a Pleasant Surprise

Never have I, nor has Jordan, experienced what we did this past Friday.

I mentioned in my last post that we knew the second part of his raise had finally been approved albeit six weeks late.   We weren't actually expecting it to be processed so fast - but it was - but the real surprise is how much it was.

I pride myself on being able to run the numbers and figure out within about 10 cents what our net will be when we get a raise - and I was off by quite a bit.  When I got to my spreadsheets I realized that Jordan didn't get a raise to $50,000 he got a raise to $51,600.

He's salaried - but for hourly folks that's a difference of $24.04/hour vs $24.81/hour.

Gross Monthly it's a difference of $166/month vs $300/month.

At the end of the day Jordan will take home an extra $33.63/pay or $874.38 over the course of the year.

Making Up for It

So we got a random deposit of $500(+) from Jordan's insurance provider this morning - that's fantastic because today our weekly mortgage payment also came out.

We have looked into a few other things we can do to help with the bit of shortfall, and still meet our goal of paying of the credit card.

• We checked our points Aeroplan/Air Miles balances
• We had enough Aeroplan to order a $100 Costco gift card - it should arrive in the next week or so
• Checked with Enmax
• We have signed up with something called Easy Max Rewards with Enmax - basically you accrue $100 a year (or you can get it applied to each bill in increments) as a 'thank you' for bundling your utilities with them
• We have a $88.48 credit we'll be applying to the next bill 
• Return Pop Cans
• When we have a bag full of recyclables we toss them in the back of Jordan's truck (it has a canopy and isn't driven much). 
• We haven't gone yet (but hopefully this weekend) - the truck has half a dozen black garbage bags full - I'm crossing my fingers for about $50-$75 there.

With these three methods - we've almost found the $300 shortfall!! 

What strategies do you have to find more money when you have a shortfall or unexpected drop in income? (other than your emergency fund, which I know, I know, we need to get funded again).

STD - It Continues

So yesterday we found out that Jordan was actually only paid for 6 days at full time for the days he was at work before he went on short term disability.  The insurance company, will pay him separably for 80% of his pay for the 9 full days that he was off work.

Jordan also found out yesterday that the rest of his raise is FINALLY approved.

So I'm not sure if his STD will get paid at his new salary or his old salary and no one really seems to know the answers.

I had a look at the budget and realized that over the next few days we were going to wind up in the overdraft pretty badly - so I transferred my allowance money ($702) into our joint account as a buffer.

For those folks who remember, yes we stopped giving ourselves an allowance, but I still had some cash stashed away.  I was planning on using this money for a pretty day bed for my craft room - and hopefully will still be able to once we get the disability money and Jordan's raise comes through.

Short Term Disability

So..Jordan had emergency surgery two weeks ago to have his appendix removed - he went from mild discomfort to get that thing outta him in about 14 hours.

He's set to go back to work on Monday - but didn't have enough sick time to cover the two week period.  We applied for STD through his work benefits program and was approved.  Thankfully, his program didn't have a waiting period.  Unfortunately, the benefit is only 70%.

On top of that, the second part of Jordan's raise STILL hasn't gone through.  Which means he got 70% of $48K not 70% of $50K.



Needless to say - my whole budget is out-of-whack. We're $500 short on his regular pay plus another $200 short because of his raise.

Joy.

Guess who's credit card is not getting paid off in time for Christmas.

Again.

I did have a bit of a buffer with cash flow in December - but we're going to be $300 short...and that assumes that Jordan's raise will at least go through for December..only two months late.

2013 Budget Planning

It's the time of the year where I get to do one of my favorite things - make the 2013 Budget!  I know...what a geek!  But what did you expect on a personal finance blog?!

I started by reviewing our spending habits in 2012 - the summary is below: 

Variable Spending

The image on the top shows the average variable and total variable spending for each category that we track.  This is going to be helpful when we look at how much we need to save over the course of the year for each of these items.  

I knew we spent a lot on gifts around Christmas - but wowza!  We spend a lot throughout the year.  

