Sunday, July 31, 2011

Month End Report - July 2011

TFSA/ EEE Account $336.84 (up $50.60)
Xmas Fund $1553.62 (down $96.40)
RRSP Savings Acct. $57.11 ( up $25.04)
Vacations Account $20.85 (down $729.21)
RRSP MF Acct. $1,758.92 (down $7.87)
RESP MF Acct. $1364.10 (up $176.17)
Emergency Fund Acct. $652.71 (up $361.61)
House Fund $95.01 (up $32.01)
Biz Savings/5 Categories $7,742.08 (down $3872.93)
Canada Savings Bonds $1325.00 (up $140.00)
B's Savings Acct. $225.01 (up $70.01)


HBC Card (28.8%): Overpaid, credit of $31.00
Personal Loan: $5895.50, down $160.00
MBNA Card (27.98%): $1,647.75, down $157.03
Capital One Card (19.8%): $3215.08, down $54.46
Overdraft 1: $446.40, up $69.41
Auto Loan: $ 305.26, down $251.10
Tax Owing: $3591.41, down $470.35


Our current total Debt owing: $15,101.40


Total Debt owed January 1, 2011: $23,861.01
Difference since January 1, 2011:   $ 8,759.61
Difference since last month: $ 1,023.53

Our Net Worth this month is only a mere $29.85, but we could effectively be out of debt if we were to deplete all of our savings, which of course we are not willing to do.

The vacations account is down so much, because I have taken the money out of the account for our trip to the cottage. We will need to buy some food and drinks, so that will come from this money. We also have to pay for the cottage rental in cash the day we arrive, so I want to be sure I have the cash available.

The business account took a couple of big hits with paying off the amount owing for Small Claims Court settlement, as well as some spending. However, we are back on track for putting money back into this account to take care of future obligations.

The Xmas/Car fund account looks a little weird. I put money in to start saving for the lawyer retainer, then changed my mind about how I would deal with it. So I took the money back out. Then I put money in to start saving up for a newer vehicle. It's going to take some time to save up enough, but at least we have started.

As for the credit cards...well, at least we haven't used them. With the postal strike, and the weird cycle that both cards are on, it looks like we didn't make much headway even though we paid $200 on each card last month. Interest charges are another culprit, I'm sure.

I should probably add another column to our debt, even though it's only a debt to ourselves. We 'borrowed' $4000 from our rent account to pay the lawyer's retainer fee for my divorce application. But that will come after that emergency Fund Account gets back up to $1000. We're almost there.

How did you do with your finances this month? Is everything going according to plan?

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Hello, New Bloggers

I enjoy reading all the blogs that I do every day. I have made many friends in the PF Blogging community. I feel blessed to be sharing our journey with you, and sharing in your respective journeys also. I love checking to see if some of my favourites have posted on a given day, and in a way, feel like I've missed out when I don't see new posts from some of you. Reading blogs and blogging are essentially part of my daily routine now.

One other part of blogging that I love is reading comments, not only on my own blog, but on the blogs of others. Leaving a comment, even if it is only a short 'Hello', lets the author know you've been there and read what they've posted that day. I love getting comments from my readers, especially the ones that encourage and inspire me on my debt free journey. They make me feel that I am not alone in my journey, that I have a posse of friends that are supporting me, pushing me toward better days and better things.

Finding a new PF blog gives me an opportunity to share that feeling with someone else, to let them know they are not alone. A comment can give encouragement and inspiration, especially to those who are just in the beginnings of their journey, or have just started blogging about it.

To those who are new to my blog, welcome. To those who have been reading my dribble for awhile, thank you for your support. It means a lot to me.

I'd like to share with you some new(ish) blogs that I have enjoyed reading.

Meet Captain Sweatpants over at In Debt, Fat, Short, with Bad Teeth. Reading his posts and his comments make me laugh every day. Go give him some love folks!

Mr. & Mrs. have a Misson: Debt Free. They've had a rough go lately, and Mr. is a Superhero, doing what would be unthinkable for most of us. They inspire me. Please, give them some love. :)

Taylor has started a blog, Debt Can Kiss Off! She's learning to not let her pride get in the way of what she's trying to accomplish, and learning to ask for help. Give her some love , please.

