robex's Personal Finance Blog

I took the day off work today! Dh wanted me to go to work with him and then take me for lunch. I said no. Best friend called to see if I wanted to go shopping with her and then go out for lunch. I said no. Dd wanted me to go with her class on their field trip. I said no...well, that one I am feeling slightly guilty about, but I have two field trips next week and I will be helping with hot lunch, so I'm not going to be too guilt ridden over it. I do lots at the school!

Yesterday was crazy busy at work and then I picked the kids up from school, filled the van up with gas, took dd to gymnastics, went grocery shopping, got home and made pita pocket sandwiches for dinner, picked dd up from the gym, went home, got the boys ready because they both had hockey pictures, went to the rink, fed everyone their dinner there while all the team pictures were taken, and then came home and helped with homework, lunches, baths, and bedtime stories. I'm tired and want a day off!

I think I'm done whining now...

My Dad and Stepmom came to visit at my brother's yesterday. I'd told my brother that my family would all come over after hockey and we could order in dinner at his house, or everyone could come to our house for dinner. He suggested that we stay at his place since I'd had a really busy day with the kids and hockey. Sounds good, right? Uh, not quite. Before I got there everyone decided that they wanted Japanese food for dinner which a) I didn't really want because we'd just had it, and b)is really expensive for 11 people. I lost. Instead of ordering in, we went out to the restaurant...So, the bill comes. Now, usually my Dad always pays. Money is not an issue for him. He has plenty and is very generous with it. Dh wanted us to pay the bill, so I took it before my Dad could get his hot little hands on it...$172.00 not including the tip! OUCH! I'm assuming that my brother will be giving me some money for his family's portion. He probably won't be happy because he is quite happy to always let my Dad treat. We might be from the same family, but I received all the money genes...

Total spent today:

$9.92 on necklace for stepmom for Mother's Day (cost to be split with my brother)

$13.38 on chocolates for stepmom for Mother's Day (cost to be split with my brother)

$5.00 on a mocha frappe for me while shopping with ds aged 12

$3.05 on a strawberry smoothie for ds aged 12 for coming shopping with me

Total Spent: $31.35

Total Cost: priceless...I got to show appreciation for a wonderful woman AND spend time with one of my all time favourite people, my 12 year old son! What a lucky day I'm having...

I haven't spent any money in the last two days. On Friday ds6 had a birthday party to go to and I was going to head over to the mall while he was there. Instead, not only did we walk to the party so I would save money on gas, I walked straight back home and had leftovers for lunch, and then walked back to pick him up.
Yesterday I worked from 8:00am-11:30pm, and so there wasn't time to spend money. I ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner off the buffets at work.
We'll see what happens today...

I was just thinking of my girl (now 10), and remembering cute things she did when she was smaller. When she was about 6 she found a penny and I taught her the poem, 'Find a penny, pick it up and all day long you'll have good luck. Put it in your shoe, and luck will follow all week through'. Well, for the next two months, she would put pennies in all our shoes before she went to bed, so we'd be lucky the next day! About 2 weeks into this routine, Dh got dressed in the morning, put his shoes on, looked at me, and asked,"Why do I keep finding money in my shoe? My foot hurts!"...one of those moments you don't forget. I look forward to telling it at her wedding--perfect way to show her caring nature!

My poor dh! I had to work last night from 3:00pm to 10:30. Dh had to rush home, take ds6 to his 3:00 dentist appointment, be back at 4:00 for ds12 to go to hockey, rush back, make dinner, take ds5 to hockey...ds12 stayed home and walked dd10 to Girl Guides...and then at 8:00 dh had to pick her up!!! A year ago that would have been all the stuff I would have to do on my own because he worked so much. It's funny how little we miss the money he made, and how much we appreciate the time he now has with us! He handled yesterday like a pro...I only had to repeat the schedule about 4 times, but it all went smoothly!

This weekend is really busy at work. I will be there tonight from 3:30-11:30 and then back at 8:00am Saturday until 10:00pm! Ooooh! I'll be so looking forward to Sunday when I have the day off. The only thing we have on the schedule is hockey...each boy has a game...at the same time...different rinks, of course.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

I can't believe she's 10 already! We probably (o.k., we did) go overboard on her presents, but this is the last year that she's going to ask for things like a Cabbage Patch Pony...I wanted her birthday to be special. She asked for sushi for dinner, so I'll make it instead of buying it. I'd really rather buy it because I'm feeling lazy and it's a lot of work to make, but I'll get over it! She asked for cupcakes for her class, too, so I made those yesterday. She'll have her sleepover party in a few weeks. My friend gives her kids a budget, and then they get to figure out what the party will entail...homemade cake or DQ ice cream cake? hmmm--the choices and costs are endless when you're 10!

