Merry Merry Month of May

The numbers for April are in and they're pretty good:

• the budget line for gasoline was $60 but I only spent $45 😁 yippee yahoo! Still have about a half tank of gas left. 
• the budget line for food was set at the usual $280 but I only spent $212 😁
• Utilities came in under budget by $35 😁
• Savings per month has risen to $1200 from $1000 which will shorten the amount of time needed to replenish money spent on new car😁 This means a smaller amount of misc spending money but so far so good. 
• Misc $$ was spent on: two movies- "Game Night" (fairly funny) and "A Quiet Place" (EXCELLENT!!! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!); two albums purchased from iTunes; a Scotland guidebook downloaded to my Kindle App; $55 spent on fundraising dinner; a pair of gloves used in grooming Luna and Lily ($15 on Amazon - they work really well!); a six-pack of craft beer; a couple of pints after volleyball; $65 spent on a spring tuneup and new rear brakes for my bike; $25 spent at Dollarama (but I don't remember what I bought!); $26 for dinner with family at Morrissey House (it was 15% off for women to make up for gender equity issues!); $15 at Walmart for cat food; $25 to The Red Cross
• Internet bill has risen from $79 to $88  😡
• Paid income tax 😡

Looking ahead at expenses for May:

• As it's my birthday month I get to pay the gov't $120 for a new license sticker for my car 😡
• I will want to purchase flowers for my patio and for the front garden - I'm hoping I can keep my purchases to a reasonable amount - HAH!! That almost NEVER happens - I usually overspend on flowers! 💚

• I will need to keep misc spending to roughly $90 per week so that I can move $1200 to savings. Done  By the end of 2018 my savings accounts will be back to their pre-car purchase amounts!! 😁 I see several trips in 2019!!!

I have budgeted $45 for gas but I hope to spend ZERO now that I have my bike ready as my main source of transportation in the coming months 😁 Also hoping I can keep grocery spending to a minimum.  In aid of that I received and used a $25.00 gift card from Loblaw's to make up for their bread price fixing scandal. That should get me through to the weekend!! I also have $40 in points that I can use for groceries if need be.

Was April kind or nasty to your monthly budget??

November Numbers: New Budget

Good-bye October and HELLO November!

I experienced some belt-tightening in October due to the new car purchase which left me with a much smaller amount of Misc money for weekly spending. Knowing I couldn't play "fast and loose" with my funds I was way more careful with misc spending than I normally am! So...even on a reduced budget I managed to squirrel away more money than usual in my snowflake box! Yippee!!!

A number of factors helped me stash away extra snowflakes:

• I had set a gasoline budget of $80 for October. I didn't use any of that! When I bought the car the tank was full and I didn't buy any gas during the rest of September or October. When gas went down in price Nov. 1st I filled the tank for a cost of only $40! Looks like I won't be overspending on gas though I anticipate using more now that it is getting colder. If I can make it til the end of November without buying more gas I'll have another $40 to add to the snowflake box :)
• Both electricity and natural gas bills came in under the budgeted amount. It's been a mild fall so far and I haven't had to use the furnace much yet or the electric heater downstairs in the TV room. 
• I was very frugal with my grocery shopping this month. I'm still eating from the package of 5 chicken breasts that I bought: first I made fajitas (lasted 2 nights), then I used some in a pasta dish (1 dinner and Kazi took the rest the next day for her lunch); and then I made chicken vegetable soup with the remainder which I am still eating. (yes, chicken was frozen after being cooked!) I had $50 left in the grocery budget which went into the snowflake tin. 
• November will brings its own savings opportunities. I have switched to a cheaper internet package (more gigs at a lower cost!) I have been paying $93/month for 200g. I was browsing my internet company's website (Rogers.com) and saw a different, cheaper package so I switched. I don't know how much exactly my new bill will be what with taxes and so on but should be in the area of $60 for 250g.
• My share of car insurance is going down by $11/month - that's not a lot but it's money in my pocket instead of the insurance company's!
• I've also paid off $2,000 on my credit card: this was the maximum the car dealership would accept from using a credit card to pay for a car. As interest could accrue it was the first part of the car's cost that I paid off.
• I have made another purchase (a Yamaha keyboard-Merry Christmas to me!!) and paid most of it off (a different credit card). When I receive a GIC interest payment later this month it will go to pay off the rest owing on the credit card. By the end of November I will be 100% debt-free once again. 
• Now that one c/c is paid in full I have also repaid my savings in the amount of $500. Having no debt means that starting in December over $1,000 per month will re-build my savings to my pre-car purchase balance. If I didn't travel my savings accounts would be totally repaid in 10 months but as I have plans for a couple trips next year it will taken longer to rebuild my savings but that's ok. Can't be frugal all of the time! 
• Come January my pension will receive an extra bump up due to increased cost of living raise. When I first started receiving my pension not ALL of my pension received cost of living increases. That was due to the pension plan not doing as well back in the financial crisis of 2007-8. But now that the stock market has recovered my entire pension will receive the cost of living increase. I'm very happy about that! I know how much the gross amount will be but not what my net increase will be. 
• By the end of November my snowflake box should hold about $500.  Along with my PC points from using my President's Choice Mastercard for all purchases (currently around $100) I will have $600 saved for Christmas. I will also have an extra $300 from not having to pay property taxes in December or January (I pay my taxes on a 10 month plan)! That should cover any additional expenses during the very expensive month of December:) 

And there you have it - my spending adventure (car and keyboard) is over for now. Snowflakes are growing and by the time the real snow is on the ground I'll have Christmas expenses covered. Having a plan and sticking to it really helps. I must remember that as I plan my travelling for next year: Prince Edward Island, British Columbia and SCOTLAND! 