Cassie is Digging Out and Up and blogging in Wordpress now, but has saved her Blogger posts in a separate page. Loving her blog!

Lane blogs about getting out from under her huge debt and get her net worth back to In Mint Condition. She has a great sense of humour, so please give her some love.

These are just a few of the new(ish) PF Blogs I have found.

Have you found any new new blogs you would like to share with me? and everyone else?

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Wow, am I sore and tired.

Yesterday did not happen anything close to how I planned it.

I did manage to take the kids to the pool for about an hour, and then all hell broke loose work calls started coming in, and they didn't stop for hours. Hubby was home by then and was able to help me. Gramma was done work, and came by to visit, so we ended up leaving the kids with her.

I didn't clean, declutter or organize anything. I didn't make dinner, G-Ma did. I did get some work related activities done, just not the ones I had wanted to do.

Which results in making yesterday an EPIC FAIL.

Well, almost.

Working = income. I figured the work we did yesterday alone will pay almost $1000.

While Hubby & I were driving around, we talked about our money situation. After we get the $1000 emergency fund tackled, next up will be to repay the rent account the $4000 we borrowed for the lawyer's retainer. In September, his car loan will be paid off, so the amount that he normally pays will be reallocated into the new vehicle fund. All this while still paying down our debt.

We dreamed a little, talking about how much work that would be required from our business in order for him to quit his day job. The business isn't making near what we would need for that, but it's closer to that point than ever before. Maybe someday, it will be possible.

I'm taking it easy today because I am just not up to doing anything physically strenuous. I may head down to the pool later for some laps, but I'm not going to worry about it today.

We're all set to unplug tonight after dinner. Maybe we'll just go for a long walk around the neighborhood. I'm aiming for no spending today as well.

Wishing you a well Wednesday.....

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Tuesday's To do List

It's too warm to make candles. I've worked a lot over the past week, and I really want to spend some time with my family so I'm going to keep today's list very short. If I don't accomplish it all, or any of it for that matter, that will be OK with me too. MIL is coming over for dinner tonight, so I want to keep the house relaxed as much as possible today.

  • clean out the tub and bathroom sink
  • take something out for dinner
  • brings toys from living room back into Cub's bedroom
  • take the kids to the pool
  • 2 work related activities
  • take out the recycling that is piling up
  • make E-Fund bank deposit
  • one load of laundry
I'm sure there's more I can add to this list, but I don't feel like doing a whole lot today. I'd rather play with the kiddos.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Monday, July 25, 2011

I'm Stoked!!

Emergency Fund Daily Savings   

July 25: ??? / $800

As you know, I made my goal for the month of July to be all about the Emergency Fund. I talked about it the other day, saying that I would nickel & dime it to $1000 if I had to.
Here's how it's panning out so far.

I took the time to sit and roll the coins that were sitting in our 'penny jar' and to count them all. There was even a $5 bill stuffed in there. There was $74.00 sitting there, just waiting to go to the bank.

Add that to the $50 from my pay that also needs to go in the bank, it now becomes $ 124.00!

I also had a cheque in my wallet from someone that I had loaned money to. Add $42.50 to the count, and now the deposit being made tomorrow is $166.50.

For this week, I had decided to transfer over $35 for the week, instead of doing $5 every day. That turns my deposits for the week into $201.50.

So, as of today, there is $476.21 in the Emergency fund. Add tomorrow's deposit of $166.50 and you get:


Emergency Fund Daily Savings = $642.71

That leaves only $357.29 left to get the account to $1000.   

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!

I'm so excited I could just burst. I want to have that $1000 in the bank by the time we leave for the cottage on August 6th. Hubby & I have agreed that if we can have it all in the bank by then, we treating ourselves to pedicures and 1 Tim Horton's coffee each before we hit the beach!