We had dentist appointments yesterday, which, thankfully, are covered by my dental through work, and then came home, ate a quick dinner, and went to ds's hockey game (which he lost 5-4, but he scored a goal, so he was happy), and then I took him to Chapters to get a Dungeon and Dragons starter kit. That cost him $30.00. Good thing he has a paper route!

I'm doing nothing today. I've been planning my nothing day all week. Truth be told, it's 11:39 am and I'm getting a little bored of sitting around. I did have a shower and got dressed, helped dh make breakfast...I thing that's it so far. We'll probably walk over to the store later for some milk and fruit, but other than that I'm saving money, energy, and my sanity!

We had fun at the school Carnival yesterday. I was glad that I set the games up in the gym because it absolutely poured rain outside, which really sucked for the concession, band, motorcross, mini golf, petting zoo, and bouncy castle. The kids starting bringing the animals into the gym from the petting zoo because they were so cold! It was pretty funny...

We're going to barbeque chicken for dinner--yum--and dh says he's doing yardwork. I'm trying to convince him to do it tomorrow because he's not working, and I'll feel guily sitting doing nothing while he's slaving away outside. Well, maybe, just a little guilty!

again! Under the bad influence of my dh and son (aged 6!), I was coerced into going out for Chinese food for lunch. This cost us $23.00...it was very good, though!

One of the other managers bought me dinner tonight. I had a cajun chicken sante fe salad, and I have enough left over for lunch tomorrow. It should be a no spend day. Saturday is the school carnival, so we'll be dropping some money there, but it shouldn't be too much. Everything is pretty low cost at this event.

I have Sunday off work. Nobody in the house has hockey, girl guides, gymnastics or any other planned activity. I'm going to relax and veg outside...maybe do a barbeque in our fire pit and roast some marshmallows!

this month. On nothing that we needed. I did take a shirt back to Walmart today that didn't fit properly...and then spent 3 times as much on a sweater at Superstore! Woe is me!

My best friend took me out for Japanese food...it was sooo good. We're a bad influence on eachother because we always plan stuff and then end up shopping instead!

Tomorrow will hopefully be a no spend day.

Yesterday our boys had back to back hockey games, but instead of buying hot dogs and junk at the rink, I made pita sandwiches, filled them with chicken and ceaser salad, brought some juice boxes, and cookies, and there was dinner. Of course, it was a little staggered, because of the game schedules, but everyone ate well, and we didn't spend any money there!

are soooo quiet! I was bored, bored, bored. It's really hot here, which is such a nice change. The kids played in the sprinkler after school and I tidied up. We're having prawns and broccoli for dinner, and then walking over to the library.
I didn't spend anything yet today, but I will be going to the store on the way to the library to get my boss a gift for her birthday tomorrow. I may end up just getting her a gift certificate, but I'll check out the store first and see if anything hits me!

I got paid on Friday and my cheque was $100 more than usual because of my pay increase! Yay! There was a second cheque with it for just over $300 because, apparently, the big company that bought out our little company last year has a yearly profit sharing plan for their employees...what a nice surprise it was!
We had a wonderful Easter dinner last week for the family. We made both ham and turkey and all the trimmings. My sils brought dessert and appies. It was so fun and very relaxing and we have tons of leftovers. The monthly meal plan is working out well. Having it posted on the fridge has been great because the kids know what's for dinner and I don't hear any complaints from them. They know that they're welcome to sit with me at the beginning of the month and help with the planning.
Spring ball hockey has started for the boys and that keeps the everyone very busy...dh especially, as he is one of the coaches for ds6!

Well, I had told the powers that be at my work that I wasn't really interested in going full time. I like the flexibility of my hours, ranging between 25-45 hours a week. Right after that conversation, I was told that my hours might have to be cut...hmmm...ask me to go full time with a 20% pay increase, and when I answer 'not interested' I'm told my hours were going to change...not quite on the up and up if you ask me! I told them that was fine with me and I would be happy to work less hours. Yesterday I go in and the Human Resource Manager gives me papers to sign for a $1.94 an hour pay increase and my flexible hours are staying as is! Yay! I am a happy girl today!

