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| Who wouldn't want a wrap like this? Okey dokey, let's roll out the numbers for the past three weeks:  I've painted myself into a bit of a financial corner this month. The numbers all worked fine at the beginning of the month but I find that the $$ are quickly running out and that I'm going to have to pull a No Spend final 10 days of March. There is very little wiggle room. We have spent all of our grocery money plus a little more and that little more was all for ICECREAM - oh my poor thighs!! (This month seems extremely loooooooong!) I have a bit of gas money left but not a lot so trying not to do any extraneous driving. I have a grand total of $33 left in misc spending and that's all she wrote. The rest of the $$ that is sitting in my account is earmarked: $130 for bi-monthly PEI mortgage $152 for property tax $87 for heat/dryer (natural gas) $56 for electricity $70 transportation (gas & due for an oil change!) If only I could get my hands on my daughter's T4 and get our income tax finished then we would have two hefty refund cheques in our hot little hands and I could inject a few more dollars into the budget. It was supposed to have been mailed a week ago in the same city... do you suppose they forgot to put on a stamp??? Hmmmmm...am I being taught some sort of lesson here? Well, if so I'll have to figure it out later. I am starving and then I need to jump on my bike and race another 25km north/east on my trek to PEI. How's your budget doing - will you make it to the end of the month before the end of your money?? |
Monday, March 21, 2011
Weekly Wrap
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This is a wonky long month. We are probably going to be over our food budget this month and maybe overall too. We are cutting it close.
ReplyDeleteI would love a wrap like that.
I think that I'm going to have to drain a lot of our savings pretty quick. That scares me. I was so close to having everything paid for so quick for the yr! All of the extras like car stickers, school registration, xmas all the things that break the budget were almost paid for for the year! I'm sick.
ReplyDeleteHi Jane!
ReplyDeleteI've wanted to jump in on many occasions because I love, Love, LOVE the challenge of stretching a dollar and budgeting just gives me such a thrill. OK... I'm being a bit cheeky on the latter part about budgeting.
You may already know that I moved east (not PEI but NB) from Vancouver almost 6 yrs ago now. We are in an Acadian village where French is the language of choice. The province is bilingual so most jobs want you be bilingual even though 99% of people speak English. Do you get that? I don't. So.... I work part-time from home for a printer (who's a cousin) in PEI. My Mom is an Islander and I'm related to 23.5% of the folks in and around Summerside. I know about 1% of them. I also have many relatives here which was a complete surprise to me. Lots of cousins of my Mom and tons of second cousins as they all seem to come from big families.
I'm barely making it to the end of this month because I screwed up and payed my Visa bill twice (a sign of mentalpause?) I was able to pay my Rogers bill (TV, Internet, Phone) using my Visa credit but not able use that credit to pay my largest heat/hydro bill of the year. A bit of juggling between my debit card and Visa card has balanced me out but threw me off balance. Funny how numbers and budgets gone awry can mess with your brain.
I used to hear about the working poor all the time but never gave it much thought until I realized one day that I am one of the working poor. LOL! We were making decent money in Vancouver but could never handle a mortgage there so we were stuck with boxed housing. No thanks. Here, we are debt free, mortage free but living lean from month to month. I love it expect for those big ticket expenses you know will come and hope they don't, like major car problems or biggish home renos and such. Yikes! We still have a nest egg in tact. It's not emergency money but if it has to be, then so be it.
Niki - did somebody sneak an extra week into this month??
ReplyDeleteSonyaAnn - what happened to throw things so out of whack for you?
Hi Michelle and welcome! Thanks for the history. I knew you were in N.B. but not that you had so much family in PEI! I LOVE driving through N.B. - it's pretty obvious why it's called the "picture province". Last time we drove through we saw more moose than people lol! Which part of the province are you in?
We're moving east a) because it's the most beautiful and magical part of Canada and b) because we get the most bang for our buck. The house and acreage that I bought cost the same amount as the condo I am living in and purchased 17 years ago! What a trade!