October Budget a Bit of a Challenge

Are you squeezing your budget extra tight this month in order to stay in the black? Me too! Just about everyone whose blog I read is trying to make the most of their food budget in order to stay on track.  I just went through Thanksgiving Day long weekend and spent twice as much on food/drinks as I usually spend in an ordinary month.  I have a fridge full of leftovers but we're a little tired of eating turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing. It looks like I need to freeze the remaining food and haul it out again in a couple of weeks when I won't be faced with moans and groans...and that's just ME!

But here's the problem: there are three weeks left in October but there is not three weeks of grocery money left! So how to get to the end of October, providing a variety of healthy meals, while staying within the remaining budget. The age old problem. Doesn't seem possible does it?

And this is where you think I'm going to present an imaginative and tasty solution but I'm afraid I'm going to let you down. Because I don't know. If there were only two weeks left in this month I think it would be a snap...but three? Without hauling out the frozen leftovers? This is when having another freezer would come in handy. But I don't have one and never have so I have to work with what I've got.

Yes...I should have increased the food budget for October but the money still has to come from somewhere! So...I've decided to transfer the $80 I set aside for gas for the as yet unnamed car into the food budget line. Fortunately when I purchased the car they filled it up with gas. It still has over 3/4 of a tank so I won't need to put anymore in til next month, and maybe not then either. There, with a little bit of budget magic, I have my three weeks of groceries covered. That being said, I'm still going to try to get to Friday, my usual grocery day, without going to the grocery store.

Fingers crossed.

March Money

So many of you, my fellow blogging friends, live quite happily on a strict budget and make "living on less" a game or a challenge. It's comforting to know that there are so many people, besides me, who are whackos live this challenge daily in order to reach important goals. For many of us that goal is TRAVEL. 

Sometimes I am questioned by people for walking to places that they drive to. I explain that I have a budget line for gas and to make it work then I have to walk to a lot of places. "But you have the money" is a response I sometimes get and yes, I do have the money but I'd rather walk and put more of my money into my travel account. This isn't about being "poor" and making do. It's about making choices and prioritizing those choices. The day will come when my priorities will change (hopefully not soon) and I will save for something else.

I have learned many "savings hacks" from all of you, along with some great recipes, and I appreciate that we freely share our frugal ways.
U da bess!

My monthly budget has a "misc." budget line which is quite generous and covers lots of things: clothing, books, music on iTunes, going out for dinner, playing volleyball ($2.00 a week!), going to movies, things for the home, art supplies, gifts, charitable givings, general mad money and so on. Some months there are more of those things than my misc budget can handle so I'll move something to the next month, (like renewing my passport). This month I had to pay out $220 for truck maintenance and instead of moving money from savings I decided to try covering it from my misc. budget.

So things are a wee bit tight right now as I'm trying to leave my savings alone. Thankfully both pension amounts will be in my account by Friday - I just need to make it to Friday on the $165 I have left in my chequing account. Shouldn't be too difficult. I only need to buy a few groceries. All the bills are paid. I should even have money left to purchase a few more British pounds :)

Fresh New Budget!

This was a month of spending......for my trip to Scotland! Everything is paid for by my Travel Savings Account. Otherwise everything else is about the same.

The Good:

• overestimated utilities by $30.00 - the weather has been much warmer than usual for this time of year!
• I underspent for gasoline and food! I went to the grocery store only 4 times over the month spending $197 of my $280 budget. Kazi ate out a lot with friends - that's the only reason I can come up with why my food spending was so low. Not complaining :) Also had $20 left in the gas account. I've been walking a LOT! as it's been so mild.
• Interest from investments comes due in Feb. and March which replaces a lot of what I spent on travel. 
• went to the 27th annual Firehall reunion! I used to go to the Firehall before they started having reunions ( a loooong time ago!!) - my initiation into the blues! It was an awesome night made even awesomer by the fact that Kazi tended bar that night so my friend and I got in free ("we're on the list") and got free beer - love you Kazi!
• Transferred $1,000 to savings - my usual monthly amount. 
• Have enough misc fund money left to purchase more British Pounds Sterling :) 

The Bad:

