New Glasses!

This past weekend, I actually spent some money that was above and beyond my $300/bi-weekly variable spending (jar money).

I broke down and FINALLY bought myself some new prescription glasses.  The ones I am currently wearing are three or four years old and are the wrong prescription for me.  My eyes are different already by a full point, so this has been increases the frequencey and intensity of headaches.

I've actually been looking for the last six months or so, and have realized that's nearly impossible to find a single pair of high index glasses for under $300.  I have been to over a dozen different retailers.

Jordan and I happened to be in Sears on Saturday because we were looking at some items we will want to replace when our roommates move out.  Sears optical (I didn't even know that had a sears optical until Saturday) had a fantastic deal on (won't get into all the details) but basically like so many other retrailers the best 'deal' was acheived when you bought two pairs instead of one pair.

I wound up getting a pair of prescription sunglasses and prescription regular lenses both high index, with scratch resistance and UV coatings and all that jazz for a grand total of $449.97.  Which is an effective price of $225/each pair.

The above price was with a one year extra warranty on the glasses, but I've never needed that before, and neither has anyone in my family so I think I'm going to retrun that (I have 30 days) which will bring the total price down to $390.  I have $125 left on my glasses benefit's through work, so after I claim that expense that total amount I have to come up with is $265 (or $132.50/pair).  I should be able to paymyself back in two weeks on my next pay day.  So that money will only be owing on my visa for a couple of weeks.  I'm completely comfortable with this!  Plus Jordan will stop nagging me to take care of my eyes :)

I should have pictures of them in a week when they are ready to be picked up.

My Mom's Bread Recipe

Krystal and Frugal Dreamer were chatting about bread making on Twitter the other day and it got me thinking about my mom's amazing bread.  My brother's been making it for a while now, but now that he's moving out, I have an even larger reason to try to learn how to make it myself.  I think that I'm going to learn how to do it this winter... we could have a bread bake off, if that's even a thing?!

I actually have a cook book that my grandma wrote for her children, and then passed it along to her grandchildren.  Each recipe has a short story followed by the ingredients and directions.  Often, something is written in the directions that isn't in the ingredients and vice versa.  I think she secretly did this on purpose to get her family calling for the rest of the details ;)

So, here is mom's story/recipe - Mom, if I miss anything, please feel free to add it in the notes.  If anyone tries it, I would love to hear how it works out for you.  I'll be sure to let you know how it turns out when I try it.

Mom's Name Bread

I taught mom's name everything I knew about bread.  I think she learned something on her own because her bread is so much better then mine and now I use her recipe.

5 cups warm water
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons yeast

Combine and let the yeast rise.

1/4 to 1/2 cup of margarine
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup skim milk powder (optional)
1/2 cup wheat germ (optional)
10-12 cups flour, some white and some whole wheat

Combine with yeast mixture and kneed until your arms are tired.  Let rise until double in bulk. Punch down. Either let it rise again or make into buns or bread.  Let rise again. Bake at 375% until brown.

I love the GST Tax Credit

Woohoo!

I just got $94.50 deposited into my bank account from the Government.  Thanks tax man.

Now...what to do with this unbudgeted pile of money?

My Jars - an Update

Jason from Canadian Savings  asked me a couple of great questions on my recent payday post that relate to how I use the jar system.


Question One: How long do the jar amounts have to last you?
I budget bi-weekly. So the $300 that I allocate for my variable expenses are for two weeks.

Question Two: Do you track your spending?
I have found that tracking wasn't as important for me as it is for some folks. I didn't get a lot of value from it. What I mean to say is that I allocate $100 for two weeks worth of groceries. I know where that money has gone - it's gone to food. I don't need to track how much went to bread/butter/or other items relating to groceries.

Some other details about how I manage my 'jars'

• I keep any 'left over' jar money - and roll it over into the following weeks. That way, If something comes on sale and I want to bulk up, I have the $$ for it already.
• Some people have commented before that my entertainment budget looks a little high. I would argue that it's not.  
• 'entertainment' is a very broad category for me.  For example, last month I bough some Halloween decorations for the house, I took money from my entertainment fund for that. Entertainment may also includes any trips home I make and extra gas money to visit my horse, and a variety of other item's that may come up. I could increase my Transportation budget and decrease my entertainment budget - but having it set up the way it is allows for more flexibility.
• I recently decreased my clothing/gifts jar because I have a dedicated Christmas/Gift account where I save separately, so I shifted some of those funds to my 'everything else' jar.
• Jordan also contributes to the food jar. We are both paid bi-weekly but on opposite weeks. He deposits $100/bi-weekly as well.
• I should also mention that our grocery/food budget also includes joint personal care items like razer blades and cleaning supples. I would buy my personal make up and other items from my 'other ' jar.

I hope that answers Jason's questions, and addresses any one else's' if their out there. Feel free to ask more :)

October Goals

I've seen quite a few folks posting monthly goals, so I thought I'd have a go at it too!

