February Budget

Yup, I'm pretty much done with January.

I'm sporting quite the bruise after walking in Kilally Meadows - the trails are covered in ice about 2" thick - so yes, I slipped while taking a photo. The camera is ok. Yesterday when I was walking through I left my camera at home and walked more carefully. With a walking stick. Lesson learned.

January was an expensive healthcare type of month: renewed a prescription $28, had an eye exam $120 (all is well, in fact my eyes have improved so will be shopping for glasses soon) and dentist $230. You'd think for $230 I'd get more than x-rays, cleaning and polishing...like maybe a gold tooth or two? But I'm set for awhile. Eye exam is every two years, dentist is now once a year from previously going every 6 months, then every 9 months. Yes, I have excellent oral hygiene :) 

I paid for my healthcare expenses from my weekly misc discretionary spending budget line. So I had to be more frugal than usual with my spending. Luckily I underspent in a couple of categories, not by a lot but it helped. $60 was allotted for gas and I only spent $30. $280 was allotted for groceries and only spent $229. $70 was allotted for electricity - the bill was $$56. All the little extras were re-directed to my misc budget and even after buying wine (a necessity) I had a budget surplus of $116. So I had me a little splurge at the thrift shop purchasing 3 items for a total of $12. I'd been denying myself for quite some time - haven't been to a store other than the grocery store since Christmas shopping.

Nothing too fancy - I like trouser style track pants and was looking for grey - voila!

My eye was attracted to the material in this top - it will go nicely over a pair of black tights.

This v-neck boho top makes me think of summer and screamed "Sunfest"! Both tops are very light gauzy material which also packs well :) and can be layered with a tank top or long sleeved top for warmth. Just another wild spending spree a la Jane!

Oh yes, and my Amazon Prime membership was renewed in January for $90. I am very happy with this service. I order a lot from Amazon and while I didn't keep track I'm sure I saved way more than $90 on shipping fees. (my daughter also purchased a number of things under my name in order to get the free delivery.) Also included in the membership is a streaming service while not quite as good as Netflix, it's pretty close. And no overlap of programming.

I also managed to go to a movie ("The Post" with Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks - I highly recommend it! Very timely considering the attack on news reporting in the States), went out for lunch and out to Roxbury's a couple times after volleyball for a pint (and free pizza!). I've also set up a monthly withdrawal to go to Red Cross and January was the first month for that.

So I am really pleased with January's budget results. I still stuck a $1,000 into savings as I try to do every month but did not increase my snowflakes. I'll return to building that in February. I've made up a new budget to begin in February. I've received notice of my pension increases - I wish I could say that the increase more than covers the increase in my bills but my property taxes really went up a lot and there's nothing I can do about that other than grin and bear it. I think overall I came out about even. And that will have to do.

Are you closing off your January budget yet? How did you do this month?

How's it Going eh?

I'm back to using my fingers splint again thanks to a bad hit in volleyball last week though it doesn't hurt as much this time around. But it does make typing a challenge :) 

All around this has been a challenging week or so. The son of my first cousin, so my second cousin, passed away at the age of 50, from cancer. During his cancer battle his dad was also being treated for a brain tumour. Then an aunt passed away a few days ago and when I went to the funeral home I saw a notice that an old friend from childhood days and to whom I was related to by marriage had passed away - another battle lost to cancer.

Hey Darth - did you drop something?

My grandmother had a saying - "a green Christmas fills the graveyard" and I believe there is some truth to that.  Viruses and superbugs that don't get killed off with the milder winter temperatures wreak havoc in hospital wards. The hospitals here in London announced recently that 9 people have died from a streptococcus outbreak! And they are running out of ways to treat this which is very scary. We've had several mild and green Christmases the past few years - on my way to Norwich yesterday the golf courses were very busy!

Eyes everywhere!

While I love to walk through Kilally Meadows in mild sunshine I would embrace a cold snap right about now. And let's not forget how farmers rely on deep snow cover in their fields during the winter months.

Climate change is here and denying it like ostriches with our heads in the sand isn't going to do any of us any good in the long run. Other bugs (and I don't mean viruses this time) and beetles are heading into Canada and the northern states as their territory expands. Longer warm seasons encourages migration of various creepy crawlies - the pine beetle is an example of this and is killing trees by the thousands, maybe millions!

Okay, really didn't plan on going off on a tangent there!  Sometimes it just happens.