• my original iPad has been gradually falling apart and not functioning well. I used it mainly for reading: both downloading books from the library and purchasing books via my Amazon Kindle app. To me this is a NEED not a WANT (or maybe it's both!) so I forked over $372 for a new basic mini-iPad. Used savings to cover the cost. I love the smaller size for reading in bed. I can't tell you how many times I have fallen asleep while holding my big old iPad and the pain when it hit the bridge of my nose was awful! The mini doesn't hurt nearly so much 😂 !!
• Ummmmm, need to rein in the Amazon spending spree! And iTunes! It's just way too easy to purchase music and books etc especially now that I have free delivery on many items from Amazon. I purchased several guide books for upcoming travel, a few other books which support my future plans, and a COMPASS! I just need to learn how to use it! 
• Had to pay, yes PAY for a haircut for the first time in 15 years. It was less than $20 but still...
• Renewed my Ancestry.ca membership ($299) paid by savings

Misc Spending:

• In addition to the above I had a nice dinner out
•  went to see "Lion" - the movie about a lost boy in India who gets adopted by a couple from Australia and how he finds his home village using Google Earth. Excellent movie - needed multiple kleenexes however! 
• Paid for Turbo Tax and completed my taxes - yippee! 
• two trips to LCBO (one was for a birthday party of a friend - honest!!)
• have developed an addiction to pistachios!! $10.00 a bag!! Oh well, could be worse...right?
• okay - here's a good one. Apparently I bought a top and can't even remember what it looks like! I guess I didn't really need it, did I?

So a very spendy (in a good way)(mostly) kind of month! 

Bring on March!! 

January Recap

Due to the terrible events of the past week or two I haven't posted much. So...I'll get back into the swing of things by recapping January's budget.

What went well: (almost everything)

• the cost-of-living increase in my teacher's pension was TO THE DOLLAR exactly equal to the increases in my bills: property tax, condo fee and insurance! Sometimes the system works. That allowed the increase in my Canada Pension Plan ($8.00 whoopdedoo!) to be added to my savings.
• Saving $1,000 per month is very doable. Tsf'd $1100 in January to savings. (Travel fund:)
• Overestimates in utilities put $46 back into my misc budget line. It's just not been that cold so far this winter.
• Didn't have to pay property taxes this month as I am on a 10 month schedule. Went to savings instead.
• Overpaid insurance so received a credit in January and NO payment til Feb. Extra went to savings.
• Received investment income. Rolled it over.
• Due to various bits and bobs my misc spending budget was $675 in January!! Out of that I saved enough to buy 250 pounds sterling! 
• Received GST refund ($105 4 x a year) put it into savings
• Came in under budget for gas $75/$100 & groceries $255/$280. Extra went to misc.
• Even with that I finished January with $31 in my chequing account. Added that to February's budget.

What didn't go quite as well but wasn't too bad considering!

• $60 for eye doctor because of Posterior Vitreous Detachment issue - have a checkup in a week which is also covered by the $60 payment already made. Don't feel too upset about that bill!
• $37 for a prescription

January was a great month!!

Misc spending covered:

• two meals out (Hong Ping with a friend & Swiss Chalet with my neighbour - an annual Christmas treat)
• Wine and Food Show
• Purchased Amazon Prime for a year which also includes Amazon Prime Video streaming. Comes to less than $7.00/month
• Art supplies ordered through Amazon (free shipping :) 
• added $ to my Tim's card and my Starbucks card
• Home Depot materials to fix electrical outlet
• Walmart - craft supplies (political sign-making)
• Google storage
• 250 pounds sterling

Stay tuned for February's budget recap when I proceed to spend twice what I saved in January!!

(Scotland trip is shaping up!!)

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??

Starting at the End...

...of June, that is...

June was a month of ups and downs - the prices of everything went UP and my bank accounts went DOWN.

I received my first Canada Pension Plan payment and used most of it to pay for my new phone. Boo.

My dentist looked at my teeth for 15 seconds and for that I gave him $189.00! The good news is my hygienist said my oral hygiene is better than hers!! Do I really want her scraping and cleaning my teeth?

Today I received my first GST/HST payment of $105.00!!! That's a little bit of our own tax money given back to us from our government based on our income. I haven't received this little tidbit for years as my income was too high. Welcome to retirement! Oh, and I get that little boost 4 x a year! YAY! Though I'm wondering if I'll get it next year now that I have to add the CPP payment as income on my tax return. It's a nice monthly stipend of $558 (actually over $600 but I'm having 10% tax taken off at the source). Next year's tax return should be interesting.

Also paid CAA in June (geez, what DIDN'T I pay???) which came to $224 for Kazi and me. That's part of her birthday gift each year. Yippee! I tell ya, my daughter sometimes wishes I wasn't such a practical gift giver but I just can't help myself. With her car being a 2006 model and mine being a 2000 I think it's a necessity to have this extra coverage.

I spent more than usual on food in June - likely because cherries were $6.99/lb and strawberries $4.25 a quart. We ate a LOT of them :) Eventually they both went down in price. I shopped at Farmboy (more expensive!) several times because I love their pre-made salads and they sell the best freshly made turkey burgers in the city. On the flip side of that I haven't purchased gas for the truck since the beginning of June! So in June I took what was left of the gas budget ($100) and added it to the food budget ending up even Steven.

