Wedding Music!

We're planning on hiring a DJ for the wedding that can handle dinner music as well as party music afterwards.  We're still on the hunt for this - but hoping we can find someone for under $1,000.  Originally we were budgeting about $600 but it looks like we'll have to bring someone into my...

Wedding Bar Help!

One of the decisions that Jordan and I made early on was how we wanted to handle the liquor at the wedding.  We are going to have a bottle of red and white (Copper Moon) on each dinner table and a single bottle of champagne (Segura Viudas Brut - maybe)  for toasts. So there will be lots of...

Wedding Planning Update

Now that Christmas is over, my train of thought it changing to full-swing wedding planning. We got a few key items sorted out after we got engaged but then all things wedding came to a halt mid-November when we started gearing up for Christmas. According to this Easy Wedding Planning Plus Guide that my Maid of Honour bought me there's certain things you need to have done in order before the wedding...

Spending Update

I can't get into the nitty gritty details of Christmas spending, because far too many people that I bought for read (or have the potential to read) this blog. But, I will share this: We have made a few payments already including mom & dad paying me for the gifts I bought on their behalf's as...

House Fund Update

I'm pleased to share, that as of this Friday Jordan and I made it to.....(get ready for it).... $10,000  .....in our house-fund.  We're half-way to a respectable down payme...

Roommates - Le Sigh

It's been a while since I've had a roommate rant post, so after yesterdays events - I thought it was time. We have had quite a few trials with one of our roommates lately it seems, at least twice a month, mid-week - we get phone calls from neighbors complaining about loud music during the day.  Further to that, we often get woken up in the middle of the night with music or friends coming home...

Short Update

Like most years, I wish that Jordan and I had put away more than we did for Christmas. I won't have final numbers until the middle of next week or so - but it's looking a little rough that's for sure.  Are you in the same boat that we are, or are you pretty good at forecasting how much you'll spend at Christmas? I'm not just talking gifts - but we donate more, drive more, drink more...

Christmas Shopping

.....and we're done! and I'm sick! I have a horrible cold that has been chasing me all week.  It's caught up with me and I feel positively ill.  I'm pleased that our Christmas shopping is done already or I'm afraid I just wouldn't have the ener...

Saving Money Feels Good!

Our goals have changed so much (and so frequently) this year that I'm not going to do a 2010 goal recap post as so many people are right now.  Instead, we're just continuing to work towards our goals - and in January/February we should be able to really hash out exactly what we need for what goal - and make it happen in 2011! I just deposited $500 into each of our top priority goals right...

Emergency Fund - Replenish Plan

The first step to replenishing our emergency fund went smoothly.  Jordan's two year secured credit card was released of it's 'security' at the end of November.  We transferred that $500 directly to ING and we're well on our way to having a stash of cash. This need to rebuild our emergency fund quickly goes back to the peace of mind I wrote about in my doing it all post last week. ...

Changes to the Canada Pension Plan

I came accross an article in The Globe and Mail who published on October 28, 2010,  that discusses upcoming changes to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). I hadn't heard of any changes, so I started digging.  Before I share what I've learned, for my non-Canadian readers, The Government of Canada established the CPP program in 1966. It is an earnings related social insurance program...

Monthly Spend Report

Here it is again, our monthly spend report.  I'm really enjoying the process of categorizing and tracking all of our spending via our master card.  It makes it easier then writing everything down every day (though we are trying that for any cash expenditures). I am pretty pleased with the...

Choosing Your Winter Tires

I don't know that I've ever written a post on choosing winter tires, but folks who live where the winters look like this... ...you need to make a good choice. Now, I've always had winters and I rotate every change of season (winter-summer), it's also a good time to get your oil change and any other...

Negotiation Update

So the 2011 Ford Escape that we were meant to buy - was sold!  How frustrating! Luckily, the found a very similar model that had all the same features we wanted plus a remote starter (which we wanted but had cut previously when looking at numbers).  Further to that, now that it's December...

Networth Update

My detailed networth update can be found here, or you can follow the link from the badge below. If you click on the link to check out my NetworthIQ profile, you'll see that this is the first time I've combined Jordan and my networth 100%. As we took the vehicle debt on jointly it only makes sense to add in our joint cash flow as well as joint retirement savings.  Some other details on how...