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Ramblings On Sunday

Emergency Fund Daily Savings    

July 23rd: $136 / $800
July 24th: $141 / $800

I am so sorry that I didn't do the draw for the candles yesterday. Just as I was about to log onto Blogger and do it, our hydro suddenly went out and stayed out for over two hours. By the time it had come back on, I was already asleep in bed.

I am pleased to announce that the winner of the candle draw is: Makky's Mom!
(Please send me an e-mail with your address so that I can mail them to you.)

One thing we found out last night is that the grown-ups really liked the silence from all the stuff in our home. No tv, no computer, the phone couldn't even ring, lol! DD2 still had her DSi going, so we made her shut that off too. We pulled out the wind up flashlight, the battery powered camping lamps, and lit some candles around the main living area. It was quite nice. We have another wind up flashlight, but we couldn't find it last night.  After we got cub in his bed, the three of us went and sat on the balcony and joked around for awhile. I finally decided to go to bed seeing as I was so tired. I know the lights came on shortly after that, but I didn't care.

After a chat about it tonight, hubby & I decided that Wednesdays are going to be our recurring night for no screens, and making time for family. Our only screen exception will be if we decide to watch a movie together. We'll be having dinner early those evenings, going for a walk and then doing something together. I chimed in that it would have to be something that didn't cost anything, at least for the rest of the summer. I'm already looking forward to tuning out the world on Wednesday!

Our Emergency Fund savings is going well. Only 20 days ago, we had only $15 in this account, and today we have $141. This is amazing. I want to have this account built up to $1000 as soon as possible. Now that I know I can cut our budget even more than what we had, I will be looking for every possible penny to add to it. I have a jar of coins that are ready to be rolled and counted that will be added to the E-Fund. I'm going to take 10% of the pay that I received this week and add it as well, so there's another $50.

I have a lot on my plate this week with dental appointments, work and charity meetings. I have a list ready for Tuesday so I can 'just get it done' again.

Hope you all had a good weekend folks!

Friday, July 22, 2011

A Few New Savings Goals

Emergency Fund Daily Savings    July 22nd: $131 / $800

I've been thinking for a few months about some gadgets for work that will make my job a bit easier. I've done some research, and pretend shopped, and asked a lot of questions.

A laptop with a good sized screen and Internet access will be most helpful when I'm helping client families with arrangements. Having a laptop/notebook computer will also be useful for keeping my travel information up to date for my reports. As best as I can figure out, this gadget will set me back in the neighborhood of $500. (I don't need the laptop that can play movies, I just need to be able to access a couple of web pages.) To have the Internet stick with it will cost another $30/month on a contract. Ugh. So that's $360 for a year. New goal: save $1000 for new work gadgets. The benefit is, I can write these babies off as business expenses.

The other work related expense that will be coming sometime in the next year is to replace a very important piece of equipment that I use. It's not high-tech or anything like that, but without this equipment, I cannot do my job effectively. Or at all. With HST, I'm looking at $2700. It will, however last me probably another 15 years. Another expense that I can write off though once I've purchased the equipment.

Where am I going to find $3700 for these items?

I'm not sure, but I know that I need to find it.

I'll apply some of the saving strategies that I already use for other things. Save up my change, put a percentage of my business income toward it, transfer an equal amount of money spent on splurge items, etc. I can do this a dime at a time if I have to.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

When I got home from work yesterday, Hubby handed me my wallet card for his insurance. His package was waiting for him when he went into work yesterday morning. I'm thankful that hubby has a job with benefits, but I sure don't like when companies don't maintain a certain standard.

I'm starting to look forward to leaving for our vacation. As you may or may not know, we will be renting a cottage in Ipperwash, which is only about an hour and a bit drive from here. We are getting an amazing deal on the rental and splitting it with our oldest daughter. We've set aside money for all our expenses that week so we won't have to worry about money at all. Two weeks from Saturday, we'll be on our way to the beach!

I'm working out of town today. I'll be driving to Toronto in my non-air conditioned van. All I can say is I am not looking forward to traffic in the heat today. :(

Stay cool everyone!

