I've been really busy with Passover preparations and then Passover and just haven't felt up to writing any posts (though I've done some commenting here and there). Today I started to comment over on The Simple Dollar but I could see it was turning into a novel and decided it would be better here! I mean, if I'm going to write something of a significant length I may as well make it a post, right?
Trent asked his readers to give their snap response to 4 questions. The questions were:
What is a wedding supposed to cost?
What is an automobile supposed to cost?
What is a home supposed to cost?
What is a three week vacation for a family of four supposed to cost?
Then he went into how these "mental anchors" determine how much you think you should pay for these kinds of things. Basically, it was all about keeping up with the Joneses and how you should just think for yourself. There were only a few responses but so far, they were all along the lines of how great a post it was.
What is it with me that I'm disagreeing with Trent so often these days?
FWIW, my answers were:
$25,000
$25,000
$550,000
$12,000
Why did I answer the way I did and does that mean I want to or need to spend that much on those things?
For the wedding, the range that gets tossed around the most in the articles I've read is $25 to $35k. And I actually know a bunch of people who spent more. I happen to think that's a ridiculous amount to spend for one day. I've been married twice. The first time I got married at home, with 25 of us present (including the bride and groom!). We each had one attendant and my dress cost $250 from Sears (1977 prices). My parents sent out announcements instead of invites. It probably cost about $1,500 or less even though we served roast beef!
My 2nd wedding was considerably bigger. We had the ceremony outside at my rabbi's house, with the reception in our synagogue (which at the time was being rebuilt, so it was really in the gym of the day school!) but we only invited about 60 to the meal. The rest of the community was invited to the ceremony and for dessert and dancing (taped music). I actually wore the same dress (yes, the one from 1977)! We spent about $4k.
I've spent about $22,000 to $25,000 a couple of times on new cars (Buick Century both times, and one of them saved my life thank-you-very-much) and I'm comfortable with that as a price for a new car, although my preference is either to buy a year old car or a lease return or a demo at the end of the sales year. Actually, that's what we did when we bought my hubby's dream car, a PT Cruiser, shortly after we got married. Of course, the car cost more than $25,000 (about $32,000 in the end) but we did still pay it off early. And I'm not planning on us buying a car to replace it for several more years!
As for the house price, that's about $50 to $100k over the cost of the cheapest teardown in a bad neighbourhood here! What can I say? House prices in Vancouver are high. My old studio and den condo cost $96,900 (about a dozen years ago, before prices took off) and I sold it at the height of the market for $176,000 (and it was pretty much the cheapest condo for sale in the city at that point). I used about half my profits from the sale to buy (outright) an older home in the rural area where we plan to retire. And I put the other half into the house my Eldest Daughter and her partner bought here in the city (where we live with them).
As for the vacation, I figure it costs about $500/day for a family of 4 to take what I would consider a "nice" vacation including transportation, accomodation, food and souvenirs. I know I could go camping for a lot less but I don't like camping. Not everybody does. My idea of a vacation is a hotel where they provide everything and clean up after us. Or, better yet, a cruise! I've done a lot of travelling in the past (my dad worked for an airline and we flew for free) and there's a lot of places I'd like to go back to but flying is really, really expensive when you have to pay for 3 people! Not to mention, the fact that we keep kosher also limits where we can stay and where we can eat! And eating in kosher restaurants is very expensive. So, we don't travel much. And when we do, it's usually driving down to stay with friends in Seattle or something like that. We haven't even gone to Israel so all our relatives can meet our Dear Child (she has lots of cousins there) even though it would be very cheap once we got there, what with staying with family and all, because the flight would cost between $1,500 and $1,800 each and $5k is a LOT of money just for the airfare!
So, what does it all mean? First, there is no real connection between my answers to those questions and what I actually pay for those items.
Second, sometimes you do want to pay more for a certain kind of experience. And that's not wrong! If the vacation I really want is in Israel or Italy, then camping in a tent in a national park is a complete and total waste of money for me no matter how little it costs compared to the other vacation!
Third, Trent really does have a good point when he says: "The value is what you get out of it. Does it make you happy? Does it meet your needs? Those are the things that matter, not matching what someone else is doing."
Where he was wrong was in trying to correlate the first figure that jumps into your head with what you would tend to turn around and actually pay for the item.
