Another Year Another Budget

Living on pensions, as I do now means my budget is pretty much set for the year. Same amount of money in, same amount of money out. The rest goes to savings and Misc. However, a new year brings cost-of-living increases and of course the inevitable increases in monthly bills.

What goes up:

Income

• Teacher's Pension
• Canada Pension Plan
• Savings - comes out of my pensions but worth a mention. My monthly savings amount has increased due to now receiving the CPP. All of it goes into savings so what with investment interest etc I am saving roughly $1000/month. And we know what that goes to - TRAVEL (and large items like a new appliance or furniture) but mainly TRAVEL!!

What goes down:

• GST Rebate - Prior to receiving the Canada Pension Plan I was eligible for a tax rebate which was $105 every 4 months. Now that I am receiving the CPP my income is higher therefore I may no longer be eligible for the rebate. I will receive it in January and April however. As for what I'll receive based on 2016 taxes shall remain a mystery until July 1st.

Hah, short list! 

What goes up:

Monthly bills

• Property taxes - well, I'm assuming they'll go up, I've never known them to go down! But it usually takes a few months for City Council to figure out by what percentage they'll increase. I wait with bated breath! 
• Condo Fees - guaranteed to go up every January. I'm sure I received notice of how much but I don't feel like going up to my office to rummage around (my filing is a trifle behind) so we'll just have to wait and see. I budgeted $290. 
• Cell phone - will remain the same (I hope)
• Internet - will remain the same (same hope)
• Insurance - things are in flux with insurance - I think I have a credit coming to me in January (about $20) and then my regular payment beginning in February is $134/monthly. Kazi has her own policy now so I'm paying for Dougie the Dodge and condo insurance. That is up a little but not much. I had an at fault fender bender in 2014 so that will continue to affect my insurance for a couple more years. 
• Union gas (heat, hot water tank & dryer) will increase a bit due to carbon taxes. I still pay the least of anyone I know averaging $30 in the summer to $80 in the winter. Yes, Kazi is always cold; you think she'd be used to it by now :)
• London Hydro - electricity for my American friends. Continues to go up and up and up! Still reasonable though I think. I budgeted $80 as we are using an electric fire in the TV room as it is in the basement. 
• Netflix - $9.99 no change.
• Reliance - I rent my hot water heater. I remember when that was about $8 a month - now it is $35.00 and will likely increase at some point. The cost usually goes up once a year. 
• Misc - covers my allowance :) and I rejig it to reflect the amount of $$ I have left after paying the above. It's usually around $150+/week. That covers meals out, clothing, wine, wine, wine...etc. household items...wine...wine....scotch...
• Variables: gasoline & food - I have been over funding my gas budget for quite some time so have cut it back a bit ($100 monthly); food continues to be a little overfunded as well so have cut it back a trifle. ($280 monthly). Any extra left in either budget line gets carried forward to the next month.

Remains the same:

• Debt - ZERO! I continue to have no mortgage, no loan, and no credit card debt. 

So there you have it. I'm hoping that by February changing amounts will be set for the rest of the year. There is a lot of hope in my budget! All I can say for sure is money will show up in my account once a month and I'll do my best to get rid of it. 

P.S. I had money leftover at the end of December. Since I practise zero budgeting I'm wondering if I forgot someone's Christmas present? 

P.P.S. I kill myself! 

Let the Good Times Roll!

Good things just keep on happening! Yesterday I noticed a deposit in my account of $205.00!! The info just said "EFT from Canada". I had no idea what it was. So I went onto my Service Canada Account which provides info on our tax returns & rebates/credits, Employment Insurance, Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security etc. It turns out I'm now eligible for a provincial rebate of Ontario Sales Tax, property taxes and an energy tax credit. I googled and saw this post heading: Ontario's Trillium Benefit - a New Way to Help the Poor!!!!!!!

I'm still laughing! All the way to the bank, poor me!! The bad news is I only get it once a year - boo hoo hooo!

Including my GST rebate I received an extra $310.00 this month. I'll take it thank you very much! I have a lot of extra expenses this month with my upcoming trip to Ireland. And I have the same amount of money in my misc budget line as I did at the beginning of July! Not to mention the $160 in my gas budget line that I likely won't use. (blows kisses in the general direction of her bicycle :)!!

And I've spent $$$ on new clothes (cheap), socks, undies, bandaids etc etc etc. I've purchased Peterson's Field Guide for Birds and his Guide for Wildflowers.

I've paid off my Mastercard in full, spent $63 at Talize on thrift store clothing, spent $60 at Sunfest (a T-shirt, food and beer), bought a bicycle tire pump, a curtain rod etc etc. I think July is going to become my favourite month!!

The bad news (such as it is) remains the weather - I'm sure I could cook up some fried eggs on the hood of my truck! It's dry dry dry as a bone here and so hot!!! We always have major humidity here in London which makes it feel a lot hotter than it actually is. I think we're at 39c (102.2F) at the moment so I'm staying in today and I made salsa and Greek Quinoa salad. So we're set. The kitties have their little faces squashed up to the patio doors - they don't understand. Well, they would if I booted them out. But then I'd have to go out too and I just can't. I'm wishing and hoping for a thunderstorm.

So that's today's news - all good pretty much. I can't do anything about the weather except complain.
Are you sweating or shivering??