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. 

Who Knew?

Whoa - who knew the Finns had such a great hockey team??  The game is tied 1:1 with seconds to go in the 3rd period. Looks like overtime.

A friend recently recommended "Goodreads" to me on Facebook and I've been busy rating books and selecting those I want to read in the future. I also wrote a review for a book recently recommended to me by a reader of my blog. "Anon" thought I would enjoy a book called "The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism." I downloaded it to my iPad and read it last night in one go. I know I'll be re-reading it as well as taking it to my next staff meeting on Tuesday to share with the educational assistants. The insight I've gained is something I never thought possible. To get "inside this young man's head" and get answers to questions that have puzzled me for years is so amazing. Thank you thank you thank you Anon!! I hope you read this post! Down on my side bar is a Goodreads widget as well as a link to my review.

I've been doing a little "monkeying around" with my blog yesterday and today. I can't bear to look at the snow and ice anymore so decided to get some spring and summer into my blog.

(Oh, thank goodness, Canada just scored in overtime YAY YAY YAY!!!)

Well, now that the hockey game is over I think I'll head out to do some errands as tomorrow most places will be closed as we celebrate FAMILY DAY!!  Yes, it's a long weekend :) So much to celebrate as Kazi is safely home from her travels, the Olympics continue and I have more wonderful books to read.

What's on YOUR reading list?

Tomorrow is.....

I wonder if I'll see my family....

My one and only child is now going on 23 years old. I don't really get to see her very much... though I feel her presence every time I walk past her disaster zone bedroom. Today I had to close the door - it looks like 10, no 20, suitcases exploded in there. Her room is more like a walk-in closet than somewhere you would sleep and do homework.

Yes, she has a boyfriend. They've been together over a year now and she spends most of her spare time at his house. He is a single child also and has a "bachelor pad" down in the basement of his parents' house. His mom is a different kind of mom than I am. She keeps her fridge and freezer stocked with their favorite, easy-to-make foods like frozen pizzas and other "instant foods".  At my house you actually have to use ingredients to prepare something to eat. She's a very nice person, this mom, don't get me wrong but I see my role as trying to prepare Kazi to be independent whereas this mom is very enabling. As long as she continues to cater to their every whim they'll be living in her basement.

Oh well, what can you do? Times have really changed. When I was my daughter's age I had been renting my own apartment for 3 years, had purchased my first car and had been working in a bank supporting myself on my measly income. I still remember my first yearly salary - $6,250.00. Wowzer!! I cleared $98 per week! Nowadays kids young adults don't want entry level jobs and they don't a job that they don't LOVE! Well good luck with that! I didn't start my teaching career til I was 36 years old after I put myself through university and teacher's college as a mature student while raising my daughter as a single parent.

But I have no regrets and most of this post is written with tongue firmly placed in cheek :) Sooner or later our kids will grow up, some sooner, some later. My daughter is well-educated and has always had one or two or three part-time jobs at a time. I think she'll find her niche and a job that is meant just for her. Some day. In the meantime she still has a lot of maturing to do and a lot to learn about life. And I'll always be there to catch her when she falls. It's still me she turns to when times get tough.

HAPPY FAMILY DAY OR PRESIDENT'S DAY OR HERITAGE DAY.....!!

Pay Day and Sleep Deprivation

So I ended up depositing $$ from my formerly Sealed Pot to cover some forgotten expenses (against your advice as it turns out) but hope to replace it soon :(   Yes, woe is me. But I'd rather owe ME money than one of these guys...)

But it is kind of disheartening to take out in one fell swoop money that I'd been socking away over the past two months. But the bills must be paid.

I got into a bad habit while I was nursing my pinched nerve in January - I purchased quite a few books for my Kindle. Reading was basically all I could do while I was recovering (recovering at 90% of my usual paycheque I might add). So.......EARNING LESS - SPENDING MORE = NOT ENOUGH MONEY IN THE CHEQUING ACCOUNT WHEN THE PIPER NEEDS TO BE PAID!!

Lesson learned....I hope.  I should know better. I DO know better but I was feeling sorry for myself. Now I feel even sorrier.

Happily today was payday and included one week at 90% and one week at 100% pay. I have a whopping $257 (after bills are paid and $$ put into savings) for gas and groceries til Feb. 28th. Michael and Kazi will also contribute to these two categories so as long as nothing Murphyish happens (there I go just inviting disaster to happen!) we should be OK. Sigh.

The other piece of good news is that Monday is Family Day here in Ontario so we have a long weekend. Just what the doctor ordered. I have developed another bad habit - one that I can't seem to fix. Every morning I wake up around 4:30am after about 4-5 hours of sleep. I toss and turn til the clock reads 5am and then get up. I am arriving at school at 6am! I am so bloody exhausted! Today I came home from school around 3pm and took a nap til 6:45pm - and I am not a napper ordinarily. I take calcium before bedtime, drink a glass of warm milk, take melatonin to regulate my sleep patterns but to no avail. My alarm is set for 5:30am but it never  wakes me up - my whacky inner clock gets me up long before that. I have no problem falling asleep but I just can't STAY asleep.

Any advice?

Big News

There is BIG NEWS coming into our blogging world but I am keeping it to myself so that you can all be surprised!! And yes, it's a GOOD surprise. And yes, that's all I'm going to say...tee hee....

Moving on...today, in the province of Ontario and a few other places, it's FAMILY DAY!! I, for one, thank our provincial premier - Dalton McGuinty - for creating this provincial holiday. At least he kept one of his election promises!

My New Family - tee hee!

So, that begs the question, where is my family?? Here it is, 10:56am and I've been up for several hours and have yet to SEE a family member except when Michael walked by MY ROOM to use the washroom (I know, TMI!!).  Aren't we supposed to spend FAMILY DAY with our family?? Sheesh!! Therefore, since my family members are still in their beds I am selecting a substitute family with whom to spend the day!! They look like they could really use a bit of FUN in their lives, don't you think??

So, on the agenda for today:

• the sun is shining so we are going to head out in the car to a local trail for some hiking - I'll be sure to take LOTS of photos for your viewing pleasure! It should be a hoot because my NEW family hasn't ever been in a car!!
• next, since the kids are looking a little peak-ed, I thought I'd take them for some great treats at Tim Horton's!! Some caffeine and sugar ought to put a little pep into their step!
• And can you believe they've never gone to the movies?? I know eh? So we're off to Silver City to see "John Carter: A 3D Imax Experience" - go big or go home right?? This movie takes place on Mars - this should really blow their minds!!
• At this point we're going to come home as for some reason they seem to be a little out of it. I'll put some "DISTILLERS" music on so they can relax while I whip up a little dinner. It's really too bad that Kazi is still in bed because I'm making her favorite: it's called NO PEEKING CHICKEN and involves chicken, wild rice, cream of celery soup and sour cream. You throw it all in the oven for 2 hours and then voila - DINNER! I really hope my NEW FAMILY will enjoy it - then I'll give them the rest of our cookie dough/brownie nuggets icecream. By then I'll bet we see some smiling faces!!

OK, gotta go get ready for hiking!! This day is too beautiful to waste for a second longer!!