Now, does anybody else want to jump in and answer those questions (and then say what you'd really pay)?
Oh yeah and for anybody who didn't get the title of the post, there's a point in the Passover seder where the youngest child asks the 4 Questions. It's sung in Hebrew and starts "Mah nishtana ha layla hazeh mikol halaylot?" [Why is this night different from all other nights?]
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Thinking About TFSAs
I just wrote about my TFSA last week here on my blog and then I got into talking about them over on Trent's blog too. In fact, I had to deal with a commenter who both twisted what I said and told everybody I was wrong! Uh, no. Actually I wasn't.
In case you don't want to go over there and poke around the comments, here's the story. Trent responded to someone who asked him about opening a Roth IRA and using it as an Emergency Fund. He was against it, because the Roth has a $5,000/yr limit that expires at the end of each year (instead of being carried forward like a TFSA). Trent's point was that if you deposit $5k and then use it for an emergency you can't put it back. You've lost that year's contribution and that $5k is gone from your retirement account forever.
Several others pointed out that you might not have an emergency, and then you'd be ahead whereas if you had the emergency you wouldn't be any worse off than if you hadn't opened a Roth and had just put the money in an Emergency Fund. I chimed in to talk about how a Roth and a TFSA are similar but different, and how you can take money out and put it back into a TFSA.
I used the example of someone with a $5,000 contribution limit depositing $2,500 then withdrawing $2,000 for an emergency. I said this person could replace the $2k this year.
Kevin then jumped in to say:
In the interest of avoiding any confusion, I just wanted to correct Shevy’s inaccurate information regarding the Canadian TFSA accounts. Some of his information is completely wrong.
The TFSA does indeed have a $5,000/year contribution limit, and any gains in the account are tax-free, like a Roth IRA. Contributions are not tax-deductible. Shevy is correct that you can take money out, without penalty. Where his information goes off the rails, however, is his suggestion that you have to put the money back in that same year. In fact, it’s exactly the opposite. You CAN’T re-contribute the money that same year. You can put it back, but you have to wait until the next year to do so. Money you withdraw is added to next year’s contribution limit. Unused contribution room rolls forward.
Thus, to correct Shevy’s example, say you contributed $2,500 to your TFSA in year 1, then had an emergency that required you to take out $2,000. Assuming you don’t do anything else in year 1, then next year, your limit will be $9,500 ($2,500 unused contribution room from year 1, plus the $2,000 you took out in year 1, plus your new, $5,000 limit for year 2).
So, of course, I went back to correct all of his errors, starting with where he mistook me for a guy!
First of all, there's a world of difference between being able to do something and being required to do it. I never said the person had to replace the money that same year but they could if they wanted to. Why? Because the person still had enough contribution room to be able to do it. In my example the person would have used $4,500 out of his or her $5,000 contribution room (and would have had $2,500 in the account at the end of the year). There are lots of good reasons for wanting to put the money back as soon as possible, interest being only one. Perhaps the person had to pay for something and then got reimbursed by insurance. So it really should go back in and, if it doesn't, maybe it will end up getting spent on something else. It's a way of focusing on savings and making them a priority.
Kevin is only right that you can't repay the money in the case where you've already used up all your contribution room. For example, if you put $400/mo into your TFSA and then have an emergency in October that costs $2,000 you won't be able to repay it until next year. Why? In October you have $4,000 in the account and you have another $800 that is scheduled to go in over the next 2 months. If you put the $2,000 in you would be over the limit for the year by $1,000 right away and by $1,800 by the end of the year. CRA charges 1% tax per month on the overlimit amount so that's a very bad idea.
You could put $200 back (bringing you right up to the $5,000 limit) and put the other $1,800 back at the beginning of the next calendar year or you could just wait until January to redeposit the whole $2,000. In January there's another $5,000 limit, plus anything you didn't use from a previous year, plus the amount of any withdrawal you made. So, every year the amount people can have in their TFSAs grows by $5,000 and in 10 years time everybody will be entitled to have $50,000 in their account (regardless of how much they actually deposited or withdrew during that decade).
