Monday, March 7, 2011

Weekly Wrap - First Week of March

Get it, head wrap, get it??


I know, I know...it's a bit of a stretch but I like to be creative so give me a break. I never realized how many different ways the word "wrap" could be used and I thought this woman is not only very brave, but almost smug considering the completely wacky way she's got her head wrapped up.  She sorta reminds me of The Flying Nun and if you remember that show you were a child of the 60's like me.

But I digress....which isn't unusual for me.

For your added viewing pleasure I have here my spending graph for the first week of March....ooooooooooh lots of pretty blues and greens. I have absolutely no idea what that means! 

Not too much exciting going on...money is being thrown against my line of credit left, right and centre and misc spending is still being kept to a minimum. We did actually enjoy some entertainment in the form of a movie on Friday but we used our gift cards and took our own drinks and snacks so no cost to us for that:)  Not too many bills have come in yet but I expect that to change any day now... I did get my Union Gas bill and was happy to see that it was only $87 and change. See, having hot flashes is good for something - I think I'm helping to heat the house!!

I spent a big chunk of Saturday crunching numbers to see if I can afford to retire 2 years (June 2014) early as is my desire. I was on my pension website to see what my teacher's pension would be, went to the CPP website too see how much that will be, blah blah blah. The upside is YES, YES I can retire early!!!!!!!!!!

Of course that means living on less which I am currently in training for lol! The fact that we live on less than 1/3 of my salary now (the rest goes to debt repayment and savings) is an excellent indication that that we can live, and live well, on less than a full pension. More details on that in another post!

For now, suffice it to say that I will be debt-free in LESS than 3 years and will have saved up enough to build a barn, renovate the kitchen, travel and so on. That makes me a very happy person indeed.

Are you planning for retirement? Don't tell me you're too young too think about it - you're never too young to get started on this oh so important goal!

13 comments:

  1. Congrats on being able to retire early! I'm not planning for it yet. Just in my mid-30's, although I do like the idea of retiring early :) I need to dig myself out of our debt first and then... who knows?!?

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  2. Does it only cost $87 to heat your house? Do you have only gas heat, or does electric contribute to the heating costs, too?

    I was going to post pics of a sandwich wrap, rappers, etc... Maybe a rap on the knuckles...

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  3. Jane,
    How nice to have a pension. We have to count on our 401K and other retirement savings...
    I think it's awesome that you can retire in 2years!! And, only living on 1/3 of what you make???? Wow!! I aspire to that sooner rather than later, however, with two teenagers and 8 more years of college tuition, we'll be working for about another 20....

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  4. I loved the Flying Nun! Retirement is going to be funded by rents or sales of properties...probably rents. The properties will keep us busy, since word is that idle minds are dangerous. However, not really set on retiring anyway. I feel life is, for the most part, good. I'd be content to keep riding the tide this way. I would add more vacations though.

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  5. Actually 444 it costs less than $87to heat my home (3 bedroom townhouse condo) because my dryer also uses natural gas. No other heat source, just a 17 year old forced-air furnace, thermostat set at an average of 18c (about 64F)plus of course my own personal hot flash furnace lol!
    In Ontario we can shop around for a gas supplier and I found a really good rate - it has paid off big-time!

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  6. That's so exciting that your dream can come true!! Congrats! I'll admit I haven't planned much for retirement. We have a healthy RRSP thing going, but I've only really been in the workforce in my career for 3.5 years after a million in school. Right now I love my job and can't fathom stopping for a long time! I know I might feel differently in 20 or so years, hence the monthly RRSP contributions. in reality though, many in my profession are "bad" at retiring-they scale back, certainly, but keep on doing some work, often into their 70's. I can see that in my future, but it doesn't hurt to have options either. Wow...that was a long winded response..

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  7. Bravo, Jane!!! Way to go!!!
    Keep pedaling......
    Life is good!!
    Kendra

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  8. I honestly can't ever see myself fully retiring, but who knows how I'll feel in 25 or so years from now. I'm just starting out on putting money into my RRSP, so I've got a long way to go still.
    Congrats on being able to make your retirement plan come true!

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  9. YAY!!! I don't think I'll be able to retire ever. Okay maybe but definitely not early :) Congrats Jane it's super spectacular that you can do that.

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  10. Oh yeah..... I do remember The Flying Nun!! I loved that show. You are doing an awesome job getting ready to enjoy your retirement! Such an inspiration for all of us!

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  11. i have been giving my retirement a lot of thought over the last few days, and i have realised that I have absolutely no idea what age I need to be in order to claim an Australian pension, i must add that thought to my to do list.

    Jane if I was going to be retiring debt free and to the house of my dreams in the place of my dreams and with the man of my dreams, then I also would be grinning from ear to ear, you deserve this.

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  12. I've been thinking more and more about retirement lately for some reason, maybe because I finally realize I can start doing something proactive about it. You're right, you're never too young! I wish I'd started in my 20's instead of my 30's.

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