My savings went down by $2,000 as I paid for the rest of my trip to Ireland though I have replaced $500 of that. Annie's already got an idea for next year - Scotland and the Isle of Skye!!!!! Hopefully I won't drop any more phones in my coffee which will allow me to save $900 - $1,000 per month for upcoming trips. I might start taking 2 per year! We'll see how the saving goes.

June was my month of cycling 400km to raise money for children's cancer research. I reached 106% of my cycling goal and 110% of my money goal!! I reached my goals by June 21st which allowed me to spend time with my friend Troy to celebrate her 50th birthday over the course of 10 days!!! We went to 3 different beaches (Lake Huron and Lake Erie), went to Pt. Pelee National Park which is the southern most bit of Canada (had never been), went to the Wine Bar :) and had a day of shopping/exploring in the Sparta area south of London. Great time! I'll get some pictures posted in my next post - I think Lily is eating a bee so I better go check! Ick, it was a large fly....gross!!

Mid Month Money

Sooooo,  yesterday I got the computer all set up and a title on my post and somehow I ended up in the workshop!  I'm one of those people who starts a lot of things all at the same time, instead of doing one thing at a time until completion. I might decide to vacuum but on my way to get the vacuum cleaner I see a lot of cat toys everywhere so I start picking them up and forget about the vacuum. Then I remember I need something from the truck so I head out to the truck and end up driving to Timmy's and buying a coffee.

Then, oh yeah, I need to vacuum; but I should pick up some milk since I'm out. Home again and guess what...it's time for lunch! I'll just take a minute to get the mail from my mailbox. Ooooooh! Flyers! I'll make lunch and look at the flyers while I eat - MULTI-TASKING!! Where did all of those dishes come from? I'll just do them first and then I'll vacuum! Oh wait, what are we going to have for dinner?  And so my day goes...

Obviously I'm much better at budgeting than I am at getting things done around the house! Which I guess is a good thing. March is one of those months that really seems to last a verrrrry loooooooong time! Perhaps because February is usually 3 days shorter.  Whatever the reason I would be happy if March was over, but alas, still two weeks plus a day left. Will I make it? Or more to the point will the money end before the end of the month? Possibly.

• my Misc budget stands at $230, it should be at $290. I accidentally downloaded a bunch of music from iTunes, about $33 worth.  But that's fun, right? It's the UN-fun uses of my Misc $$ that I resent. Like $27 for a prescription yesterday and the $7 I spent on the useless artsy craftsy get together but on the bright side it doesn't affect my bottom line by much. I visited a friend last Saturday and stopped to buy snacks on the way - I tried to be virtuous by going into the health food store instead of the grocery store and purchased some "nutritious" snacks HAH!! Two bags of handmade potato chips made with coconut oil instead of the usual - soooo good! And a container of those yummy stove-top chocolate/coconut cookies made with NATURAL RAW sugar! I felt so health conscious that we proceeded to eat all of it!!!!
• my GAS budget is doing well again this month - I have spent just $76/$160 (just filled up 2 days ago so might make it til the end of the month.)
• my FOOD budget is a bit low - I've spent $210/$280 with a big shop done Monday. I think I can make it on $70 for the rest of the month. 
• my small emergency SNOWFLAKE box is sitting at $49 which I can use if I need to. 
• That's it for my variables; everything else stays the same from month to month except, of course, utilities. So far I've underestimated my utility bills for Jan., Feb., and March by approx. $35 - $40. 

So there you have it. My budget lines are a bit low for this point of the month but the truck is full of gas and the fridge is overflowing so I'm not worried. I'm really hoping I can tsf another $50 to savings to make for some nice round numbers - I like my savings to end in nice round zeroes. We'll see. I know that I'm working with small numbers here which I am really happy about. I'm one of those people who plugs away very methodically with my budget (not like household chores!!) I can look down the road and see where I'm going to be financially. Saving $400 per month is pocket change to many people but over a year that's almost $5000 - more than enough for another fantastic trip and some household renovations!  I never go on shopping sprees except at my local thrift store :)

I finished that sculpture that was causing me grief - it's all sanded and polished and ready for the camera. It's not my best work but I like it. I'll take some photos and show you tomorrow.

In the meantime I hope your "Mid Month Money" situation is in good shape! 

Just Another Money Monday

Not too much to say about the budget thus far. I spent $8 more than I should have (OMG!!) - my misc budget is $145/week and I over spent a wee bit. I used my snowflake $$ to purchase another 100 euros - I didn't have quite enough so used misc funds to complete the purchase. I am down to only $6 in my snowflake box but I have enough cash now for my trip to cover entrance fees to Blarney Castle and other attractions/souvenirs etc.

$400 was automatically transferred to savings and I withdrew $5,000 from my RRSP and put the $4500 that remained after taxes into my Tax Free Savings Account. Some interest has been received with another major chunk coming on the 11th. No sign of my tax refund yet though it will probably show up this week. I am able to check its progress on the Canada Revenue site and it has been assessed and confirmed so any day now.....