The thing is, how many people are really fully funding their TFSAs? In fact, how many people even opened one in 2009 when they first became available? As I mentioned last week, I'm certainly not fully funding mine with $50 per pay period, especially when you consider that I'm one of the ones who didn't open the account until 2010 (so my contribution limit for this year is $10,000). I think a lot of people who are struggling aren't able to fully fund anything, whether it's 18% to their RRSP or $5,000 to a TFSA or whatever the current maximum to receive the full government match is in an RESP, or even the 1/3/6 or more months we're all encouraged to have in an Emergency Fund.
So what's an average Joe or Jane to do in this circumstance? I think the first thing is to start paying down debt. Then open a TFSA and put whatever you can in there. It could be $10 per week or $416.66 per month or anywhere in between. If you have a baby, open an RESP right away and start putting something into it. I pay $50/month into an RESP. If you've fully funded your TFSA for the year and you have contribution room left over from a previous year, I'd keep going with that. Otherwise you should start a separate Emergency Fund. Once there's $1,000 in the Emergency Fund (and your TFSA is still fully funded) you can split the deposits that were going into the EF in half. Half still goes into the EF, the rest can go into an RRSP. As you finish paying off each debt, snowball it into the remaining debt. When you have no debt other than mortgage you can split the debt repayment money between paying down principal and adding to your RRSP (up to your contribution limit, of course).
Sounds so easy, doesn't it? But I'm still in the very early stages. I'm paying down debt. I have a small TFSA and a smaller Emergency Fund. I have an RESP for my daughter. I have RRSPs but I'm not putting anything into them at this point in time. The money in them is still earning interest though. I prefer the TFSA to the RRSP because of the flexibility inherent in it but I think each has a place in my retirement plans.
In case you don't want to go over there and poke around the comments, here's the story. Trent responded to someone who asked him about opening a Roth IRA and using it as an Emergency Fund. He was against it, because the Roth has a $5,000/yr limit that expires at the end of each year (instead of being carried forward like a TFSA). Trent's point was that if you deposit $5k and then use it for an emergency you can't put it back. You've lost that year's contribution and that $5k is gone from your retirement account forever.
Several others pointed out that you might not have an emergency, and then you'd be ahead whereas if you had the emergency you wouldn't be any worse off than if you hadn't opened a Roth and had just put the money in an Emergency Fund. I chimed in to talk about how a Roth and a TFSA are similar but different, and how you can take money out and put it back into a TFSA.
I used the example of someone with a $5,000 contribution limit depositing $2,500 then withdrawing $2,000 for an emergency. I said this person could replace the $2k this year.
Kevin then jumped in to say:
In the interest of avoiding any confusion, I just wanted to correct Shevy’s inaccurate information regarding the Canadian TFSA accounts. Some of his information is completely wrong.
The TFSA does indeed have a $5,000/year contribution limit, and any gains in the account are tax-free, like a Roth IRA. Contributions are not tax-deductible. Shevy is correct that you can take money out, without penalty. Where his information goes off the rails, however, is his suggestion that you have to put the money back in that same year. In fact, it’s exactly the opposite. You CAN’T re-contribute the money that same year. You can put it back, but you have to wait until the next year to do so. Money you withdraw is added to next year’s contribution limit. Unused contribution room rolls forward.
Thus, to correct Shevy’s example, say you contributed $2,500 to your TFSA in year 1, then had an emergency that required you to take out $2,000. Assuming you don’t do anything else in year 1, then next year, your limit will be $9,500 ($2,500 unused contribution room from year 1, plus the $2,000 you took out in year 1, plus your new, $5,000 limit for year 2).
So, of course, I went back to correct all of his errors, starting with where he mistook me for a guy!
First of all, there's a world of difference between being able to do something and being required to do it. I never said the person had to replace the money that same year but they could if they wanted to. Why? Because the person still had enough contribution room to be able to do it. In my example the person would have used $4,500 out of his or her $5,000 contribution room (and would have had $2,500 in the account at the end of the year). There are lots of good reasons for wanting to put the money back as soon as possible, interest being only one. Perhaps the person had to pay for something and then got reimbursed by insurance. So it really should go back in and, if it doesn't, maybe it will end up getting spent on something else. It's a way of focusing on savings and making them a priority.