Home Maintenance is a bit out of whack because we just moved into our new home and did quite a bit of work on the lawn and that sort of thing

Emergencies is probably not realistic either - during family emergencies - and I've had a few this year - typically we spend more on gas and eating out - so the day-to-day spending takes a hit when that happens.

Education and Banking shouldn't be an issue for 2013 - our credit card will be paid off by Christmas and neither Jordan or I are planning any further education in the coming year.

Day-to-Day

A month ago, Jordan and I increased our day-to-day, weekly spending allowance from $300 to $350 after we realized that we were using our credit card again to supplement things when we ran out of $ which was making it difficult to both stay on track and pay of the credit card.

You can see - that we still have some changes to make - because on average we spend $1,848/month which is $331 more than the $1,516/month we give ourselves (on average - I've spread the 'extra' week we get four times a year over a 12 month period).

It's no wonder we tend to hover with a credit card balance around $3,000 - - - $331*12 is $3,976!

I would like to keep our planned day-to-day spending at $350/week - and hope that if we actually pull emergency gas/eating out/travel - and use the emergency fund rather the day-to-day or credit card when the ca-ca hits the fan, that we'll be closer on target.   

Jordan and I were also taking about groceries and waste and we both believe we have some room to improve their - we through out way to much food after it spoils.

On to 2013

This is what I'm thinking for our 2013 plan.  I haven't reviewed it with Jordan yet - but he reads this blog - so it's all open to change.

I tried to match up with what we did last year, as well as consider any changes - I don't think this Christmas - or any really - going forward will be as flush as they have been - and with some other recent changes in my life - I don't imagine we'll be spending as much as we have in the past on gifts.

Home Maintenance spending will be supplemented with Tax Returns and any gift money we receive throughout the year.

Yes - I want a Baby Bank - No, I'm not pregnant -  I want to start saving for whenever in the next few years we get pregnant and have leaves of absences and what not to contend with.  

Last but not least, let's look at the potential monthly spending plan as a whole - I've made so many changes to this over the last six weeks that I thought it best just to put it out there to get feedback.

Fixed expenses are just that - they don't typically change.

Allowances - they are on hold right now but the intent is to start them back up again in the new year.

Variable Spending - this should match the 2013 plan I posted above.

Long Term savings is pretty consistent with last year except I want to increase Jordan's contributions by at least $100.  I would like to see this at $400 - but I'm not sure where to take from to make that happen.

Updated Tracking Bars

Just a note that I've updated my Mortgage, Ford Escape and Christmas tracking bars.

We actually own 2% of our house!! 

Somehow that's more exciting that owning 22% of our vehicle.

Bringing Chemo to our Community

Today's post diverges from the typical.

Today I'm asking for a favor.

Through the AVIVA Community Fund, my little hometown is trying to win a competition that would bring funding for trained medical staff to visit our community twice per month to enable them to provide cancer related treatment/services to those in need.  Currently, there are no qualified professionals in Golden, BC to provide the care that cancer patients need which results in significant travel and expenses for their families.

This initiative is very close to my heart as my father has recently passed away from cancer. He suffered from a heart attack after battling lung cancer for a mere six months. During that time my family had to drive three hours (approximately) to the nearest cancer treatment center; often staying overnight at hotels or having to turn around and drive another three hours back home after the treatment. Bringing training to our local hospital so that our nurses and doctors could provide this support/service to residents would impact the lives of so many people in this rural community.

To vote, you have to register (and I apologize for that, I assume it’s to avoid spam voting). You can register with an email address or with your Facebook account which is quick and easy.

We are currently in the first qualifying round of the competition for funding.  You can vote every day up until October 15th - if we make it to the second round we can continue to vote.

Please consider taking a few minutes out of your day to explore this competition and vote to bring Chemo to our Community.

AVIVA voting page:http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf14530?
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Facebook support page: http://www.facebook.com/ChemoInOurCommunity?fref=ts

Thank you,

Jessie & Jordan