Goals and Spending Plan

Sunday seems like a good day to sit down with a cup of tea and contemplate the week.  I tend to overwhelm myself with long term goals and planning, I think I need to slow myself down and plan things one step (or week) at a time.

Nick is far away in jolly ol' England this week.  Sadly his 99 year old grandfather Jack passed away, just 6 months shy of his 100th birthday.  My mother in law generously offered to pay for Nick's plane ticket, so he seized the opportunity to spend some time with family.

While he is away I am going to try to have a no-spend week!  I have a tendency when it's just me and the kids to spend money just for something to do.  I'll grab a coffee, order pizza, swing by McDonald's, stop by the dollar store to pick up some craft supplies... I am pretty good at wasting money just for the sake of wasting it.  So this week I am having none of it!  While my budget is $0, Nick's is $400.  Hopefully he won't spend it all, but the money is there in case it's needed.

The exception to the no-spend is renewing my vehicle registration ($84.95), and paying the cell phone bill today ($120.75).  Other than that we can make do.

Aside from not spending money this week, I want to bring in at least $50 selling things around the house.  I've already decluttered and sold quite a bit, so I'm digging deep on this one, but I'm sure it can be done.

And as for decluttering, I want to work on the living room, bedroom, and baking shelf in the garage.  In preparation for our upcoming move I'm trying to be ruthless about what we truly need and use, and what we just keep for the sake of having it around.

Coming up for air

Whew - I swear I will get back into my blogging routine soon!  It has been wild and crazy around here the past week with both of my boys starting school and trying to get settled into routines.

Nick also has been moved projects at work which has caused a bit of confusion around here.  His new work schedule is going to be 10 hour days, 4 days a week, so he'll get every Friday off!  It's going to be looong days though (he needs to wake up at 4:30am, yuck!)  And this project could involve a lot of overtime, which on the one hand is YAY! and on the other hand a lot of BOO!  We have to be grateful for all the income we can bring in, but it certainly is busy around here.  Nick earns a heck of a lot more than I do though, so if he's doing OT I can relax a bit on my end.

I am having a VERY difficult time keeping up any semblance of a work day.  I did not meet my $1200 target for this pay cheque, I fell about $200 short :(  Hopefully now that the craziness of the first week of school has died down that will get better.

We also came to the conclusion that Tristan really needed to be involved in more activities.  Tristan had told us that he decided he didn't want to be in Beavers, so we felt it was best to respect his decision.  He claimed it was because he was "shy" - if you know us personally, you know that this is soooo far from the truth.  Tristan is the type of child will strike up a conversation with each and every person he passes walking through the grocery store.   So after much debate, Nick and I felt we should push him out of his comfort zone a little bit, which unfortunately meant pushing our budget a bit out of our comfort zone.  We signed Tristan up for Broadway Show Choir, Beavers, and Art Classes.  They are pricey (like ouch pricey), but in the end we want was is best for our kids, and he really needs to have his time filled up in a way that I cannot do entirely on my own.  I spoke with my mother-in-law tonight and she said she would love to help out, so we'll see what comes from that.

I promise I will back tomorrow with our budget, right now I need to go have some quality time with my pillow.  Nick's brother's family is coming to visit this weekend so it's going to be busy, busy, busy!

Spending totals for August 28th to September 3rd, 2011

Having to do a bit of catch up today.  We've been enjoying an extra long Labour Day weekend as a family.  Our last hurrah before settling into the fall routine of school and preparing for winter.

I have been terrible this week about writing everything down and had to scramble to dig through my wallet to find receipts for everything.  Up to this point I have been just separating cash into different areas of my wallet, but I think I need to use actual envelopes and tuck the receipts inside so that I can keep a better record of it all.  All in all, not a bad week.  I highlighted a few things that weren't really planned.  I really need to quit taking my kids shopping with me!  It always costs me more.

August 27, 2011
$105.00 Life jackets for the kids (we realized last minute after being invited to go boating with the friends that the boys no longer had life jackets that fit.  No time to shop around and find a better price)
$109.99 Anti-virus software (Paid for 2 years upfront, I need this for work since I work remotely by computer)
$17.00 Doll dress for Brighton's birthday


August 28, 2011
No spend!