I think I mentioned that I over estimated my Union Gas bill by $22. As that doesn't come off til near the end of March I haven't really had the benefit of that yet. Hopefully my estimate ($75) of my electricity bill will be over as well. All of those little bits of $$ help me get through the month and expand my misc budget a little.

The other purchase I made during the first week of March's budget was a white microwave (on sale for $50). I've been meaning to replace my old black one for quite some time. It works fine (so I'll take it to a thrift store) but it really stuck out in front of my white subway tiles and my other appliances are white so now it sort of "disappears" - it's also a bit smaller which helps with my somewhat limited counter space.

The final purchase for the first week of March was some lighter coloured wool for Kazi's infinity scarf. My shoulder is feeling quite a bit better today so I may get started on that tonight as I watch TV.

I have used $38/$160 of my gas budget and $88/$280 of my food budget. I'm going to pick up a few groceries today (only what we need - it's a short list) but I won't need gas for quite a while yet.

And so goes the budget - no surprises so far - just the way I like it!

Just another Money Monday

Don't you just love the end of a month?  I put my nice clean (for now) budget page for March on my clipboard, forever consigning February 2016 to my filing cabinet. I know March isn't until tomorrow but I actually closed February last Friday. I had $60 in my wallet plus $150 in my snowflake box just in case of emergency. And I still had $120 in my chequing account.

So I did what any sane person would do - I went shopping!! No, I didn't go wild. I bought some super bulky yarn at Michael's for my next project - an infinity scarf for Kazi. And I bought a cute little book with a nice variety of crochet projects including a SUPER darling pair of baby shoes :) Well, I can dream can't I? I wonder if they have a kitty-cat version??

Now THERE'S and idea....nope, just couldn't do it!

I used money from my wallet for the yarn and book which came to about $22. Then I danced a jig over to the Currency Exchange store at Masonville Mall and purchased 100 euros!! Woo hoo!! When all was said and done I withdrew the $120 left over in my chequing account and put it into my snowflake box towards my next purchase of euros! I should be able to buy another 100 euros by the end of this week or next! As long as Murphy doesn't rear his ugly head! Thankfully the euro is dropping too which makes it a bit cheaper than a few weeks ago.

My February budget goals were met: a Christmas present for my great-nephew was purchased and I donated $25 to United Way. What really helped me out in February was the weather and the price of gas. We had a bad storm that kept me home for a few days - with another one due tomorrow!! And with the price of gas being at its lowest in years I only spent $68 for gas for Dougie the Dodge. Unheard of!

The big grocery shop in the middle of the month ($102) is still feeding us! And my heating bill was at its lowest in years as well (for a January!) I'm curious to see what my heating bill will be for February - yes, it's a shorter month but I tried something a little different. I set the thermostat at 19c and didn't touch it once! If I got chilly I put on a sweater or put a quilt over my lap. When we watch TV we have an electric fire to keep us toasty. So, happily, I ended up with surpluses in both the gas and grocery budget lines :) Yippee!!

Savings increased by about $550 which was then used to pay for some Ireland-related expenses. Easy come, easy go! Still awaiting my whopping tax refund of just over $200 plus I have some good RSP interest due this month. That will all go towards the trip. So that was February! I think March is going to come in like a lion according to the latest forecast. That's ok, let's get it over with - only 3 weeks til SPRING!! 

Once again my snowdrops are blooming but if tomorrow's forecast is accurate they'll be covered up for the second time. (Just checked - we're in for anywhere between 15 and 30cms)  Crap.

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. 

Bye Bye January!!

It looked like I was going to end up with money left over at the end of January's budget but, alas, I had to replace my laptop charger after a kitten who will rename nameless decided to give it a good chew! Woe is me.

Hard to believe that these precious munchkins love
to eat my cords!! Such dumplings!

 And, prior to that happening I had a little thrift shop splurge at Talize so I actually ended up spending about $5.00 more than I should have. Woe is me again.

Meh, no biggie. I'll just take that off my misc budget for the first week of February. Actually, I'll be ahead of the game as Kazi is paying me back today some money I loaned her for a car repair - that will go directly into savings.

Happily I also got a $30.00 monthly pension raise :) which along with a $5.00 weekly decrease in misc spending allows me to put $400.00 into savings monthly instead of the current $350.00. That puts a smile on my face!! When I look at my budget it seems like I spent a lot of money this month AND I managed to tuck a little extra into savings over and above the usual automatic transfer of $350.00.

Misc Spending:

• $120 for an eye exam
• $50 for charitable donation
• $38.19 Walmart (?) no memory of what I bought! Must have been really important!
• $14 - movie
• $11 Value Village ( a brand new area rug and a shelf for my treasures)
• $17 - Shoppers Drugmart (chapstick and lipstick)
• $8 to play volleyball
• $40 - wine and food show
• $8 - music from iTunes
• $58 - Michaels (yarn, 2 frames, rub-ons)
• $9 - pint at book club meeting
• $45 - new charger (that hurts!)
• $55 - thrifty splurge at Talize - a lovely black and white quilt (for $10!), brand new set of flannel sheets!, a gorgeous green/gold paisley throw that is backed with sheep skin!, 3 new tops (2@ 50% off) (will post photos once I take some!)