Kevin is only right that you can't repay the money in the case where you've already used up all your contribution room. For example, if you put $400/mo into your TFSA and then have an emergency in October that costs $2,000 you won't be able to repay it until next year. Why? In October you have $4,000 in the account and you have another $800 that is scheduled to go in over the next 2 months. If you put the $2,000 in you would be over the limit for the year by $1,000 right away and by $1,800 by the end of the year. CRA charges 1% tax per month on the overlimit amount so that's a very bad idea.
You could put $200 back (bringing you right up to the $5,000 limit) and put the other $1,800 back at the beginning of the next calendar year or you could just wait until January to redeposit the whole $2,000. In January there's another $5,000 limit, plus anything you didn't use from a previous year, plus the amount of any withdrawal you made. So, every year the amount people can have in their TFSAs grows by $5,000 and in 10 years time everybody will be entitled to have $50,000 in their account (regardless of how much they actually deposited or withdrew during that decade).
The thing is, how many people are really fully funding their TFSAs? In fact, how many people even opened one in 2009 when they first became available? As I mentioned last week, I'm certainly not fully funding mine with $50 per pay period, especially when you consider that I'm one of the ones who didn't open the account until 2010 (so my contribution limit for this year is $10,000). I think a lot of people who are struggling aren't able to fully fund anything, whether it's 18% to their RRSP or $5,000 to a TFSA or whatever the current maximum to receive the full government match is in an RESP, or even the 1/3/6 or more months we're all encouraged to have in an Emergency Fund.
So what's an average Joe or Jane to do in this circumstance? I think the first thing is to start paying down debt. Then open a TFSA and put whatever you can in there. It could be $10 per week or $416.66 per month or anywhere in between. If you have a baby, open an RESP right away and start putting something into it. I pay $50/month into an RESP. If you've fully funded your TFSA for the year and you have contribution room left over from a previous year, I'd keep going with that. Otherwise you should start a separate Emergency Fund. Once there's $1,000 in the Emergency Fund (and your TFSA is still fully funded) you can split the deposits that were going into the EF in half. Half still goes into the EF, the rest can go into an RRSP. As you finish paying off each debt, snowball it into the remaining debt. When you have no debt other than mortgage you can split the debt repayment money between paying down principal and adding to your RRSP (up to your contribution limit, of course).
Sounds so easy, doesn't it? But I'm still in the very early stages. I'm paying down debt. I have a small TFSA and a smaller Emergency Fund. I have an RESP for my daughter. I have RRSPs but I'm not putting anything into them at this point in time. The money in them is still earning interest though. I prefer the TFSA to the RRSP because of the flexibility inherent in it but I think each has a place in my retirement plans.
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.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Surgery Update
Just a very short post to say that my Dear Child had her surgery Thursday morning and came through it beautifully, Baruch Hashem [thank G-d]. She was nervous as this was her second surgery and she said she felt the anaesthesia line being inserted last time, but she was very brave. I cuddled her and encouraged her to blow bubbles while they put the line in today (her hand had been pre-numbed by a topical) and she didn't seem to feel it this time. Boy, they go out fast though. One second she was giggling and telling the nurses about Dog and the next we were easing her down on the table as her eyes rolled back.
She's doing really well. We gave her one dose of Advil when the freezing and painkillers they had given her wore off but she hasn't seemed to need any more. I went out and spent more money than I should have on special soft foods for her (cottage cheese, ice cream, juice, soft fruits) but she can't eat regular food for a couple of days, just a very soft diet. I'm going to make tuna quiche (one of her faves) for Shabbos lunch and we'll have fish fillets and mashed potatoes for Friday night.
I can't believe Purim starts when Shabbos ends! At least today was an easy fast (the Fast of Esther gets pushed back to Thursday when Purim is Sunday because we don't fast on Shabbos unless Yom Kippur falls out then). And Dear Child can say she fasted too! Normally kids don't fast until the year they hit Bar or Bat Mitzvah but she had to fast from midnight on for the surgery. Actually, she did have about a third of a glass of water through the afternoon, a sip or 2 at a time, but that's all. She had a strawberry banana ice cream smoothie for dinner. And she's looking forward to a visit from the tooth fairy tonight. She got $5 each time previously when she lost a tooth and they extracted 4 teeth today (among other work). Hubby asked her how much money she'd be getting and she said $20 right away! Pretty good math skills for a 7 year old!
