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!

Weekly Wrap & Crofters Lane

Crofters Lane

Today MCM of TO asked me what is Crofters Lane? So glad you asked! Crofters Lane is a magnificent little acreage near Alberton on PEI - it is home. It is the culmination of a years long search for "just the right place" to retire to...an early retirement I hope.  I've spent the past few years scouring the MLS listings, finding many an idyllic home/acreage just to watch it get sold to someone else. This past summer when I saw the homes for offer I impulsively decided to drive the 1626km. there to check them out in person. 
(This was kind of  out of the norm behavior for me - I don't usually do things that spontaneously though I had the foresight to slow down and get pre-approved for a mortgage before I left for PEI! You know, just in case :)

Even though I got the pre-approval I really didn't plan on buying anything, I wanted to check out the island, see if I wanted to live there and have a nice summer holiday. HAH!

View from front porch

Check out August's archived posts for my journey around the island looking at four other properties before finding that house #5 was the one for me. Within hours of arriving at Crofters Lane I was signing an Offer to Purchase.


View looking east from front porch

 My partner and I tossed around a number of names for our new home and we finally decided upon Crofters Lane. I wanted to recognize our .4km laneway which we walked up and down every day while we stayed there, coffee in hand, birds constantly flitting back and forth between the red berry laden trees, and acknowledge the scottish "crofting" way of life that we plan to emulate- a lifestyle that is environmentally friendly, thrifty and sustainable: a few chickens, a few goats,  a large vegetable garden, some fruit trees, a wood stove & some tilley lamps.



The "Lane" part of Crofters Lane all .4km of it

 Until I actually retire I need to be extra-frugal as I carry a mortgage and maintain my condo and my trailer. If I can keep my costs low now and in the future then I plan to take a reduced pension and retire two years early.  So Crofters Lane is my motivation and the reason I squeeze the life out of every penny that I make. Oh no, wait, that's my scottish blood!


View from the lane

 Weekly Wrap:  I made it til Friday without spending the last $20 in my account so that goes into the Crofters Lane Jar. We did really well with spending over the last two weeks and actually had a surplus of $154.69 (didn't spend all of the $ allotted to food and gas) AND I had set aside $50 for my cell phone and the bill was only $33!! So I tucked another $120 into my Christmas fund raising it to $200 and left a bit extra in my misc. spending as I need to cover a $60 bill for winterizing my trailer (forgot about that!)

Two huge raspberry patches behind the house & backed by our forest

My final pay for October is in my account and every cent has a place to go except for $131 in misc. spending for the next two weeks. There's also a good chance that I won't need all of the $80 ear-marked for natural gas as I haven't had the furnace on yet and I usually come in under the $80 I set aside for London Hydro so barring any other forgotten bills I should make it through October in the black!

And that's a wrap!

One Woman's Junk is Another Woman's Contribution to the CL Jar!!

I have seen the term "snowflaking" referred to on other blogs but wasn't entirely sure what it meant. I thought perhaps it was a different spin on "snowballing" a strategy Gail Vaz-Oxlade uses in paying down debt. Pick the debt with the highest interest to pay down first while maintaining minimum payments on the other debts. When the highest interest debt is paid off combine, or "snowball", that payment into the next highest interest debt and get it paid off, then add that payment...well you get the picture.

So I googled "snowflaking" and came across a post by Matt at One Million and Beyond that explained the concept.

"The idea of snowflaking is pretty straightforward in that any extra money that you save or make is applied to a financial goal right away regardless of the amount."

Well I am proud to say that today we "snowflaked" (can I use it as a verb??) A few days ago my partner brought home 2 boxes of old LPs that a friend of his was going to give to Goodwill and today he exchanged them for $70.00!!!  We immediately socked the money away in the Crofter's Lane Jar. We hope to...or should I say we PLAN to have enough money for gas and motel to and from PEI next summer for which we would need approximately $500-$600.

Stay tuned....

Have: $209.20              Need: $600.00

So over 1/3 of the way there!!
P.S. can anyone tell me the secret to making those financial goal bar graphy things in their sidebars??

