Where's the Money at??

It's been a long time since I did a budget recap. As August rolls to an end it's time to close out this month's budget and look ahead to the fall.

The Good:

• My upcoming trip to Scotland (leaving Sunday!!) is fully paid for after I pay off my President's Choice Mastercard this week. 
• September 1st I'll be able to put $1,000 into savings once again - I haven't transferred a full $1,000 to savings since May as I was paying off my trip; booking trains, airport shuttle from London to Toronto, Airbnbs and so on. So it's nice to get back into my savings routine. I also paid $800 off of my Mastercard this month in addition to the $400 that will pay off the card in full over the next couple of days as my pensions get deposited. No consumer debt owing after that.
• I added nothing more to the Transportation budget line since my previous post! Next month there will be no deductions for car insurance or gas. There will be NO transportation costs for September as they are all paid for as part of my trip.
• Property taxes went DOWN from $158 to $139. I don't know why but I'm not going to complain!
• Utilities are at their annual lowest point - $34 for natural gas (heat, dryer, hot water tank); and $43 for electricity (central air, stove etc). It hasn't exactly been a HOT summer so the A/C didn't get used much. Again, not complaining!
• Used over $100 of my President's Choice points to purchase things needed for my trip (bandaids, lotion, toiletries etc) as well as groceries.

My favourite recent photo of Luna and Lily. Luna has one paw over her eye, in apparent disgust, as Lily sprawls below to lick her belly and nether regions!!

The Bad:

• Still had to pay car insurance for August but that's it for now! That money will now make its way into savings.
• The cost of internet went up by $5.00 monthly. I may shop around when I return.
• I've been buying a lot of odds and ends for my trip: I've ordered a special spray to renew the Gore-Tex waterproofing of my super duper rain coat. Should arrive on Wed., snacks, new water bottle, thrift shop clothing, bug repellent, midge-proof clothing and so on. Necessary expenses.
• Two of my siblings had landmark birthdays in August so there were gifts and cards to purchase.
• Reloaded my coffee cards - I have two. 

The Ugly:

• costs involved in trip to Bracebridge to see sister for her 70th birthday: $200 - my portion of Airbnb and gas. Another $200 put towards eating out and groceries. A wee bit of shopping. That's the only semi-UGLY cost for August and really it wasn't very costly and all planned in advance so it wasn't a surprise expense at all. 

Looking ahead to Fall:

I look forward to getting back into my fall/winter routine of volleyball, carving and genealogy research after September's trip is over. Kilally Meadows is really nice in the fall and I much prefer cool weather hiking to HOT so I hope to get out for a lot of hiking!! In November I will start receiving annual interest payments for several investments. Free money :) Anything extra like that goes right into savings. I'm considering less travel/more redecorating in 2018 but who knows, I may change my mind. It would make sense to travel while still relatively young and do renos and redecoration (hire someone) when I'm too old to hike around the world and spend more time at home. So I'm going back and forth with that idea. 

That's about it for now. Yesterday I cleaned and water-proofed my hiking boots and did a trial packing of my suitcase. All trip clothing has been laundered and rolled - I feel I have improved suitcase organizational skills and am trying to not make it too heavy. I won't be taking my laptop with me, just my iPad, phone and camera. I likely won't post on my blog but will try to post a daily pic to facebook - if you are not a Facebook friend of mine and would like to be send me a friend request. 

Jane Harrison - and the profile pic is a shadow picture of me. 

Okay, must continue to get organized...!

Mispellings oops Misspellings!!

Thank you to the reader who pointed out that I was spelling Ucluelet wrong. Hope I have corrected all of the misspellings now! I think I was spelling it like Iqaluit, the capital city of Nunavut :) But anyways...the older I get the more speeling mistakes I make hahaha!

Today I have a wee rant. If anyone is reading this in London, ON and you have your property taxes set up as an automatic withdrawal, (like me), you might want to check your account to make sure it didn't get deducted twice, as it did for 33,000 people (like me) this month! Apparently someone sent the file twice (so far) causing lots of people to go into overdraft (NOT like me...yet!!)

 Like Kim is trying to do @ Out My Window I start each month with all the money I need for bills in my chequing account. However I don't keep more in there than I need and I certainly don't wish to pay my property taxes twice in one month! I could go into overdraft if this isn't quickly corrected!

Sooooo....I emailed City Hall to talk to THE MAN because I'd read in the paper that everyone had been reimbursed by last Friday (not me) and was told that the refund information had been sent to all the banks (not mine) so I should contact my bank. Oh great...

Phoned my bank and after being put on hold for a lengthy period of time listening to the worst music ever they told me that while they could see that it was deducted twice they hadn't received any information about refunding it to me. Sigh....they said I should wait a few more days and check again. Not bloody likely!!

I emailed the MAN again and he is contacting the bank  again to see what's what! And here I wait...
impatiently!!

Budget Update

Monday is "Budget Update" day. Aren't you glad you stopped by?

As it is only the first week of my new 2015 budget (and not even a full week at that) the news is all good! Let's enjoy it while it lasts!

Some necessary adjustments have shown up already - my condo fee has gone up by $9 a month. I can handle that. My heating/dryer/hot water tank natural gas bill was $2 more than my estimate of $65 which for this time of year is still ridiculously LOW!! I'll take, it thank you very much, due to a mild December:)

There was extra $$ in the misc budget this month since I don't pay property taxes being on a 10 month plan and because for reasons that will remain a mystery I caught a break in my insurance bill for December AND January. New (lower) rates will begin in February. I appreciated the extra $$ as the bill for my fancy schmancy dining room rug just came through Paypal and I socked an extra $110 into savings to round up my numbers. That all said I still have more than usual in my misc so had a small thrifting spree at Talize to the tune of $36!! I bought a gorgeous new to me coat for $12...brown suede with leather trim and faux fur collar, cuffs and hood! It appears to be brand new or rarely worn!

...a daypack which I've been wanting for quite some time, again looking brand new for $3.99! It just has one strap, you wear it across your body which means the days of taking off my backpack in order to access water/snacks etc are over - just pull around to the front of your body and open - voila!

 ...2 new hats and a kitty....oh no, that's Luna, she's not new! (Hats were $2.99 each)

...something I'm always looking for - splash pants to keep me dry on hikes for $7.99 - in great shape!

 ...and this treasure - a brand new (tag still on) Tuff jacket that was 50% off!! for $6.50!!

And a kitty!! Oh no, that's Luna again - she loves being in the middle of things :)

A very good day of thrifting!!

My variable totals are steady at $615 in the misc budget, a full $180 in the gas budget with a full tank still in Dougie the Dodge and $252 in the food budget.

This photo of my fridge tells me that I don't need to shop this week. Mondays are my gas up and grocery shopping days but I won't need to do either this week. I LOVE it when the money stays IN my budget. All the more for savings at the end of the month...go away Murphy!! I wasn't talking to you!!

Are you on a new budget for 2015 or is it same old same old? If it ain't broke, don't need to fix it!!