On the homefront...our emergency account is stacked and we have a full 3 months of living expenses in it's own account. We're putting 600 a month in RRSP's and pension accounts. I'm buying $500.00 GIC's every month. I started in January, and lock them in for a year. I figure if I can do this for 2 years, every month, that will be a revolving $12000 in case of major financial emergencies! The plan is to save all other money for extra mortgage payments. We owe just under $90,000 and would love to get rid of it!

Yep, it's been awhile since I posted here. Life has been busy and bumbling along. Everyone is sick with the flu at our house. Very pleasant, I assure you.
My best friend had a cancer scare which turned out to be nothing in the end. It was two weeks of me reassuring her that everything would be fine. I was really just reassuring myself, but it was all I could do.
Ds turned 6. I can't believe how old my kids are getting. You turn around and they're real little people...it's unbelievable!
On the savings front we're doing great. Our emergency fund is taken care of and it looks like my dream of spending my 40th birthday in Disneyland may not just be a dream because we won't have to empty out the account to do it...we'll see!

I took the kids to school, and came home to a quiet and empty house. Following Flylady's daily chore, I cleaned in our room for almost an hour (while watching an Oprah re-run), changed all the sheets on the beds, and am about to do my weekly home blessing hour. Mine includes a 5 minute wash in each of the 3 bathrooms, 10 minutes vacuuming, 10 minutes dusting, 10 minutes washing the kitchen floor, 10 minutes washing windows, and then I have 5 minutes left to put away whatever I discovered in the past 55 that is in an area that it shouldn't be in! Lots of days my kids and Dh pick a job and we just go at it, but every once in a while I just want to get it done and I don't want to wait until after school. I need to get the kids spending 10 minutes decluttering their bedrooms because we're starting to overfill again!
I'm going out for Thai food with my best friend today and am looking forward to that. I want to get her opinion on my working more hours, and she says that she has something important to talk to me about. Hmmm...very secretive. Other than lunch and going to buy ds5 some colouring paper, I shouldn't be spending anything else.

I filled the van up with gasoline and saved $4.50 on my grocery purchase. I also got $2 off Doritos with a coupon, so they were the same price as the chips that I normally buy. Since I wouldn't have bought the Doritos without the coupon, I'm not counting this in my challenge...I'm just reporting.

Total: $154.87

We went grocery shopping today. The kids came with me and this added a few things into the cart that I wouldn't normally buy, but they didn't go overboard. I don't know how I did this, but we're already over for the month's budget by almost $75. I did stock up at the beginning of the month on tons of stuff for the pantry. I plan dinners a month at a time, so those are all taken care of, but it was the extras...chips, fruit and I don't know what else. We are certainly going to be over in our envelopes this month! Next month will be great, because we have income tax refunds coming, it's Dh's extra cheque month, and my holiday pay for the year will be paid out with my last paycheque in March. We may put some money down on the house. The rest will go into savings. We have been so lucky with our money this past year, and have really worked hard to live below our means, and save the remainder. I will try hard to not beat myself up over spending more than I'd planned on groceries!

I've been asked by my boss to consider going full time in my position at work. This would mean 40 hours a week, as opposed to the 30-35 I work now, a better benefit package, and a 20% pay increase. Hmmm...it all sounds great, but I'm apprehensive as my first priority is my family and I wonder how this will affect them.

We haven't had anything too interesting happening around here. Everyone is happy to finally have a little bit of sunshine, even though it is freezing!

Well, it's Friday, and for most people the start of a nice weekend. Me? I start work tonight at 4:00 and will work until Monday afternoon. I hate working all weekend. AND the weather is finally sunny and beautiful..ho hum, ho hum!

I'm still waiting for dh's T-4 slip so that I can do our taxes. I have no idea how much we'll be getting back since this is the year that he left his full time job to go part time, and I started my own contributions to pension and RRSPs...always before they've been done through a spousal RRSP.

Our mortgage term is through in March. We signed a one year closed at 4.7%...next year both mortgages will be up at the same time and we'll combine them and have better leverage with bank negotiations.

I was buying some jarred fruit at the store yesterday when I realized that the bottom shelf had $1.00 off coupons from the store for the fruit I was looking at. THEN I saw the jars in the back had $1.00 off manufacturers labels! I paid .49 cents a jar instead of $2.49!!! I bought 4, and saved myself $8.00 to go in my challenge envelope.