Emergency Fund Daily Savings

July 21st: $126 / $800

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Rant of the Week

Last week, I had a dental appointment for some cleaning. The dentist (which was not my regular one) told me that I would have to have some work done, including a root canal, probably two crowns and a few small fillings done. I had another consultation appointment with my own dentist to come up with a treatment plan for the root canal and other work. At the same time, my daughter had an appointment for a cleaning.

The problems started when I tried to book further appointments for beginning treatment. The dental office wants to send an estimate in to the Insurance Company. My hubby has Insurance Benefits through his place of employment. Or does he?

The company he works for was bought out by another company and an entire re haul of the whole company ensued. Not surprising in these economic times. They have a union, and a contract with the new employer, so all should be going well. For whatever reason, the company has switched insurance providers for the benefits of the employees.

It's my understanding that when a typical switch like that happens, the new provider usually has a 3 month waiting or qualifying period before benefits come into effect. An employer will usually keep the current policy in effect until the new one comes into force, causing a bit of an overlap period where the employees are covered by both policies.

Perhaps not so in this case.

In the past month, I have had dental work done that has yet to be paid for, and I had to pay the full amount for a prescription that I need, to the tune of $120. Why? Because my husband's employer does not yet have a group policy number with the new insurer. All the supervisors or senior people at the warehouse where he works have is the company name of the new insurer. Over a month ago, my husband filled out the enrollment form for the new insurance, but we haven't yet been given a wallet card or anything.

Without this information, I cannot get my dental work done, my son won't be getting his teeth cleaned, and I will have to pay out of pocket for any prescriptions we get until this is resolved.

Including the much needed Epi-pen for my husband who is severely allergic to bee stings. (In case you haven't noticed, it is summer, and there are bees everywhere!) These pens could easily set us back $400 - $500.

I find it irresponsible of both the Insurer and the company to have cancelled the old insurance until all was set in place for the new policy, and for not having the information available to the employees in a timely manner. If I don't have a policy number to give my health care providers by the end of the week, I will be getting my hubby's Union involved. What they are doing is not right. By any one's standards.

On to better things. I am working the rest of the week, including a day out of town, so I may not be around much. But it will be good for the bank account, because I will be able to start putting money back into the account we 'borrowed' from to pay for the legal retainer.

I will be drawing for the candles on Saturday. Make sure you leave a comment there as your entry.
Hope you have a great week.


Emergency Fund Daily Savings

July 19th: $116 / $800
July 20th: $121 / $800

Monday, July 18, 2011

Monday Musings

Emergency Fund Daily Savings

July 16th: $75 / $800
July 17th: $80 / $800
July 18th: $111 / $800

A little jump in Emergency fund savings because I made some money selling candles. $26 gets me closer to my goals. I have an upcoming pay from work of $500 sometime this month, so I hope to be able to put at least $100 of it in the Emergency fund. I was asked where the $5 per day comes from. Well, I take it out of the money allocated to spending. It's been easy to pull $35 per week out of allotted variable spending money (like groceries and such) so it's been relatively painless so far.

Hubby finally got reimbursed for a $105 charge that went through his bank account twice. It took the bank quite some time to figure out what happened, and even without an explanation from them, it did get credited back. Yay for that!

It seems we are going to get some relief from the oppressive heat and humidity that our area has been experiencing this past week. yesterday, while I was out working, it was 30 C and the humidity made it feel like 37 C (that's 98.6 F). It's supposed to rain today (they said that last Monday as well) so hopefully it will cool down some. If it does, I can give the air conditioner a bit of a rest, and open the windows and balcony door for awhile.

I think it's going to be a busy week with work. I got my first phone call before I was even out of bed this morning. Work can be stressful at times, but the income will help. We will have to pay our accounts back for the $4000 lawyer's retainer fee, sooner rather than later. I think this will become our focus once the Emergency fund is back up to $1000.

Don't forget to read this post and leave a comment/entry for a scented candle giveaway!

Saturday, July 16, 2011

My Creations (Read to End of Post)

The other day, someone asked in the comments if I would be posting pics of the creations I made.