August 29, 2011
$33.96 Personal tax payment installment
$255.10 Payment to mom
$48.80 Bank fees (ouch!  overdraft interest is getting to us)
$70.57 Fuel - van
$11.54 Lutes building centre - screws for privacy screen Nick built in the yard
$12.00 Car wash

August 30, 2011
$42.44 Fuel - car

August 31, 2011
$70.92 Extra Foods - groceries

September 1, 2011
$1305.00 Mortgage payment
$2.72 Phone/internet
$161.34 Cell phone bills
$29.13 Domino's Pizza (we let Tristan choose dinner since it was his first day of school and he wanted to order pizza)

September 2, 2011
$62.99 Sump pump

September 3, 2011
$44.67 Bulk barn - groceries
$54.23 Michael's - quilting cutting mat for me, and craft supplies for the kids
$23.29 Dollarama - art supplies for the kids and some misc school supplies

Total spending for the week: $2397.70 (seems like an awful lot, but the mortgage makes up more than half of that)

I am banning myself...

...from the "Extra Foods" store near our house.  Somehow every single time I go in that store I spend money I didn't intend to.  It's probably because it's where I run in quickly for a few things, and I almost always have 3 kids in tow, and it almost always seems to be close to meal times where the kids are whiny and cranky and I will give just about anything to keep them quiet.  Today the damage was workbooks for the kids and two cat toys, the other day it was bubbles and some clothes.  The other grocery store in town is only slightly further away, and their prices are slightly higher, but there are no temptation items there, just food.  And as a bonus they give the kids a free cookie which usually dissuades any other begging.

Spending totals for August 21 to 27, 2011

Pretty good week overall!  Although I have to say it was really forced upon us as there was no money to use!

August 21/11
$75.00 Chair bought from friend
$36.41 Fuel - car


August 22/11
$87.30Life insurance $87.30
+$39.20 Gymboree store return
+ $18.88 Costco store return


August 23/11
No spend!


August 24/11
$517.60 Car payment
$7.99 Netflix


August 25/11
$211.83 Car/home insurance
$25.95 Canadian Living magazine subscription
$6.59 Nick - lunch bought at work


August 26/11
$111.97 No Frill's
$70.23 Fuel - van


August 27/11
No spend!

Total spending for the week (including debt repayment): $1092.79

Spending totals for August 14 to 20, 2011

Well this week sure was the week that went off the rails!  I've decided to do a new thing with my spending totals which is red flagging the items that were off budget.  I'm sure that you'll notice a pattern this week that I am terrible about buying clothes for my kids.  Somehow I am better at not buying at all than I am at restraining myself once I start, so until at least the end of September I am buying the kids absolutely NOTHING.  I really need to separate "want" from "need".

So to make matters worse, I found out that the $267 benefit payment I was expecting from the government was not coming because we haven't filed last years taxes, so I had to pull money off our line of credit.  Ugh, not good, not good.

I'll be back tomorrow with some pretty lofty goals going forward.  I've really got to push myself or we're just going to be at a stand still forever.  I have got to get my spending in line with my priorities!  Now I'd better post this quickly and get back to work.... I've got some money to make!

August 14/11
$136.79 Town Utilities
$296.92 Gas/electricity
$50 Amex payment
$305 Personal line of credit payment
$71.34 Van - fuel
$112.96 Extra Foods (Cat food/litter $31.26, Groceries $8.48, Batteries $8.49, Toiletries $3.99, Kids clothes $31.50, magazines $27.27, coloured pencils $1.31
$123.37 Once Upon a Child
$122.41 Gap/Old Navy order

August 15/11
$217.36 Property taxes
$33.96 Personal tax installment
$59.24 Taxes/duty on delivery package

August 16/11
$45.75 Car- fuel

August 17/11
$32.32 Dentist (had 2 fillings done, this was the amount not covered by benefits, didn't plan for this one!)