She's doing really well. We gave her one dose of Advil when the freezing and painkillers they had given her wore off but she hasn't seemed to need any more. I went out and spent more money than I should have on special soft foods for her (cottage cheese, ice cream, juice, soft fruits) but she can't eat regular food for a couple of days, just a very soft diet. I'm going to make tuna quiche (one of her faves) for Shabbos lunch and we'll have fish fillets and mashed potatoes for Friday night.
I can't believe Purim starts when Shabbos ends! At least today was an easy fast (the Fast of Esther gets pushed back to Thursday when Purim is Sunday because we don't fast on Shabbos unless Yom Kippur falls out then). And Dear Child can say she fasted too! Normally kids don't fast until the year they hit Bar or Bat Mitzvah but she had to fast from midnight on for the surgery. Actually, she did have about a third of a glass of water through the afternoon, a sip or 2 at a time, but that's all. She had a strawberry banana ice cream smoothie for dinner. And she's looking forward to a visit from the tooth fairy tonight. She got $5 each time previously when she lost a tooth and they extracted 4 teeth today (among other work). Hubby asked her how much money she'd be getting and she said $20 right away! Pretty good math skills for a 7 year old!
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.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Passover Planning
Okay, this is what I was talking about the other night when I was suffering from caffeine-induced insomnia. Passover starts the last week of March and it's already almost the middle of February. My house could politely be described as a mess. We clean for Passover so that we don't have any crumbs anywhere (because we have to get rid of all leavened products for the duration of the holiday). Generally, people also do a lot of other cleaning and tidying at the same time because it helps you find the leavened stuff (called chametz in Hebrew). Right now, I'm hard pressed to even find any horizontal surfaces in my home (including most of the floor) because everything from my daughter's room is all over everywhere.
I have bins of Barbies and stuffed animals, trays of art supplies, boxes of school projects and clothes, her globe, baskets of books, etc. etc. all over my living room. Most of the bins look like they've thrown up their contents. Then, I have her little table in the middle of my kitchen, the chairs in the living room, her comforter across the foot of my bed, her hanging clothes in my closet and her laundry on the floor by the foot of my bed. Oh yes, and her lamps on my dining room table.
My Dear Child's room is still empty and taped off. My Son-in-Law got to the point of replacing the ceiling drywall but found that it didn't all meet up evenly and that he couldn't find a place to sink some of the necessary drywall screws. His dad was in town for just a day or two, so didn't have time to work on it but the problem apparently also affects the kitchen floor upstairs. They need to remove the new drywall, do something up above and then replace it. Of course, after that the drywall will need taping, mudding and sanding (at least a couple of days, what with the mud needing to dry in between). Then he's going to texture the ceiling (which I loathe, but he says he can't do an even enough job to look totally flat, so the texture is necessary) and repaint some of the upper parts of her wall that got damaged during the process to date.
Unfortunately, his dad won't be back until after Eldest Daughter has the baby (any day now, so he'll probably return within the next couple of weeks) and I can't put in the new floor until the ceiling is finished. I don't want paint or drywall compound or drywall dust all over my new floor! And the floor isn't a single evening project. Did I mention that I can't put anything back in the bedroom until both ceiling and floor are finished?
The original plan I made for Passover had me finishing the floor and refilling her room by Jan 31st, spending the next 2 weeks on the living room, 2 weeks on the foyer and 3rd bedroom (including tiling the floor, moving furniture and assembling a wardrobe we've had for about 2 years already), 2 weeks in the master bedroom and, finally, 2 weeks in the kitchen (and adjacent bathroom) and also included doing tiling and replacing cabinets and counters!
Okay, it was ambitious. Very ambitious. I'm now at the point where I should be finishing the living room and I haven't started anything because of the whole situation with the bedroom! I'm frustrated and that's part of what's holding me back. Realistically, while I can't do many of the things I'm supposed to be doing (or should have already completed) there are small areas where I could do something.
For example, I could clean off the mantel and a couple of the bookshelves. I could try to clear off the chaise longue (although I'm not sure where I can put DC's coats) and I could buy the wooden frame from IKEA that is meant to hold her bins. I could assemble it, empty and clean the bins, then only put cleaned and checked toys back into the bins. Then those toys would be off limits until Passover (the hard part). I could also go through her big bin of toys that's been sitting in storage and is currently in our 3rd bedroom. Most of those toys have been outgrown I think and maybe I could get rid of a bunch of them. Then any toys I'm not willing or able to clean for Passover could go in the bin. Those toys could be played with in the interim and then the bin could be sealed shut and sold for the duration of Passover.