Hmm. Okay.


These are our Sweetgrass scented tealight and votive candles (in green).
The red tealights are Apple.
Priced at $18.00 for a 9 pack of votive candles, you will also receive a free glass votive holder.
Tealights are priced at $6.00 for a package of 6.
Other scents:
~ Cedar
~Sage
~Wintergreen
~ Country Berry


This is the 10 oz. Apple Jar candle.
They sell for $12.00 each.
There is a limited quantity of these apple Jars.


The lids on the Apple Jars have a stem, and 3 leaves. Aren't they cute?



These pink plastic canvas mittens are an adaptation of a mitten pattern made to incorporate the logo for Keeping Kids Warm , a local registered charity who provides items of warmth to homeless teens here in London, Ontario.
I will be using these mittens to further adapt the pattern to make business card holders for the charity volunteers, and fridge magnets that the charity can sell.

That's all I have for you today folks.



Except that I will be doing a giveaway for some candles.
Mixed assorted pack of scented tealights.
Leave a comment below as your entry for the draw.
Let me know what scents you would prefer, or what is your favourite scent for candles.
Spread the news...let everyone know I'm doing my first giveaway.


Friday, July 15, 2011

Just Get It Done

This week, there have been a few bloggers who have posted about just getting random things done and crossed off their to-do list. I think that's a fabulous idea and will be working my way through a similar sort of list today. I promise to stay off the social networking site today until after 6 p.m. I will only check my blog stats and read favored blogs until I have crossed at least 3 things off the list. Here goes nuthing!

  • put one load of towels in the laundry
  • clean up kitchen and load dishwasher
  • declutter computer desk did this due to searching for laundry card :(
  • finish cutting out plastic canvas pattern
  • take pics of existing candles that will be for sale
  • scrape candle wax off kitchen floor
  • put bed sheets into laundry
  • clean off area next to computer desk and put all stuff where it belongs
  • prepare invoices for 2 clients
  • update transport log
  • pick up prescription
  • dental appointment @ 2:40 p.m.
I would love to get more things done, but this list and having a 3 year old at the same time makes this a full day already. Here's to hoping that I can accomplish 50% of it at the very least.

Emergency Fund Daily Savings

July 15th: $70 / $800

Thursday, July 14, 2011

It's Been Two Years...

Emergency Fund Daily Savings

July 13th: $60 / $800
July 14th: $65 / $800

Can you believe it? It's been two whole years since I started blogging. At the very first, my posts were very few and far between. I started blogging in earnest about a year ago. Since that time, we have stayed focused on our debt repayment, enjoyed the addition of a granchild to our family, had an incredible trip out East, learned new skills, suffered through corporate downsizing, the loss of employment, gained new employment opportunities and have become more cohesive as a family unit.

I was up early enough this morning to make two batches of candles before Cub woke up. Today I made Apple scented container candles in Apple shaped glass jars. I had enough wax leftover to make some tealights also. I'm thinking that I might do a giveaway of some assorted scented tealights later on this month.

I have been working on some plastic canvas projects that aren't quite finished yet, but I'm hoping to take some pictures to show you what I made.

All is well on the financial front, and I'm doing some extra work this week again. Yay for additional income! When the cheques come in, hopefully I can add a lump sum deposit to the Emergency fund.

Do you craft/make/sew/knit anything? How much money do you alot to your budget for crafting?

P.S. Carla, if you're reading this, can you send me an e-mail please? I would like to ask you about making a gift for my DD2 for Christmas, and I cannot find your e-mail address anywhere!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Our Trip to the Falls

As promised, here are some pictures from our trip.


The Rainbow Bridge.

Above the crest of the Falls.
Journey Behind the Falls

Looking up at the crest


The old hydro-electric facility.

Rockface from below.

At the crest.

Me & Bug.


If you know nothing about the Falls, or it's vast history, try reading Wikipedia - Niagara Falls . About half way down the page, in the section "In entertainment and popular culture", read about the 7 year old boy who went over the Falls, wearing only a life preserver, and lived to tell the tale.