Toothpaste was 58 cents for the first 6, as opposed to 98 cents so I bought 6 and saved $2.40.

Total: $150.37

I've been reading a lot on freezer cooking for 30 days and am very interested in trying it out. The downfall is that the only freezer we have is the one above the fridge, so 30 days of meals may be a bit squished. I did cook up all the ground beef yesterday-a big family pack. I made enough lasagna for two dinners, two dinners worth of meatballs for sweet and sour, or teriyaki, and an extra portion of plain, cooked meat for sauce, or tacos. We froze two whole chickens, and three bags of legs and thighs. I put a different marinade into each bag, and froze them, so when they defrost, they'll be soaking up barbeque, Italian, or teriyaki sauce. Along with my usual standbys of perogies, tuna casserole, garlic prawns, and a variety of homemade soups, we have meals planned until February 24th. I love the idea of the time savings, but am very curious as to the monetary savings that may occur. We'll see as the month progresses. I have $175.00 left in the grocery budget to cover weekly dairy and fruit and vegetable products, as well as whatever else may come up. The pantry is well stocked with paper products, soap, hair products, pasta, canned soups and beans, and tuna fish.
I stopped following the Flylady regime a few months back and have regretted it ever since. I started again yesterday and notice a huge change in my attitude. This house will be organized...we will have a garage sale...repeat...repeat...repeat...

It feels like a long time since I've added an entry. I worked 10 out of the past 11 days, so I know why I've had no extra time!
The budget is set for February. Envelopes are full, and bank accounts are ready! We went grocery shopping yesterday (counting it as a February amount) and really stocked up. We have a full freezer, fridge, and pantry. I spent $200.00 of the budgeted $375.00. We don't have any unexpected amounts to add in for this month, so, hopefully, everything goes according to plan! I put $500 into a one year GIC and will do the same at the end of this month if all goes well. I would love to have 12 of them, one for each month, and just be able to keep rolling them over. When I have extra money just sitting in the account, I can't seem to be able to get my head around all my choices of what to do with it. I don't want to tie it up for too long, but I also don't want it sitting there. We already have our emergency account, freedom account, and automatic withdrawal for retirement funds and pensions...
On to February!

I filled up with gasoline and got a grocery store credit of $3.58, so I added that to my challenge.

I'm going to add all the change in my change jar for this month. I'll start that fresh in February.

I'm also adding in $14.42 from our electric bill. We are on a monthly installment plan, and we've just been notified that's the amount it has gone down because we've been using less electricity...go laundry racks, go!

My husband has started calling me 'Heatmiser' because anytime anyone in the house complains they're cold, I tell them to put on a sweater! Ha Ha Ha!

Total: 69.91+ whatever is in the change jar. I'll be back...

...added in the $70.06 from the change jar.

Total: $139.97

We did okay on the budget this month, but have slightly overspent in the gift and clothing areas. We had 3 family birthdays this month, and 3 friend birthdays. I'd bought a bunch of gifts at Boxing Day sales to stock up, but went over budget by $40. Dh desperately needed new jeans and shirts, so we spent an additional $60 there, as well. I guess $100 isn't too bad. I still have some change in my purse in the grocery envelope! Thank Goodness February is almost here and those envelopes will soon be full again. I hate the penny pinching at the end of the month.
DH did not ask for any extra spending money this month. I think that may be the first time ever. You can't see me, but I'm doing a happy dance in the family room...

I've pretty much decided what to do with the extra money in the savings account. I'm going to buy $500 GICs once a month for every month that I have extra money. I'll start off with one year ones, they'll be laddered monthly, and I'll keep our emergency money and 3 months expenses separate. I do need to run this by Dh, but since he usually leaves all money matters to me, I'm sure he'll be fine with it.

Our financial advisor thinks we should put any extra money we have into RRSPs. I've been reading a lot about people needing less than what they've been told they'll need for retirement. By the time everything kicks in when we're 65, we'll be so used to spending at this level, that we'll never be able to spend it all...well, that might be pushing the envelope a bit!

Things I did to save money today:
1) Put all yesterday's cheques in the bank.
2) Brought breakfast and lunch to work.
3) Took out leftover cooked steak from the freezer and will make a beef stroganoff for dinner.
4) Today was a no spend day, so far.

It's one of those good money days...