• Meet Christmas 2009 Goals of saving $500

Woohoo! this is already done with my first paycheque in October!

• Turn Sam's (old roommates) room into a spare room/office

Right now, I have a pseudo spare room in the unfinished basement. I want to take this opportunity to make it a little warmer/friendlier.  By having a desk in their as well, it might help Jordan to get away when he's studying for school.

• Decorate the house and my workstation for Halloween

Jordan and I will be doing this on the upcoming weekend.  I'm going to bring any 'left over' decorations to work.

• Learn how to make apple cider 

We're going to have a halloween/putluck/pumpkin carving context at work in a few weeks.  Due to that big 'ol apple tree in the back yard I'd like to learn how to make cider.  A co-worker of mine offered to make pie using the same apples, so I have to remember to bring her a bag in.

• Start second phase of overtime/filing project at work.  

I'm going to make my goal 75 hours of OT, which should translate to roughly $1,000 of extra income.  I plan on using that money to help reduce my Canada Student Loan. I will probably have this paid out in two increments at 37.5 each.  This will hopefully help reduce the tax implications of such a large influx of funds. I hope to reach at least 37.50 hours by Christmas.

I think I'm going to keep it simple for now.  I hope everyone has a great weekend!

It's Payday!

Hurrah, it's payday.  Here's a breakdown for the next two weeks.

As mentioned last week, Jordan and I decided to but our house fund on hold for a month or two until things settle down with our housing situation.  Jordan also increased is truck repayment plan, and wanted to see how that would work out.  Because of that, and no more credit card debt repayment, I had an extra $600 this month to play with.

I kept my jar money at $300 which seems to be working.

I was going to break up the large sum, but in interests of meeting some of my short term goals, I'm going to go after them one at a time while maintaining my $25/bi-weekly contribution schedule.  So, this pay day, I'm putting $500 towards my Christmas fund which will have it fully funded for this year and $100 towards my emergency fund.

Have a great weekend!

Roommates - We Have None!!

So, it would seem that my gut instinct to transfer rent money over from one account to another was a good one.  Jordan and I got home this late this evening and there was a note on the fridge with my name on it. This is what it said:

Dear Jessie,

School has been hectic, I don't usually leave until 10pm on most nights, so my aplogies for my absence. I am writing this letter to inform you that unforutnatly I will not be able to afford living here unless I get a job, which is impossible with my current work load.  My cousin has offered me a place to stay which will be much cheaper and my utilities, transportation and meals would be included.  My apologies to you, because of Lindsay and Nelson's departure from this house.  I know that it's going to be hard on you and Jordan.  I hope you can find someone to mpove in soon.  I will probably move out before thanksgiving, but Iwill give you rent for the month of October, as well as utilities for that month as well with hopes of getting the secuirty deposit back.  Once agian, I am deeply sorry, I would stay if school would allo wme some free time to accumulate some weath. I will be here after school to talk.

My Apologies,

Samantha

I can't say I'm surprised with everything else, things like this tend to happen in bunches (at least that's what they say isn't it?).

Just as I finished writing out the note she left for me, Sam got home.  She gave me $500 for all of October, and will pay Septmeber's utilties when I get all the bills  in next week.  I told her i'll get her damange deposit back to her after she's moved out and after we access a fair portion of October's utilties depending on the date she actually leaves.

I'll have to talk to my brother and Lindsay about splitting the utilities 4 ways rather then 5 ways as well.

Our initial reaction (Jordan and me) is to not hurry into finding a replacement. It would really be nice to have the house to ourselves for November.  We are going to put the feelers out, but not look really hard until December.  I think that it will be fairly challening to find someone b/c no one likes moving in winter, especially around Christmas.  But we shall see how that works out.

The landlord is geting back from her trip in a couple of weeks, and we are still in the middle of re-negotiating the rent.  If she lowers it by a couple hundred, that will make a large difference.

As it stands, Jordan and I will split November's rent of $1,500 two ways, so $750 each.  That extra $100 from my raise at work, just found it's new home - Rent.  Unless of course we can get it lowered by then, but either way we'll be splitting it.  Needless to say this has some serious implications for our budgets.

Utilities will probably be around $200/each or more when it's just the two of us... we'll have to wait and see on that one (I see a post coming realting to that).  So we should both expect to have housing costs of about $1000/month if we are on our own.

For now, there's nothing we can do other then to continue to be frugal. I tell you, I am so so so happy my credit card is paid off. (Jordan asked that I bold that, he's watching me type as we watch TV together).

We'll be able to make this work no matter what happens.  Jordan and I are in this together, and we'll pull through.  Things we'll be tight, and I'll post updates to my budget once I have some solid numbers that I can work with.  For now, I think I will plan for the worst-case and bank the rest so that I have it just in case.