Just Another Money Monday

Not a whole lot going on around here. Yesterday was a lovely sunny day with temps hovering at -24c when I got up.....BRRRRRRR!! I took the opportunity to clean another 8" of snow off of Dougie the Dodge and shuffled him around the parking lot once the snowplow finally showed up. Today, in Ontario, it's Family Day and unfortunately the sunshine was short lived and it is gently snowing once again.

So...what is my family doing today? Well...let's see...Luna is sleeping, Lily is sleeping, and Kazi is sleeping!! Hopefully things will get a little livelier a little later! For now I'll enjoy the peace of sleeping cats and daughter. I have my new to me $3 radio set to CBC so that is keeping me company.

We're already halfway through February!! How is the money/budget stacking up so far?

• after a week of NO Spend days (the one advantage of having 2 feet of snow drop over the past few days!!) my misc budget stands unchanged at $177. It should be about $290 but I used a chunk to pay for flight/medical insurance for my trip to Ireland. I did it as a challenge to myself to spend as little as possible this month - gee, thanks Mother Nature - it's hard to spend when you can't get out your front door! I have a few upcoming plans for spending in the next week or two (going out for dinner next Saturday, plus $10/weekly for yoga and $2/weekly for volleyball) so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that $177 will be enough to get me to March! That's a bit of a stretch but I'm going to try! (I'll have to stay out of Michael's!! and stop buying yarn!!)
• I did buy some Valentine's goodies for Kazi but used cash - I think I still have about $30 in my wallet. (I'll try to save that for dining out)
• My mini-money fund (a container I throw my loonies and toonies in) stands at $130. Once I reach $150 I'm going to go exchange for some euros.
• I saved a bit on my utilities this month; set aside $75 for Union Gas and it was only $53, set aside $75 for London Hydro and it was $69. That helped pay for Turbo Tax and my wee Goodwill spree. 
• My misc $$ has been spent on: new album by Lucinda Williams on iTunes, $25 spent at Michaels on yarn & a Christmas gift, $11 at Walmart (batteries & light bulbs), $5 to go see "Brooklyn", $21 at Goodwill, and flight/medical insurance.
• Gas budget stands at $120 remaining out of a budget of $160, and the food budget stands at $156 remaining out a budget of $280. I have about a half a tank of gas and will go grocery shopping tomorrow. I will probably end up with a bit left in both of those budget lines and if so that will go to savings.
• I used money saved since Christmas to pay for my flight($709) and one of our BandB's($342 for 3 nights in Galway) so have no debt so far for my trip. 
• Thankfully this is the time of year when interest earned on RRSPs starts to appear so that will help out with upcoming trip expenses. AND it's the 15th so I can Netfile my tax return today - the $200 refund will go toward purchasing more euros. 
• I have purchased February's Christmas present - a crystal making kit from Michaels for my great-nephew but I have NOT made my charitable donation of $25 yet. I really am squeezing my misc budget this month!! I can do it, I know I can!
• Oh, I just remembered I'm going to see my favourite band next Sunday - Blue Rodeo - but I paid for the ticket in November so there will be no expense for that, except maybe parking.
• My other bills remain pretty much the same: Bell Mobility is $79 monthly, internet is $84 monthly, my insurance has renewed and is the same amount - $270 monthly and Kazi pays $175 of that for her car, hot water tank rental is $34, property taxes went up $6 monthly but the city budget isn't finalized yet so that may change, my condo fees went up by $7 and Netflix remains the same at $8 monthly. The two small increases were covered by my pension raise of $30. 
• I increased my monthly savings automatic transfer from $350 to $400. That will increase again once I start receiving CPP (Canada Pension Plan) hopefully to $900 a month. That'll pay for a few trips!! 
• RSPPs: I have two coming due this month and they are going into my RSP Savings Account. From there I can withdraw $5000 to go into my TFSA (Tax Free Savings Account). Of course the gov't takes 10% right off the top so I'll only receive $4500.  The RRSP interest I receive more than makes up for that otherwise it wouldn't be much of a tax shelter would it? Way back when I was contributing to my RRSPs the adage was "pay now or pay later" so I always contributed the maximum. Now I'm in the "pay later" phase though I am very thankful for all those wonderful refunds (of my own money!!) I received over the years. 

Well, wasn't that an exciting post! I wish you sunshine wherever you are and hope your Monday is a happy one. 

Therapik - I'm a Believer

I interrupt this program with an important public announcement. I don't think I've ever endorsed a product on my blog before but there's a first time for everything I guess. What does the following image evoke for you?

Fear?
Disgust?
Pain?
Annoyance?
A sudden desire to scratch?

If you picked "all of the above" then you'll be interested in the following product!

I don't usually purchase gimmicky looking products like this but it was economically priced so I thought I'd give it a try - yes, there IS one born every minute or so I thought! I mean, who would really believe that by holding this device against a swollen red bump of a bug bite and holding down the magic button for 30 seconds you could get rid of the itch!?! Not me, that's for sure.

Well, I am now a reformed cynic! This funny little gadget really works!!!!!! (no number of exclamation marks can truly relate how excited I am by this product!!!!!!!)

I know that coming to live on the east coast means living with bugs...I get that. But gol'darn it I'm gonna give them a fight for their money (that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever!)

On my drive out to PEI a few days ago I was listening to a CBC program (thank GOD for CBC on cross country drives - putting in a little plug for them - the one radio station you can count on when you're travelling on the most god forsaken roads in this vast country) (there is a point in here somewhere!) and they were interviewing some folks who were at a bluegrass festival in Nova Scotia. They were talking about how they all pitched their tents together providing a common area for them to share food/drinks etc and then they started talking about how bad the mosquitoes were this year but they weren't going to let the bugs get them down, in fact, they said "WE LAUGH IN THE FACE OF MOSQUITOES!!! Fie on them, I say fie!!

Now I too LAUGH IN THE FACE OF MOSQUITOES!! I've tested the Therapik on at least 10 bites since I've arrived and after zapping them with some intense heat from my new best friend there IS NO MORE ITCH!!!

I've written before about how I am a "bug buffet" for mosquitoes and other biting bugs. Something to do with my luscious tasting blood I guess. Who knew? So to find something that actually "kills the itch dead" is like finding $1,000,000 in the ditch in front of my house so I could retire early and live happily ever after! Actually, even BETTER!! than that!!

So my friends, if you too live in mosquito infested areas like me invest in a Therapik and a 9volt battery - it'll be the best $15 investment you ever made. No more scratching, no more sleepless nights, no more running back into the house at the first hint of a familiar whine in your ear.

I saw a mosquito in my car today while I was driving to Summerside and do you know what I did??
YES! I LAUGHED IN ITS FACE!!!