1) I didn't spend anything myself. However, we found $5.00 in my jacket pocket and I gave it to Dh and he bought me some chips with it...I'm having a chip craving.
2) The cheque came through from Dh's old insurance money that we hadn't known about...$1200.00!
3) We received another cheque from Dh's new job for $120 for his petty cash. Dh had put the items on the credit card, and I've already paid that, so it feels like extra money, even though it isn't really!

A good day. Our savings account is now well padded. I'm still looking for where to keep it where I would have access if we needed it, but it's still earning interest.

Dh's cheque went into the bank on Friday, as it was supposed to. An additional $200 went with it for mileage expenses. That will go straight into savings account.

Ds12 had a great birthday. We'll be doing his party in February, but he got all the gifts he asked for but didn't get at Christmas (a perk to having your birthday close to Xmas!) from us, and then various relatives gave him cash, and he ended up with over $100. No small amount for a 12 year old. I told him to think about what he would really like and then buy it and he'll keep it in his account until he can decide. I would hate for him to fritter it away. Since he and dd9 have had their paper route, they're always flush with money. They do save a good chunk of it, and we enjoy watching their choices on what to spend it on...mostly junk food. They like to go for lunch at KFC and it's close enough that they can walk there together.

I worked yesterday and I will be there for the rest of the week, pretty much. My boss is on holidays, so I have all my stuff to do, as well as some of hers. It will be a very busy week, but I'll like the paycheque at the end! I did buy us breakfast yesterday, spent $8.00. I'll bring my breakfast today and have something off the buffet for lunch. I would like a no spend day. My January money envelopes are almost empty...

Yippee! We have a sunny day. It's the first one this month...maybe longer. Ds and I will definately going for a walk today, maybe to the library. We don't spend money there!

We'll be baking cupcakes for ds's 12th birthday today...don't know where those years went...and he's asked for spaghetti and meatballs. I'll make the meatballs and put them in the crockpot with the homemade sauce. It will be delicious by dinnertime and we'll have salad and homemade breadsticks with it.

I don't plan on spending any money today. My friend did call to see if I want to go out for lunch, but I might put her off until next week. I'm craving Thai food, but I have ds5 home with me today and he doesn't like Thai, so I'd rather wait until I have a day where he's not with me to go there.

I'm off to go call the bank and make sure that dh's cheque went in. Sometimes there's a mix-up. If that's the case today then I'll have to go transfer some money from another bank...fingers crossed!

I took the two older kids to a presentation on 'Study Skills--How to Study Smarter, Not Longer' by Terry Small. It was an excellent eye opener and gave us some great ideas on helping them with their homework, how to study for tests, and retain information. I wish I had known this stuff when I was in school!

Ds5 has gymnastics this morning and then we'll be picking up a few things for the big birthday tomorrow. I work at 4:00 today, but took tomorrow night off. Ds has requested spaghetti and meatballs for his birthday meal, and after dinner we're going back to the school for movie night. Families bring their pillows and blankets and hunker down with popcorn, candy bags, and juice boxes. We pay $5.00 per family, it's a fundraiser for the grade 7's graduation, and they'll be showing 'Wallace and Grommit'.

I didn't spend anything yesterday. Today we'll be picking up a game for ds's 12th birthday, breakfast cereal, and 2 bic pens. Ds5 is using his own money to buy something from the 'Littlest Pet Shop' line. It's pretty much what all his money is saved for these days!

Today is 'Reading Day' at my kids' school. Kids and parents go to school early with blankets, stuffies, and pillows, and curl up together and start the day by reading for half an hour. It is such a nice way to begin a rainy Wednesday!

We spent $80 at the grocery store on Monday. Well, I had the gift certificate that dh had partially used, but there was still $25 left on it, so I only had to take $55 out of the grocery envelope. I have $16 left in there to get us through to the end of the month, so I may be borrowing from another envelope. We have not used any extra from the bank accounts this month, and we've had extra expenses...an NHL hockey game (tickets were given, but we paid for parking and snacks), ds's 12th birthday (bought some gifts in late December at Boxing Day sales), and a higher-than-I-thought credit card bill. We'll see how we make it. Two weeks to go!

Yesterday was a no spend day. I would like to pick up one more gift for ds12 and then all his birthday gifts are done. His party will be in February--he's leaning towards laser tag.

I have today off, the kids are all in school until 2:30 and Dh is in meetings all day. Wow! A house to myself...bliss..sigh...