Emergency Fund Daily Savings
July 12th: $55 / $800


Monday, July 11, 2011

Emergency Fund Daily Savings

July 8th: $35
July 9th: $40
July 10th: $45
July 11th: $50 / $800
I'm plugging away at this and am remembering to transfer over $5 per day, or putting a $5 bill in the envelope. Today brings the Emergency fund to $341 total. I think that we should have the remainder of it in the bank account by the end of the summer.

My trip to the doctor last week made me open my eyes to some things that I really need to start taking care of with my body and my health. To become a candidate for the hernia repair surgery, I must lose 40 pounds and quit smoking. Before I get hit with a million comments on the benefits of losing and quitting, I have to say, I know that there are many really, really good reasons to quit. The problem with me is that I have never wanted to. I am slowly changing my mindset on this. I'm thinking a 'total retransformation' of myself as my gift to myself for my upcoming 40th birthday next year. for the weight, 'lose 40 by 40' sounds good to me.

My dental appointment was excruciating, as I found out I have a cracked tooth. I only went for a cleaning, and had some rather extreme pain. I guess I've been avoiding the area naturally, so it hasn't been bothering me too much. I'm probably going to have the tooth pulled, and some sort of spacer or denture put in. I can just imagine how much that is going to cost.

We had a wonderful weekend in Niagara Falls with DD2. I got to do some things that I have always wanted do, like go on the Maid of the Mist, and The Journey Behind the Falls. We're already talking about saving up for another weekend there as there are so many other things that we would have liked to have done.

I'll post some pictures later today.

How's your Monday shaping up?

Thursday, July 7, 2011

I'm ticked!!

Emergency Fund Daily Savings

July 6th: $25/$800
July 7th: $30/$800

I had a terrible day yesterday. It seemed that everyone I talked to other than my family, was doing their best to tick me off. I had some terrible service at the bank yesterday, and you can bet on the fact that the branch manager will be getting an e-mail from me about it. I usually rave about the fact that this bank branch has superior customer service, but if anyone had asked me about my dealings yesterday, they would have gotten an earful.

It would seem that I have to retain the services of a paralegal, as we are on the verge of being taken to small claims court, again. This time, I am putting my foot down. Yesterday, we got an invoice in the mail from the property management company from where we last lived prior to here. We moved from that property in late August 2008. When we left, we were told all was fine, and that we did not owe them any money for anything. During the walk through with  the property manager, she mentioned that the place would need to be painted throughout, as that was a normal part of what they did when before a new tenant moved in.

So imagine my surprise when in my mail was an invoice for over $900 for cleaning and painting the unit. I called an spoke with the property manager whose name was on the bottom of the letter. He couldn't tell me why they had never contacted us until now to give us this bill, but that it had been on their files since January of 2009. We bickered back and forth about some things. He says he has pictures of how dirty the unit was left. He wanted to know how a unit could get so dirty from such a short amount of time that we were there. (We lived there for a year.) He had me feeling like we were slobs, and left the unit in deplorable condition, which we did not.

I'm pretty sure the statute of limitations on filing a small claims suit is two years after a loss, financial or otherwise, incurs. Even if we didn't know about it. When I mentioned it to him, he said that the statute is seven years that they can try to recover the monies through small claims, and that if when they won a judgement, it would be on our credit report for 20 years. Now, unless they changed the statute recently, I am unaware of this. Regardless, he was raising his voice, and saying things that were essential belittling, saying that people who don't know the law shouldn't try to quote it.

Talk about maddening! I was furious to say the least. After hubby and I talked, we decided that we would rather pay a paralegal a couple of hundred bucks to get this company off our back, instead of paying the property management company. I know that it's my anger talking, but if they had given us this bill when they were supposed to, I would have still been angry, but I would have sucked it up and paid it. Not almost 3 years after we moved out of the unit. I feel like we're being bullied by a company who is trying to offset their costs of doing business using less than professional tactics.

Could we take care of this bill by just paying it? Yes, but it would set us back in our other goals somewhat. I'm going to give a paralegal a call, and take the letter and invoice to him to get another opinion. I don't want to pay any of it if I don't have to.

