for donation NO
This week I've been concentrating on my Dear Child's room. I went to IKEA because there was no way I could organize her room without some more bins. Every time I look her Barbie dolls and Webkinz have multiplied again. I can barely find her bed under all the stuffed animals (okay and laundry too, because the laundry equipment is on the other side of the door in her room that leads to the other half of the house). Clean, unfolded laundry tends to end up at the foot of her bed.
I did 2 loads of laundry and still need to do more, especially white laundry. I also went through 3 boxes in her room and got rid of 2. No, I didn't get rid of everything in 2 boxes. I repacked the biggest box, took things out I need to use, threw away some junk, recycled a phone book, etc. And some things are still lying around, waiting for a more appropriate box to go into.
I got rid of a huge box from the restoration company that was mostly junk in the form of baby toys (rattles, anyone?), stuffed animals she never played with and sadly deflated balls and balloons. Cleverly, I did this while she was at a play date because (like her mother) DC refuses to part with the smallest scrap of paper, gift from strangers holding yard sales, etc. This was all stuff she hadn't seen or played with in at least 2 and a half years and I kept toys that actually held meaning (like the crocheted Beatrix Potter character) or that I knew she'd really play with (like a Ken to go with all those Barbies). But it wasn't in her room. No, it was in the living room.
I also took Eldest Daughter to Wal-Mart for something she wanted and managed to get a replacement for my frying pan, which met a burnt and sticky end the other week when Hubby left the heat on under it after dinner was done. And I dropped off 2 bags of outgrown kiddy clothes and toys in good shape in one of those big metal bins. I meant to go back with some of the books I'm getting rid of because they have a book bin beside the clothing one but it started to snow again so I didn't. It looks like you have to feed the bin one book at a time and I have a big box. I'd rather do it on a decent day. And I'm still not sure where to take the miscellaneous household items. Is there a place to drop things off at Value Village?
Yes, I said it was snowing. This is just ridiculous. All the spring flowers are out and I saw pussy willows on the trees a few days ago. It isn't supposed to snow here, period. And certainly not during Spring Break. Luckily, it was very wet snow and has totally disappeared already. Of course, it may start again in the middle of the night but I sincerely hope not.
Anyway, what does any of this have to do with my financial situation? Well, I must admit, I put the stuff from IKEA (about $45 worth) on my IKEA card. It has a horrible interest rate (28%) but I haven't been carrying a balance and I do hope to pay off the card in a timely manner. I'm afraid Pesach is usually a time when there's a fair bit of juggling in order to pay for everything but at least I get 3 paycheques next month.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