August 18/11
$42.60, 3 outfits for Brighton (ebay)
$342.00 Costco ($130.12 clothes)
$36.96 Wal-Mart

August 19/11
$8.93 Dollar store (treats for the kids) - Tristan had immunizations in the morning and I took them for some treats because they were good.  I'm okay with the purchase, but I should have planned ahead for it and I didn't
$6.30 Dollar store - yes, I went back.  Brighton cut her finger badly in the afternoon and I realized I had no first aid supplies.
$82.36 Wal-Mart - diapers, soothers, and a birthday card and chocolate bar for my sister
$28.34 Dairy Queen - ice cream cake for my sister

August 20/11
No spend!

Total spending for the week (including debt repayment): $2154.91 (ouch!)

Spending totals for August 7 to 13, 2011

Not a bad week around here.  Pretty quiet and mellow.  Only thing out of the ordinary was that we went to McDonald's with friends on Thursday - I'm glad we don't do that very often, it's so expensive and my kids don't even eat half of their food.

August 7/11
$29.72 dress & tights for Brighton


August 8/11
$129.16 Wal-Mart
$1.05 McDonald's (iced coffee)


August 9/11
$15.81 postage
$1.25 slurpee (treat for Tristan after summer camp)

August 10/11
No Spend - yay!

August 11/11
McDonald's $18.34
Tim Horton's $3 (paid to friend for coffee & muffin)

August 12/11
PC M/C Payment $400 (to cover realtor's gift card, gas, and payment)
PC M/C (2) Payment $50
Mosaik M/C Payment $100
TD Line of Credit Payment $100
Orange Blossom Massage Therapy $61.75 (this will be reimbursed by our benefits)
Dental office $20.14 (the amount not covered by benefits, not bad for a family of 5!)
Bank fees $40.49 (finally got around to closing an old bank account, that was overdrawn because of bank fees, so annoying)
No Frill's $55.95
Sobey's $54.10
Costco $213.82  (I ended up finding Brighton's birthday present, and also bought all three of the kids Halloween costumes, so I'll have to adjust the budget a bit since I hadn't planned on buying them yet.)

August 13/11
$4.13 T-shirt for Brighton

Total spending for the week (including debt repayment): $1298.71

Letting go of vices...

Nick and I have come a VERY long way in how we spend our money.  We've mostly given up Starbucks, eating out, magazines, books, video games, for the most part we're not really fancy people any more.  The area I really struggle with are the kids clothes.  For as far as I've come, I still have a hard time finding the balance between buying quality, but not spending too much, and not overbuying.  It's hard when it's something that you need, but you don't necessarily need exactly what you want.

I was working away on the budget and had planned on placing a $300 order for Hanna Andersson after pay day, and then I looked at it.  I put 10 things in my cart and my total was $286.  And I was like, "What the heck am I thinking?"  Sure the prices look okay as individual pieces, but then being in Canada I have to tack on $24.50 shipping, and $38.00 in duty.  And these weren't even full outfits, there were matching pieces I was planning on buying when the next sale came.

And so, I gave my head a shake, and focused on our goals.  I want to be out of overdraft by the end of September.  That is NOT going to happen if I don't buckle down and start saving more than I spend.

So as much as I want to order, I'm going to be a grown up and say I don't need to.  It's a vice, and it's holding me back from the future that I want.

Sometimes, being a grown up isn't much fun.

Spending Totals for August 3-6/11

This will be a regular fixture on the blog which I hope to update every Saturday.  For this week I'm just going to post from the start of the blog to now because, well, I didn't keep track before then (I know, I know.... you wonder how we got into this mess, eh?)

August 3/11: NO SPEND!  WOOT!
August 4/11:  $8.17 Groceries (basically just fruit, we went to visit a friend out of town and were running low on fruit at home)
August 5/11: NO SPEND!
August 6/11: Took the kids to the amusement park (free, we were given passes for Christmas), but we bought ice cream there ($13.75) and Brighton lost her soother so we stopped to buy a pack ($7.35).  And I didn't plan ahead and had no cash, so I had to use the no-name ATM and it cost me fees (1.75) Not proud of today's purchases - for one, half the ice cream went in the garbage so we could have bought half as much.  Note to self - in future by the least amount possible knowing you can always buy more.  And also, Brighton screamed all the way home even though we bought soothers, so much for that plan.  And of course not having cash on hand was a complete oversight.

Live and learn, right?  This is why I'm tracking all of this.  So grand total for the past 4 days - $31.02.