They look so innocent, don't they?

As I allow myself $150.00 weekly for misc spending these expenditures represent $473/$600 misc spending for January. The discrepancy is cash withdrawals (and a couple little transfers to savings) throughout the month which paid for a breakfast out with a friend, a lunch out with a friend, 2 movies that I saw last week, yoga fees, coffees, newspapers and so on. 

I came in under budget for gas (spent $67/$160) and food (spent $242/280) so that helped with extra amounts I put into savings. Also received some interest from an RSP that bumped savings up a bit.

At the end of 2015 I decided that I want to give a monthly charitable donation of at least $25.00. I exceeded that in January by donating $50.00. The other thing I want to do is buy one Christmas gift per month to lessen the sting in December. I accomplished that by purchasing a large piece of material for my friend Julie who creates banners for activism purposes. 

This fiscal year is off to a great start. My taxes are finished and ready to netfile on Feb. 15th. Due to decreased income and income tax paid thanks to now living on a pension I will only receive a refund of $200 (last year's was $1236) but I am thankful I don't owe any money to the tax dep't!!

Did you end up with money at the end of January or did you break even? 

By the Numbers

I'm pretty satisfied with the numbers this month. August ended (can you believe it???!) with a surplus of $284 (in addition to putting $350 into savings). YEAH BABY!! Riding my bike everywhere is really saving me money. Other savings included utilities: natural gas was a low $32 and electricity was $42!! We've run the A/C a little bit but mostly our house stays pretty cool as it is protected by two huge maple trees and a locust tree. The patio only gets about an hour of direct sun per day and a couple hours of filtered sunlight. I can't complain. It was sweltering and humid today but the A/C only kicked in a couple of times.  I keep it set at 25c.

I went over a little bit in the food budget because it was cherry season and I gorged myself. Not even kidding! Cherries are my favourite fruit and no time to be frugal!! I bought quite a few bags at an average cost of about $13+/bag. But I more than made up that overage by NOT having to put much gas in the truck. And recently our gas prices have dropped making the gas budget even smaller.

So what did I waste spend my money on this month?

• went to the movies twice (The Minions and Shaun the Sheep Movie :)
• two albums downloaded from iTunes
• bought several books; a couple new but the rest were second hand
• beer
• yoga x 4
• Yogathon - $25 donation
• played progressive euchre twice plus dinner
• $20 UPS delivery fee for the maps/guide for upcoming trip
• renewed my hiking membership $25.00
• paid for travel insurance
• paid for train x 2 while away
• extra google storage - $2.71
• Hallmark membership
• hiking: food/entrance fee into provincial park
• dinner/beer at the Jazz Fest yesterday
• food/icecream at Rib Fest
• Dairy Queen x 2, 3, 4 times?? But who's counting right?

Some freebies: 

• loaned my truck to my brother and he treated me to dinner at The Waltzing Weasel
• Kazi worked the Beer Festival downtown and treated me to several samples and gave me a T-shirt from her workplace - Toboggan; (there was a long line up to get into the Beer Fest so she threw me a T-shirt over the fence and I put it on and walked right in as if I was working there lol!) Then I benefited from her "beer" expertise (beertise?) and tried a number of yummy samples (I wasn't driving!!)

This was my favourite! Scotch Ale.....

• also free - weekly meditation, weekly visits with my brother, pot luck dinner & MORE!!

All in all a pretty awesome month!! And not just the numbers...!

Bye Bye July Budget!

New month = new budget.

Surprisingly I came in under budget for July. I'm sure you're just as stunned as I am with that news!! (Stunned in the nicest of ways of course!) I reined in my expenses big time because I knew it was going to be a "spendy" kind of month. With a long weekend devoted to partying with my old and I mean OLD, high school friends (40th anniversary of our high school graduation - EEK!!); and constantly stuffing my face at expensive restaurants I tried to keep other expenses at a minimum.

And I did!! I am excited to report that the month ended before the money ran out! My frugality resulted in having $135.00 left to add to August's budget! And yet, I feel like I really "lived it up" in July! I ate out multiple times, bought 2 yoga tops, went to the beach 4 or 5 times and had Kazi's boyfriend stay with us for several days.

So where did I save money?? Low utility bills (thank you summer!) - my natural gas bill was only $32 and my electric bill was only $44. (My next electric bill will be higher due to putting on the A/C during a hot and humid spell of weather) Also I came in under budget somehow in the gas and food lines. I guess all of the eating out saved money on my grocery bill! Who knew?? And I've been doing almost all of my errands either by walking or riding my bike. Friends who went to the beach with me chipped in for gas and I cut back on yoga classes going only once weekly (for now).

Another $40 was saved by changing my internet plan with Rogers though that's only for 3 months - but it helps. I used my Misc budget line to cover my eating out and entertainment for the month (beer and wine :) and other than the 2 clearance priced yoga tops I bought ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!

IT CAN BE DONE!