So....onto the financials! Those are looking pretty good thankfully. My snowflake box now holds $1,000 - Christmas is officially covered. And I only have 3 people left to buy for - yippee! And the house is decorated...well...the tree is up and has its lights on but the decorator - Kazi - hasn't had time to put on all the baubles yet. Maybe later today...she is with her sister Hannah today - Hannah is being raised Catholic and today is her confirmation. Kazi went over early to do Hannah's hair and makeup. Told her to take pictures so hopefully...

Faces galore!

 With regard to the budget:

• my share of the car insurance has shrunk by $10 a month - I'll take it!
• internet has decreased by $30 a month - hurrah! (now I'm going to look for a better, cheaper cell phone plan)
• I'm on a 10 month property tax plan so no taxes to pay this month or next :)
• I budgeted $70 for heat, hot water heater and dryer and it came to only $54!
• I budgeted $70 for electricity but don't have that bill yet - in winter we use an electric fireplace in the TV room so that it's nice and cozy in there, down there?
• I increased my food budget for December and have $80 set aside for gas. I may use it all this month what with trips out of town but that's ok. 
• The budget is balanced and hopefully I can keep spending in check. I must admit I've been tempted to buy new clothes, new hiking boots etc but so far so good.  Tis the season for shopping but not on myself!! Not til the new year and boxing day sales!!

 I'll have a nice pay raise in January so looking forward to that. It would be super nice if the raise in pension was higher than the increase in my bills! Well, I can dream, can't I? So far I think property taxes are being raised by 3.8% - boo! Condo fee is being raised as it is every year though I'm not sure how big the increase is. I've stuck the notice in a drawer and am too lazy to get up and get it for you.
Sorry. Not sorry.

I have about $500 in misc spending for December - hoping I don't use it all so that I can start buying British pounds. The $500 has to cover the remaining Christmas gifts, extra food and alcohol, stamps for cards, entertainment and so on. I'll stretch it as much as I can.

That wraps up my update for today. How are your Christmas preparations going?

November Crunch is On...

Apparently a snow squall warning is in effect for these parts- meanwhile the sun is shining. I am not complaining!

I am considering this photo of Lily and her Christmas mouse for Christmas cards this year...

Cheery....no?

My chili stretcher week was a success (chili with buns; chili on top of a baked potato with sour cream and taco salad - romaine, scoop of chili, grated cheddar and crushed tortilla chips) but there are still 9 more days of eating before the next budget takes over. I grocery-shopped on Monday and used $20 of PC points in addition to the $70 that was left in the food budget. Not to worry (though no doubt I will anyways) as I have put a meal plan into place. After reading all of your posts the past 10 years or so I don't know why I wasn't meal planning sooner!!

Upcoming yummy dinners include Tuna Melts, Chicken Fajitas, Salmon Patties, and/or Salmon Steaks, Stuffed Peppers, Jerk Chicken and Breakfast for Dinner. 

That's not quite 9 dinners but I get two meals out of some of these recipes and sometimes more if Kazi eats at her boyfriend's house or goes out with friends like she did last night. So I'm pretty confident that I'll make it to the end of the month before the end of the contents of the fridge :)

My Snowflake Box (extra savings squeezed weekly out of my misc budget) currently holds $620 with about the equal amount being added in December. Christmas is paid for - hurrah! And my PC points will cover extra food, what I need for baking and stocking stuffers. Yes, I still do a stocking for Kazi although she is 27 years young. She says it's her favourite gift. All I do is go to the Superstore and purchase lotions, facial masks, hot chocolate, toothpaste and other drugstore type items and then wrap each one with the odds and ends of leftover Christmas wrapping paper. Covered by points it costs me nothing but time. So why mess with tradition?

I don't usually do a lot ahead of time though I do have a turkey frozen since the Thanksgiving sales. I have gifts for one of my brothers (he's so easy to buy for) - I bought him a book by an author we both love about the "WILD" parts of Scotland, a CD called "The Secret Path" written by Canadian superstar rock god Gord Downie of the band "The Tragically Hip" who recently passed away from a brain tumour. The CD is about a young indigenous boy who ran away from a residential school in winter and was found frozen to death. True story. My brother makes his living as an oil painter and told me the last time I visited that he wants to explore stories of Canada's First Nations people for inspiration for his paintings. Whenever he tells me these things I tuck them away in my mind as gift ideas :) The other thing I got for him is sheet music for Mendelssohn's song about Fingal's Cave on the Isle of Staffa. My brother plays piano and we plan to see the Isle of Staffa next year if all goes well! 
I'll post the song by Mendelssohn in a separate post.

Now if only the rest of my family was so easy to buy for! My great-nephew is 10 and I have not a clue about what 10 year old boys are into these days - his Thomas the Tank Engine days are over unfortunately!

Suggestions??? Anyone???

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! 

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!