What Else?

Oh...so besides slacking off when it comes to writing about money, what have I been doing?

Well my mom, Jordan, and I all had birthday's in July - and I turned 30! Yea...30.

Also; we've gone camping a LOT, and BBQing a LOT...and some quading and really - just enjoying the summer.

Here's some pictures.

Savings Plan Update

The Escape is so close to being paid off I can taste it...we're down to $8,900 - down from $28K.

After a bit of a chat with Jordan, and bouncing some ideas off of my mom; we've decided to forgo re-starting the RRSPs/Planned Savings for just a couple of months (I had stopped them all when we were switching automatic transactions from the joint-chequing to the new joint-savings work horse account).

I would much rather have one less payment when we eventually get pregnant; then the alternative.  Doing this gives us $800-$2,000 each month to dump onto that debt...the amount varies depending on how Jordan's salary works out...we're still in limbo with his employer extending his guarantee every month, for a month which makes things difficult to plan for; but we're enjoying the bump while we have it and crossing our fingers for something more permanent as he grows his career and reputation there.

I've Been Slacking

...I can't believe it's been a few weeks since I've last written...and I haven't made much progress at all with the last few things I committed to.

I haven't made an appointment with a lawyer for a will - BUT Jordan and I did have some good conversations about who/how/what in terms of our estate at this point in time.

I also stalled on the home inventory...but I need to get back to that too!

The Joint Chequing account sega is actually complete though!  We have completed moving all of our joint chequing transactions into a joint savings account that earns a few points better interest AND then allows us to use the joint account like a proper joint account for our day-to-day expenses.  Following up on the: Is $300 Enough Post - we've bumped our weekly spending for d2d up to $400.

So far so good.

The intent here is to stop relying on credit cards; and get back to the original spending plan...that is, stop spending once the money in that account is gone for the week. Oh! and that the other piece; we're going back to weekly rather than bi-weekly for the day-to-day account.  Just easier to manage.

Joint Chequing - Followup

So, Jordan and decided it was totally worth the effort; and have been working at switching over all of our accounts to a joint savings account over the last little while.  We actually started before the post about considering it went up!

We have 13 different companies that interact with our work horse account; not including all of the transactions for auto savings within Tangerine.

p.s.  If you haven't signed up for Tangerine now, it's a really good time to do it.  Tangerine is currently doubling their referral bonus from $25, to $50 if you open accounting using within a minimum of $250 using this code before July 31st - we both get the free money!

All you have to do is click the link below, and enter my Orange Key when signing up: 17396382S1.

Making a Will

We haven't finished Level 4 yet, because we're still taking our home inventory; but I didn't want to lose momentum (either in writing or in the My Money, My Choices process); so I'm going to start working through Level 5.

Activity 1, is to make a will.

Oi!  I knew this was coming, but I'm not sure I was ready for it just yet.

Activity 2 is to name a financial power of attorney, and Activity 3 is to name a personal care power of attorney.

I guess we need a laywer.

Taxes! Do Them!

It boggles my mind how many people don't keep their taxes up to date; especially when they have super standard; nothing to write home about taxes to complete.  We're talking a T4, maybe 2 and an RRSP or school deduction.  Seriously.  It's not hard.

It just so happens that the last two activities in Level 4 of My Money, My Choices to get this years tax return done and catch up on any previous years.  Jordan and I are all caught up; but I can't say it's always been that way.

When I met Jordan, we were 19 I think, and he had several years of taxes to do....like 4 or 5.  So, I sat down on his living room floor (tax software wasn't as popular then); and did them all.  I think payment was my choice of movie and he had to cook me dinner.  Though once he got his cheque in; he took me out.

I was floored that he hadn't done them, and really wasn't worried about it; this of course comes from your influences growing up.  Now, I can't say that Jordan gets excited as I do, but he's happy for me to get them done, and happy to get those tax returns every year.  I don't submit them by hand any more, typically I use TurboTax because I have three returns to do (mine, Jordans, and my grandmothers) and my mom and I often share the license for hers too, but I still usually do a practice run pen/paper style just to make sure everything lines up correctly.

July 1st Networth Update

guh!

So...today, I was going to tell you how Jordan and I broke through the $100,000 Networth barrier!  Wow!

but...we didn't.

Our networth actually went down.



So what happened?

• Our Tangerine Funds went down slightly
• My Sunlife Funds went down slightly
• We spent more money then we had
• We haven't been reimbursed for Jordan's new teeth yet (over $2,100)

That'll teach me for getting excited before it actually happens.

But, some good news!  We now owe less than $10,000 on the Escape...and that's still pretty awesome.

Happy Birthday Canada

Happy Birthday Canada!

I hope everyone is off enjoying the rights and responsibilities we have as Canadian's.

This was just one of the last birthday photo's I took - that's my husband's shirt.