Financial Goals for 2010-2011

Having joined a challenge to "Spend Consciously" for an entire year (yikes) I thought I should set out some goals so I could remind myself what I am doing this for.  It's fairly obvious that I need to maintain a balanced budget which is stretched to the max due to purchasing a retirement property while still living in my condo which I won't be selling until I retire and also while maintaining my trailer in Bayfield. Whew! What am I, nuts? Hopefully not. (rebuttals anyone??)

So getting down to specifics here goes:

• save $1000 a month, $5000 of which will go into my slightly depleted TFSA and the rest to use next summer to: replace old septic system at my new old home in PEI and purchase appliances for it
• save $90 a month for my RRSP (max allowable due to my teacher's defined pension plan)
• save $100 a month for the Emergency Account
• pay down my line of credit $1000 monthly plus interest
• pay off Visa (balance is only around $70)
• save enough for Christmas - guessing around $750
• contribute "creatively" to Crofter's Lane savings jar every month (this month I have 2 HUGE boxes of LPs that a friend was going to THROW out which we will take to a dealer who exchanges them for cash; also partner is going to put his tips into the jar)
• donate $100 to charity monthly
• cut down on gas and mileage of shared vehicle: use bikes more, daughter to contribute to HER share of the gas; co-ordinate rides to use the least amount of gas possible
• cut down on electric and natural gas bill (switched my natural gas to a different and much cheaper provider - second year I've done this and it made quite a difference), power down computers
• cut down on entertainment expenses by borrowing movies and books from the library instead of renting movies and buying books; eat out less
• buy coffee at Tim Hortons (or make at home) instead of expensive Starbucks Lattes)
• cut down on grocery bill by eating less meat (Meatless Monday every week) and using up leftovers in soups and stews; planning a list by using store flyers
• write all purchases down on my newly minted monthly budget form; stick to alloted amounts for groceries and gas

And finally, feel good about making an effort to live and spend consciously with the support of fellow bloggers Sam, Sharon and Maureen.  (I'm sure there are others I'm not aware of - if so, please let me know!)

Whew!!! OR...Making it to the End of the Month before the End of the Money

Photo: Everystockphoto.com

A balanced budget is like a well-balanced meal - it's good for you and you feel sooooo much better because you didn't over do it. 

This month, while only the first month of my new FOUR YEAR PLAN budget, found us getting to the end of the month before the end of our money.  This is an axiom I have taken to heart after faithfully watching every episode of "Til Debt do us Part" (some of them twice) starring famous Canadian money maven Gail Vaz-Oxlade. 

But it's not the end of the month you say.  True; however, even an unforeseen emergency won't sidetrack my budget - after all - that's what my emergency account is for, isn't it?

The best part is that we have a small surplus. You know, Gail is right - when you track your money every single day it makes you so much more aware of where it's going and then you're better able to control it.

And I do feel better just like I would if I ever ate a well-balanced meal (I'll just have to take that as a given:).  In fact, I feel ECSTATIC knowing I can sock away at least an extra $80.00 into the Crofter's Lane savings jar.

Payday is two days away, the food in the fridge will take us beyond that thanks to my soup-making, stew-creating partner, my daughter put gas in the car (bless her!) and I still have $20.00 in my wallet and an extra $10 in my chequing account. Woo hoo! 

Dairy Queen beckons, but no, that would knock my well-balanced supper all askew, boo hoo....

The Long and Winding Road of Debt

When one (me) buys a new home when one (me) already owns a home and a trailer certain sacrifices must be made in order to:
a) remain solvent
b) not go broke
c) not declare bankruptcy
d) all of the above

Therefore, in keeping with the theme of frugality enforced upon me (by me) I am declaring September 2010 to September 2011 to be:
THE YEAR I DIDN'T BUY ANY CLOTHING and perhaps the year I explore fully the use of colons and lists while posting.

Included in this "clothing ban" will be:
a) shoes and boots
b) purses, belts, jewelry and other accessories
c) socks, gloves

Allowed items will be:
a) underwear (they don't make 'em like they used to and what if I'm in an accident??
b) clothing borrowed from my stylish, rich daughter (payback time!)
c) gifts (Christmas is coming after all)

So I hereby pledge my troth - me and my money will not be parted - for better or worse...