But not forever...I have a list of things I need to purchase though none is urgent. Yesterday I transferred money from savings to pay for the rest of my September trip to England and I also used savings to purchase some new patio furniture. My old furniture was just that - OLD! (and ratty and uncomfortable and ugly!!) Since I love to be outside I decided sprucing up my patio was a necessary expenditure. And I'm really pleased with how it has come together - I found a "conversation" set of furniture on sale at the local Jysk store and it was delivered for free! 

One end of the patio is for "conversation" (reading, drinking...) and the other end...

is for lounging (reading, drinking...).  BBQ is to the right behind the geraniums.

How did your budget do in July? Is summer more expensive than other times of the year?

It's a Brand New....

SEASON!!!...I think I'll call it "Sprinter" and Spring better just sprint right back here before I have a tantrum!

Poor Dougie the Dodge getting attacked by snow pellets...he did nothing to deserve this...

Aren't I glad I got those free rolls of paper towels when I bought Windex at Giant Tiger...looks like I'll be using them again...sometime...

Sprinter: spring chairs, winter weather.

Today it was even worse as it snowed more during the night. But I was off for a hike this morning and didn't get any photos.  Some has melted away but a lot remains. It's pretty chilly out there.

Today brings one week left in April's budget. I'm very happy with how and where the money went this month.  The heating bill was down!! The electricity bill...stayed the same (boo, hiss)...well, the bill would have been lower but rates are being raised AGAIN!! As Carla pointed out this week if you live in Ontario your hydro bill is obscene.

However, in spite of that I'm ahead of the game right now by $400.00. Even after tucking $350.00 into savings earlier in the month. April was the month of chairs - 3 zero gravity chairs - 2 have gone to the trailer; and today Canadian Tire had their andirondack chairs on for $16.99 (regular $23.99) so I bought 4 - they're in the back of Dougie waiting for the next trip to the trailer. Other than chairs, tealights for all of my lanterns and a new album on iTunes I kept my spending to a minimum. Oh, and I bought a book.... Oh, and a bottle of wine....oh, and another bottle of wine :)

What really helped is I only went out to dinner once and breakfast once. You can save a LOT of money by eating at home. AND I still have $109 left in my grocery budget of $276. And $87 left in my gas budget. AWESOME!! Obviously I won't have $400 left by next Thursday when April's budget is complete but I bet I have $300. Even $250 would be good. Or $200. See, I'm not picky, as long as I'm in the black I'm ecstatic!!

How's your budget going? Black or red?

BUDGET Bonanza!

There is no bonanza, nor any lesbians either so move along to the next blog if you want...

Just another dull look at the budget...but, it keeps my spending in check (sorta)  to look at the numbers weekly. I am thankful that so far April is going better than expected. Now there's something to celebrate right? (completely disregarding that it's only the 9th of April?)

So what's so darn great about April's money so far??? Well....the acupuncturist said I might only have to get one treatment (she says while burning her butt on a heating pad...)

HEY, I JUST SAID BUTT!!(that should increase my readership!!)

I took $500.00 out of savings to cover said treatments @ $50.00 a SHOT that would amount to 10 treatments. So...I could possibly save $450.00!! (some of which I spent already - EEK!!) Money is getting muddled - OH NO!! I hate that! I took $200.00 of the $500.00 designated for acupuncture and put it in my wallet. I paid for one treatment and still have $80.00 left so that means that there is $70.00 unaccounted for!! I bought a book today ($30.00) and lunch ($5.00) so that leaves $35.00. I did spend some money to make a nice Easter - a bit on candy and wine...see how it dribbles away!?! I cannot be trusted with cash in my wallet - it DISAPPEARS!! And if I don't keep my receipts I can't track where it goes!!

Anyhoo I still have $380.00 left for the acupuncturist if I need it.  If I don't then either it goes back into savings or I use it to purchase some things for the trailer.

Speaking of the trailer...I used my misc money this week to buy two zero-gravity lounging chairs!!

I thought they would be nice for my back/butt area and they ARE!! At only $38.00 a piece I consider them a bargain! And that's all I spent (other than what was mentioned above), so my misc budget is in very good shape - see, it all works out in the end.

Gas budget stands at $145 left out of $170 (this budget will have to be increased once I start going to the trailer) and there is $180 left out of $276 in the food budget. Foodwise we are in great shape - there will be no food shopping until there is actually room in the fridge to put more food!!

And that sums up this week's edition of Budget Bonanza!! How's your budget looking?

Boring Budget Basics otherwise known as the BBB

Every Monday I head out to fill Dougie the Dodge with gas and to buy groceries. I allot so much per week for these expenses. Now...wouldn't it be so nice if each month had exactly 4 weeks? Unfortunately the calendar doesn't work that way. Next week will be part March and part April. Should I allot the gas & groceries to March next week?  or April? Go halfsies? I spent a few moments thinking about that conundrum when I thought of a brilliant solution!! Yes, sometimes there is brilliance!!