On the reno front, I could rip out the carpet in DC's room and lay the DriCore (because it doesn't matter if it gets paint or dust on it).
So, here's a basic revised plan, week by week:
1. Starting Sunday, work on accessible areas in the living room and do the floor prep in DC's room. Work on the bins and toys.
2. Work on the living room areas that are revealed when I move the toys. Clean up the part of the foyer where we put the shoes & DC's backpack. Once Hubby reorganizes the shed, move the boxes that belong there out of the foyer. Rip out carpet in 3rd bedroom and move big items around in it.
3. Tile & grout the floor in the foyer and 3rd bedroom. Move the furniture into their final places. Build the single wardrobe. Move my grandmother's trunk from beside the table into the 3rd bedroom.
4. Work on the master bedroom. Do floor in DC's room (by this time the ceiling had better be fixed!) and move all her stuff back in.
5. Finish the master bedroom. Finish the living room. Start work on the kitchen, beginning with table area and corner by bathroom. Clean fridge. Box up stuff to be sold for Passover (regular dishes, pots, etc.).
6. Continue work on the kitchen, whether I'm doing a reno or scrubbing out the existing lower cabinets. Do reno the upper cabinets at least so we'll have a place to put the Passover food (since the pantry cupboard is the one that fell apart a few months ago). Clean stove.
7. Finish up the kitchen on Sunday the 28th and start cooking for the seders (Monday & Tuesday nights).
Just looking at all of that is pretty scary. Remember, we're also going to have a new baby upstairs, I'm planning to go to the house for a couple of days during the 2nd week, Dear Child is off school until the end of the Olympics, she's having dental surgery on Feb. 25th and we'll be busy with Purim on the 28th (of Feb.). Oh right, and I work! But I don't have any better ideas. If I don't at least try to work this plan I won't be ready at all and what will we do then? Move out for the duration of Passover?
So, plan the work, work the plan. Rinse and repeat.
I have bins of Barbies and stuffed animals, trays of art supplies, boxes of school projects and clothes, her globe, baskets of books, etc. etc. all over my living room. Most of the bins look like they've thrown up their contents. Then, I have her little table in the middle of my kitchen, the chairs in the living room, her comforter across the foot of my bed, her hanging clothes in my closet and her laundry on the floor by the foot of my bed. Oh yes, and her lamps on my dining room table.
My Dear Child's room is still empty and taped off. My Son-in-Law got to the point of replacing the ceiling drywall but found that it didn't all meet up evenly and that he couldn't find a place to sink some of the necessary drywall screws. His dad was in town for just a day or two, so didn't have time to work on it but the problem apparently also affects the kitchen floor upstairs. They need to remove the new drywall, do something up above and then replace it. Of course, after that the drywall will need taping, mudding and sanding (at least a couple of days, what with the mud needing to dry in between). Then he's going to texture the ceiling (which I loathe, but he says he can't do an even enough job to look totally flat, so the texture is necessary) and repaint some of the upper parts of her wall that got damaged during the process to date.
Unfortunately, his dad won't be back until after Eldest Daughter has the baby (any day now, so he'll probably return within the next couple of weeks) and I can't put in the new floor until the ceiling is finished. I don't want paint or drywall compound or drywall dust all over my new floor! And the floor isn't a single evening project. Did I mention that I can't put anything back in the bedroom until both ceiling and floor are finished?
The original plan I made for Passover had me finishing the floor and refilling her room by Jan 31st, spending the next 2 weeks on the living room, 2 weeks on the foyer and 3rd bedroom (including tiling the floor, moving furniture and assembling a wardrobe we've had for about 2 years already), 2 weeks in the master bedroom and, finally, 2 weeks in the kitchen (and adjacent bathroom) and also included doing tiling and replacing cabinets and counters!
Okay, it was ambitious. Very ambitious. I'm now at the point where I should be finishing the living room and I haven't started anything because of the whole situation with the bedroom! I'm frustrated and that's part of what's holding me back. Realistically, while I can't do many of the things I'm supposed to be doing (or should have already completed) there are small areas where I could do something.