Good to hear from you!
Yes... this month is EXTREMELY long. I have blown my grocery budget, but as you suggested I think I will make it to the end of the month. My pantry is well stocked.
ReplyDeleteHope your cheques arrive soon!
Niki.... "Wonky Long"?? LOL!!!
ReplyDeleteMy month is flying in but my budget has gone to pieces, plus my holiday is coming up in 3 days time. The Foxx is excitedly planning ways of spending money, at least it looks like that to me everytime he makes a suggesstion, I see $$$ floating away. HELP
ReplyDeleteMorning Jane! March is a long month...... 31 days. Throw in March break and you find you spend a little bit more money on non-essentials like chai lattes, eating out, gas for extra trips out, etc. All to fill up your "well" again. How was your fist day back to school?
ReplyDeleteIsland hugs,
Kendra
I think we're all digging in with our budgets this month! I'm overspent on grocery and I bought some pyrex storage dishes, grrr, and now wish I hadn't but hey ho!
ReplyDeleteSoon be April and that has one less day :0)
I think you are doing pretty well - but I am with you =- I think most of us are, the funds are running low but the month isn't yet ;) hehe... good luck love
ReplyDeleteMarch is a 3 pay month for us and you would think with that extra money we would be rolling in it but no we too seem to be having some trouble making it to the end of the month.
ReplyDeletehugs
This has been a long month... I've been worn out by a bunch of family emergencies and stuff, and so we've been outing out way too much, so the money seems to be draining out of the account at a rapid pace. Must stem the flow this weekend...
ReplyDeleteI hope your T4 comes in soon. I've gone and "lost" one of my tax forms, so my goal for the weekend is tear the house apart and find it (I know it was in the house and I know I wouldn't throw it out, so it must be around somewhere!) Then we can finally file and get on with life!
Good luck with the hunt psychsarah! I know how that feels - Kazi said she gave me a form and I hunted high and low getting all stressed and she found it on her dresser the next day - sheesh!
ReplyDeleteSo the consensus is in and it is officially a WONKY LONG MONTH!! Glad to know I'm not the only one who feels this way!
Kendra: you're right - March break had a LOT to do with the $$ dwindling faster than usual and how did you know exactly what I spent the extra $$ on lol!! My first day back was pretty good - the kids were more tired than the staff lol! Today I was at the board office all day for some software training so that was a nice change! Hope you're getting back into the groove!
Jane, I am about 12 km west of Bouctouche which is about 40 km north of Moncton. The village we live in is called Sainte Marie de Kent. Can you tell it's Catholic country?
ReplyDeleteI am the daughter of a Quebecois man who married an Anglophone Acadian from PEI. I'm an ex Air Force brat. l met and married a man (originally from Moncton) in Vancouver who is an Anglophone Acadian - his father's native tongue being French. It's all so confusing. We are French but not in the cultural sense and some locals here 'scold' us for not speaking the language. It's just not an easy language to learn.
Don't you have a sister living in PEI? It's a great place to retire and I hope you can embrace the fact that you'll be considered 'from away' for a long time. I am not an Islander, yet I am 'family'. When visiting there (I did live there in my teens) they would say "How long you home for?" and if I were to live there, they would say "She's from 'away'..."
I certainly relate to your excitement to live in PEI. You're on the right path with your PLAN. We did look at houses in PEI but settled on a rural Acadian village in NB. It's been interesting to say the least.
Morning Jane! We are on our March Break this week. It is nice but we too have spent money in Charlottetown sushi one evening, greek/lebanise another evening and I think 3 chai lattes so far this week. It goes pretty fast.... when you are on a well deserved break and you need to fill up the "well" again but summer is on its ways. Know we will spend a bit more on a few more trips to Charlottetown before we head back to school on Monday. Cheers and Happy Hump Day, Jane!!
ReplyDeleteIsland hugs,
Kendra