I'm going to change gas & grocery day!! Instead of Mondays starting April 1st (no joke!!) gas & grocery day will be on WEDNESDAYS!! Woot woot!! No doubt at the end of April I'll have to make another little adjustment as we all know there are 4 weeks AND A COUPLE OF DAYS in every month, except February...why can't every month be nice and tidy like February?? The challenge will be to make the gas & groceries last 2-3 days longer at the end of each month. That's a challenge I can handle.

I guess I could stop being a zero budgeter but it's all I know!! There's usually some money left at the end of each month but I do what my gramma used to do - move the leftovers into a different "purse" and start fresh with next month's money. (Yes, I only get paid once a month!)

My gramma had two purses hidden behind a cushion in her bedroom. Her monthly money would go in one purse and she would pay all of her bills from it. Then whatever was left at the end of the month went into the "savings" purse. No carry over into the next month. And that's the way I do things too except I use bank accounts not purses. Maybe I should switch? No...it'd be too tempting to spend.

After spending on gas & groceries today I have $61 left in the gas budget and $81 left in the groceries budget. If I can make that last til April 1st then I can tuck$142 into savings. If I can't it's no big deal as the money is there if I need it.

Are you going to make it to the end of the month before the end of your money?

Blogger Blues

My new header photo isn't working out but at the moment blogger won't let me remove it so we're stuck for now with a monster-sized photo that floats around. Isn't life fun?

So, I'm going to update my budget quickly then get out for a walk as it's supposed to get up to +12c today!! Woot woot - and the sun is trying to peak through!

Tomorrow it might snow.

Shopping was easy peasy cheapy today. I like that! I could only squeeze $19 worth of gas into Dougie the Dodge. Still have $86 left in the gas budget. Food costs were pretty low today too - $38 spent at No Frills and $6.54 spent at Giant Tiger. That includes 2 packages of chicken (on sale) and lots of fruit and veg (2 pkg of blueberries, a pineapple, bananas, 2 cans of mandarin oranges, 6 avocados, a pepper squash, 2 bunches or green onions, 4 x-large tomatoes, 2 jars of jalapeno peppers, Greek yogurt on sale, 2 cans of crushed tomatoes, 2 cans of kidney beans, 2 cans brown beans (making veggie chilli soon!) and a box of Triscuits.

At Giant Tiger I purchased clementines, lettuce and diced tomatoes (No Frills was out of them). I went in to get toilet paper on sale but they were sold out. I have plenty for another week.

So I didn't purchase any NON FOOD items this week. That makes me happy. I have $124 left in the food budget. So far so good.

I took $40 cash out of my misc budget on Saturday which I used yesterday to see "The Second Best Marigold Hotel" (EXCELLENT) and then had Indian food for dinner :) a theme night! I have $266 left in misc and a VERY empty wallet. I can make it, the ever-elusive tax refund will show up sooner or later (definitely later!) and I don't have any expensive plans in the offing. Well...maybe one...

Budget Boogaloo

February is quickly coming to a close - now if it would only take the brutally cold air with it!! One of the thousands of things I like better about spring are the reduced utility bills. With this February shaping up to be THE COLDEST ON RECORD then my heating bill is likely to be THE HIGHEST ON RECORD!!

The Lowlights and Highlights of February's Budget:

• Lowlights - I underestimated my heating bill and electricity bill by $24; considering how cold it's been that's hardly surprising. I took the extra out of my misc budget and sucked it up!
• a few things have gotten more expensive: my monthly internet bill increased by $3, the hot water tank rental increased by $1, property taxes are increasing by approx. 2.5% but I don't have the new amount yet. That's it for lowlights - nothing broke down, nothing had to be fixed, we stayed warm, ate well and indulged in lots of wine and chocolate!!
• Highlights - I stayed on budget!! AND I had leftover money in all three variable budgets (gas, food and misc)
• a decrease in car/home insurance means that the little increases in other bills were mostly covered
• I have $24 left in the food budget :) ... $85 left in the gas budget :)...and $53 left in the misc budget!! so.....I made an extra payment on my mastercard towards my trip in Sept. and put a little extra into savings to round up the numbers. I'm leaving the $53 in my account to cover gong out to breakfast, going out for coffee, a purchase at Home Depot etc.
• Savings increased by $664 this month!! $350 of that is from my pension and the rest is from interest payments from accounts and RRSPs. 
• Misc purchases this month included: 2 little trips to the thrift shop, some new music for my iPod, a guidebook for a possible trip in 2016, a yoga app, new camera batteries, a new toaster, a special Valentine's party for me and 2 girlfriends, a book for my iPad (or two), a new charge cord for my laptop; ...I went to a movie or two, went out for lunch, breakfast and multiple coffees and I went to the Bryan Adams concert!! Which was fabulous!! (and actually paid out of January's misc budget). 

February's budget was a great success! But then it was only a 28 day month! March will be slightly more challenging I'm sure. Having a trip to work towards does help me squeeze my pennies though - it really helps to have a goal. 

Re Gofundme - I think it only makes sense that you really check out what you're contributing towards. Since Nate was Kazi's friend I had no qualms about donating money towards bringing him back to Canada. I would never donate to someone's "sad story" unless I checked into it and made sure it was REAL.