For example, I could clean off the mantel and a couple of the bookshelves. I could try to clear off the chaise longue (although I'm not sure where I can put DC's coats) and I could buy the wooden frame from IKEA that is meant to hold her bins. I could assemble it, empty and clean the bins, then only put cleaned and checked toys back into the bins. Then those toys would be off limits until Passover (the hard part). I could also go through her big bin of toys that's been sitting in storage and is currently in our 3rd bedroom. Most of those toys have been outgrown I think and maybe I could get rid of a bunch of them. Then any toys I'm not willing or able to clean for Passover could go in the bin. Those toys could be played with in the interim and then the bin could be sealed shut and sold for the duration of Passover.
On the reno front, I could rip out the carpet in DC's room and lay the DriCore (because it doesn't matter if it gets paint or dust on it).
So, here's a basic revised plan, week by week:
1. Starting Sunday, work on accessible areas in the living room and do the floor prep in DC's room. Work on the bins and toys.
2. Work on the living room areas that are revealed when I move the toys. Clean up the part of the foyer where we put the shoes & DC's backpack. Once Hubby reorganizes the shed, move the boxes that belong there out of the foyer. Rip out carpet in 3rd bedroom and move big items around in it.
3. Tile & grout the floor in the foyer and 3rd bedroom. Move the furniture into their final places. Build the single wardrobe. Move my grandmother's trunk from beside the table into the 3rd bedroom.
4. Work on the master bedroom. Do floor in DC's room (by this time the ceiling had better be fixed!) and move all her stuff back in.
5. Finish the master bedroom. Finish the living room. Start work on the kitchen, beginning with table area and corner by bathroom. Clean fridge. Box up stuff to be sold for Passover (regular dishes, pots, etc.).
6. Continue work on the kitchen, whether I'm doing a reno or scrubbing out the existing lower cabinets. Do reno the upper cabinets at least so we'll have a place to put the Passover food (since the pantry cupboard is the one that fell apart a few months ago). Clean stove.
7. Finish up the kitchen on Sunday the 28th and start cooking for the seders (Monday & Tuesday nights).
Just looking at all of that is pretty scary. Remember, we're also going to have a new baby upstairs, I'm planning to go to the house for a couple of days during the 2nd week, Dear Child is off school until the end of the Olympics, she's having dental surgery on Feb. 25th and we'll be busy with Purim on the 28th (of Feb.). Oh right, and I work! But I don't have any better ideas. If I don't at least try to work this plan I won't be ready at all and what will we do then? Move out for the duration of Passover?
So, plan the work, work the plan. Rinse and repeat.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Thinking Out Loud
Note to Self: Don't drink Snapple. No matter how good it tastes. No matter if you're thirsty and are eating something spicy. Remember. Caffeine=No Sleep.
Windows has decided that it needs to do a big update in about 9 minutes, so we'll see how fast I can write a post. Given that it's a little after 3 am and I haven't been to sleep yet it may not be terribly coherent, but what's life without a challenge or two?
Speaking of challenges, I really have to start writing about my plans for cleaning up the house. Oh, and I have to actually clean too! Really, the reason I need to blog about it is that I need to be held accountable. Things are just really rough right now, work on Dear Child's ceiling is stalled, a lot of other things are happening right now and I'm not getting any cleaning done. Or any reno work.
I'm trying to decide how best to procede because Passover comes very early this year and I have a ton of work to do. I'm going to go think about it now (until I can sleep) and write more tomorrow (or later today).
Windows has decided that it needs to do a big update in about 9 minutes, so we'll see how fast I can write a post. Given that it's a little after 3 am and I haven't been to sleep yet it may not be terribly coherent, but what's life without a challenge or two?
Speaking of challenges, I really have to start writing about my plans for cleaning up the house. Oh, and I have to actually clean too! Really, the reason I need to blog about it is that I need to be held accountable. Things are just really rough right now, work on Dear Child's ceiling is stalled, a lot of other things are happening right now and I'm not getting any cleaning done. Or any reno work.
I'm trying to decide how best to procede because Passover comes very early this year and I have a ton of work to do. I'm going to go think about it now (until I can sleep) and write more tomorrow (or later today).
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