We went out last night so that we could do something that we really wanted to do with Cub, and let me tell you, some drivers in this city should have their licences taken away. We were almost hit twice because of impatient drivers. That certainly didn't help to lower my level of anger any.

We did take Cub to a movie theater for the first time. We watched Cars 2, in 3D. What a cute movie! Cub absolutely loved it, and cried when we had to leave, because he still wanted to watch the big t.v.
Only problem was, he wouldn't wear the 3D glasses, so the way he saw the movie was a little distorted.

I've got a couple of appointments today, so hopefully, some alone time will help me to stay calm.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Emergency Fund Daily Savings
July 4th: $15/$800
July 5th: $20/$800


Hubby and I talked last night about how the purchase of the barbecue is going to keep our 'eating out' expenses down. Way down, in fact. As an experiment, hubby made dinner last night, to see how we could eat like we were spending tons of money, without spending tons of money. We had grilled steaks, with a shrimp and blue cheese topping, baked potatoes, broccoli and a bottle of wine. Total cost was less than $35. For a comparable meal in a restaurant, the cost would be in the $80 - $125 range. I think we're both sold on the idea. We won't be eating like this every night, but as a treat, I think it's still a good way to keep our costs down. Our typical meals will be much less expensive.

Now that Canada Post is back to delivering the mail, I'm likely going to get the statements and bills that were missing when I did the end of the month report for June. Instead of going back and re-jigging the numbers, I'll just adjust them at the end of the month report for July. Since I've ordered things online, I hope they're back up to speed and will get my goodies in the mail shortly.

I'm likely going to spend most of the day today making some candles, stitching some plastic canvas and maybe even going for a swim, if the pool is open. Today is going to be a wonderful day.

Monday, July 4, 2011

July 3rd/4th

July 3rd: $10/$800

Happy Independence Day to all American readers!

We purchased a barbecue for $275.72, tax included. Way under the $300 budget I had set for us. Hubby spent most of the day putting it together, and we had hot dogs cooked on it for dinner tonight. We plan on using this wonderful new contraption a lot, and therefore reducing our 'dining out' expenditures, which were way too high anyway.

I bought a prepaid credit card at Shopper's yesterday so that I could order some things online. The 'fee' charged works out to be about 4.3% of the cards value. Better than incurring an interest charge, I think.

I spent several hours today making more candles. On a side note, candle making makes my apartment smell soooo nice. I also managed to put fertilizer spikes in the house plants and our balcony pots that have our veggie plants in them. I can't wait to eat peppers that I grew my self. Two loads of laundry got done today, which is also good. I feel like I actually accomplished stuff this weekend.

I'm going to put the $5 bill for July 4th in the envelope before I go to bed, so I won't have to think about it tomorrow.

have a happy Monday everyone. :)

Saturday, July 2, 2011

July Goals

Last month I only made two goals, to contact Bell mobility about lowering my cellphone account and to have $1000 in our Emergency fund.

I did contact Bell Mobility, and we don't qualify for new phones for a couple of months yet, so I won't be doing anything just yet. I'll renew the contract for a lower monthly amount when we can get new phones. Except that they don't have any phones that I like. They are all touch screen thingies. I do not want to move forward with the times with my cellphone.

As for the E-Fund, I fail. We did put money in it, to the tune of about $200, but not near having the $1000 baby emergency fund.

So my goal for July will be to snowflake/blizzard the heck out of the E-Fund!

One goal, one focus, one purpose. To get $800 into the account dedicated for emergencies.

I have an envelope in my purse that is marked for these snowflakes. I am going to aim to put $5 per day into this envelope, or transfer $5 per day via Internet banking. If I can only do $5 per day, it will take 160 days to hit the $1000 mark, or about 5 months. I'm going to do it this way because I've noticed if I aim for big numbers, I lose focus. If I aim for smaller number over a period of time, I get impatient, and end up doing more than what I'm aiming for.

$5 a day. We can do that.

July 2nd: $5/$800