Employer Paid Top Up

How did 15 weeks go by already?

Back in October, when I was waiting for Little Man to arrive, I mentioned that one of my benefits was a salary top up.  When on an eligible maternity leave, and approved for Employment Insurance, my employer tops up a mom's EI benefit to 70% of their salary for 15 weeks.  The idea is to help transition the family from regular salary, down to EI with a 'step'.  It's a huge help!  Normally, the employee must return to work for a minimum of six months after the leave or the benefit must be repaid.

In my case, I don't, because just before my Maternity Leave started, I was laid off.  As part of my termination package, I do not have to repay the benefit.

Not Little Man, but Super Cute!

The last Friday in January marked the end of my top up.  So going forward, it's just EI.  eek!  Good thing the house has sold so we will only have a mortgage payment for the month of February, well, until we buy our new home that is.

My Dad

Today would have been my dad's sixty second birthday if Lung Cancer hadn't taken him away from us almost four years ago.  We had gotten the confirmation weeks after my husband and I were married and just a few months later, he was gone.  I think about him so often, especially now that we have Little Man.  He was so ready for grandchildren and it breaks my heart that he didn't get the chance to meet his first grandson.   So today, instead of thinking about, or writing about money, I'm just going to spend time with my family.

I Screwed Up

It's kind of hard to see in the picture, but I screwed up.  I was backing out of the carport, and turning to avoid the pickup that parked their (just out of the picture) and I caught the corner of the Escape on the pillar.

The carport is fine, the Escape is not.

Ugh.

The first quote I got to fix it is around $1,400.  Jordan's going to call around to see if we can do any better - but there is only two places in town that do body work of any kind.  It's the entire front bumper that needs to be replaced.

Moving

So begins the process of packing up our old house without a new house to put everything in.  

A while back I mentioned that Jordan and I were preparing for this by purchasing a 20 foot long container.  Fingers crossed that it winds up being large enough to hold everything - but if not, there is some space in my grandmother's home that could work in a pinch.

We'll be going into Alberta every weekend in February until the house is packed up and moved.  The first weekend we'll be just finishing getting everything from the basement up and into the garage and everything from upstairs down to the main floor.  Stairs suck when you're moving so if we can do this before even renting the moving truck, we'll be a lot better off.  Fingers crossed that the work I do with physio will help me be productive when we're moving...that and having Little Man with us will be interesting to see how much we can get done.

Plantar Fasciitis

Thank goodness for health benefits!

I don't think I've shared this before, but I happen to have chronic planter fasciitis.   For those not familiar, it's when the ligament that connects your heel bone to your toes gets inflamed.  It's been ongoing for me for going on three years.

I've previously met with three different doctors, completed 6 months of physio, two rounds of cortisone injections in my heel (talk about painful), and custom orthotics.  All to no avail.

I've just started physio again, with a new practitioner and am amazed at the results.  After one session with her, I've had more progress than with any other method.

The pain is ridiculous, when I'm walking, sitting, pretty much doing anything my heel/arch ranges from light throbbing to stabbing.

While on maternity leave and before my termination is processed, I still have access to my benefits, so now is as good as time as any to see if we can make any headway with the pain.  My first assessment/treatment appointment was an hour and cost $90 - $60 was covered by my plan and $15 by Jordan's.  There's a $75 annual deductible for Jordan's plan, so now that it's covered, all of my subsequent visits ($60/30 minutes) will be paid for 100%.  Which is excellent because she wants to see me 2-3 times a week for a while.

The greatest part is I was able to submit both online, and within two days was already reimbursed.

So yay benefits, and yay new physiotherapist.

Oh!  For anyone interested, she used ultrasound and then taped my heal/ankle to receive pressure on the tendon and it was amazing!  I couldn't believe a few cents of medical tape releived so much pain AND that no one else has thought to try it.

Foreclosure Sale

With the pending closing of the sale of our house, Jordan and I have been on the house hunt again...and we've just found a diamond in the rough that we're going to put an offer in on.  It's a bank foreclosure sale, so comes with some complications.

There are multiple offers going in, and no offer can include any conditions.  That means no conditions on financing, or inspections et.  The first offer has been accepted by the bank, so now it and any other offers need to go before the judge to see who will be awarded the sale. There are tenants in the house that will need to be evicted, and, the sale is going to happen before our house closes.

hmm...what else?

Well, we got in to see the house last week and it's a MESS.  It poses both the advantages of being sold at a price where all of the renovations we would do will bring the property's value back up to what it should be whereas if we bought a house that we wanted to do some cosmetic/preference changes it would be money spent that wouldn't really impact the value.

The house is within a stones through from a school, and a small convenient store.  It's nestled high on a bank that provides a beautiful view from a wraparound deck.  There's a large six foot fence that surrounds the .8 acre space.  A large garage/shop that is in really good shape (better then the house).  It has a lot of positives that make the prospect of doing the major reno completely worth it.

....

So I was really excited when I wrote all of that and it was just when we decided to put the offer in.  Well we found out on Thursday that we lost the house.  Another bid came in just $1,166 more than ours - I can't help but be so disappointed.  Jordan was doing such a good job of being analytical about it and I let my emotions get involved and started fantasizing and planning with what our lives would lookalike on that little big piece of dirt.

Ahh well, on to the next house.

Jordan's Retirement Savings

We got some great news a few weeks ago.  Jordan's employer is increasing the amount that they will match for his RRSP.  I mean, the really great news is that he's actually working somewhere that has a retirement program!  It's the first time ever.

The company establishes contributions based on previous years profitability and the employee's salary.  I'm not sure what the actual formal is, but last year it was matching up to $24/pay and 2016 it's increasing to $42 and change a pay.  I like round numbers so we're going to contribute $50/pay to get the full match plus a few extra bucks of our own.

Yay, it's like free money
Granted he has to stay with this company for five years to keep all of the employer contributions, but that's still pretty awesome considering his industry doesn't often have retirement benefits of any sort.

It's not 10% of his salary - which would be nice, but it gets us halfway there.  If we can get another $200/month in savings for his retirement that would be ideal. Our ability to swing that will depend a lot on what we wind up doing for housing here in BC and what I wind up doing for work in a years time.

Time will tell.