We Bought The Escape

We did it, we bought the 2011 Ford Escape! it will take a few days before we can pick it up - but here's a stolen internet picture. For those who missed it, we made the decision before my scrap heap of a vehicle could make the decision for us.  Being able to take advantage of the Retire Your...

Financing Help?

So after much deliberation and budget crunching, we decided that while we're not going to try to do it all (at the same time) - we do still need to replace my car.  So, we chose the Ford Escape as the best option for us.  If anything gets put on the back burner - it will be a new home. I'll...

Doing it All?

It's hard to believe that I haven't written since Monday as I sure have been doing a lot of talking about money.  Most notably was a conversation I had with Jordan which started out as one about my vehicle crapping out and turned into one about how we manage our money and communicate...

Jordan's Trip

Thank you for your condolences and thinking of Jordan during this difficult time.  He's been back home now for a couple of days and has had time to settle back into routine.  When talking with my mom on Sunday, she suggested doing a post of Jordan's expenses while up north.  Well, I'm...

Christmas Spending Update

So I had a great time with my family and got a tonne of Christmas shopping done.  I finished 17/22 people!  I'm pretty impressed with that - I have two cousins left to shop for from the cousins draw that we do (one is for Jordan) and then I've budgeted for a work gift for both me and Jordan - so that will be defined more as we get closer to December.  We have a couple of new friends...

Quick Update

The last few days have been a bit of a whirlwind.  Jordan's grandmother passed away on Tuesday and we had to find a way to get him to her funeral for Monday.  I was going to go with him, but flights for both of us would have been upwards of $4,000-$5,000 - so it wasn't feasible.  He is on his way now, caught a flight this morning up to NWT.  I'm thankful for our emergency fund,...

Trip to See a Mortgage Broker

I've talked on and off a lot about our plans to buy a house eventually.  We are currently so torn between buying my Great Aunts home (whenever she's ready - at an as of yet undetermined time) and buying a new construction home. When I wrote about this in November last year, we had a list of things we needed to accomplish before we could seriously think about it.  I'm pleased...

Our Credit Scores

In preparation to meet with a mortgage broker last weekend, Jordan and I checked our credit scores.  The last time we had done this was almost an exact year ago for me and two years ago for Jordan - the results were surprising on both accounts. My score has gone down, and Jordan's has gone up - significantly. My equifax score went from 769 to 755.  Two years ago, my equifax was 749.  I...

Do You Netflix?

Jordan and I were watching TV this past week and a commercial for Netflix came on.  Normally I just ignore them, but the tag at the end said 'now in Canada' - which of course got me thinking. Netflix claim to fame is "Unlimited TV episodes & movies instantly over the Internet"  For $7.99/month - we can supposedly use our Wii/PS3/Computers to watch anything/as much of it as we like -...

Three Month Spending Trends

I have been looking forward to writing this post for the last few months,  we've finally been able to review three months of spending patterns for Jordan and I since we combined our finances and started using our joint credit card.  Several of my readers have commented that they thought our...

November Monthly Budget

You'll notice that there are a couple of fields that are empty already (roommates rent and Jordan's credit card) - that's because those transactions have already happened.  My budgets tend to be very active, always updated. There is also a huge credit card payment - this is due to my reimbursable...

slow and steady

There's not a lot of new things to report lately, other than I have a dreadful stomache bug. We're still saving, slow and steady for all of our goals - and I'm hopeful that they'll all be met. We have gone over our credit card budget, but trying to reign that in as best we can until Saturday.  This was from some Christmas shopping and more recently a trip back home.  Well, that's what...

Pay Statement

A while back I mentioned that at mid-October I would hit my EI then my CPP maximum.  Well, that time is here!  Whoohoo!  I've hit my EI max, so no more deductions for that, and I'm $49.05 from hitting my CPP max, so that will happen on the first pay in November! I also just started contributing to my Pension at work!  I already have $611.52 socked away....how did that...

We've Hit Our Limit

It's only the 27th of the month, and our budget is meant to last us until the 5th of the following month - and we've already hit our allotted spending cap - plus some Christmas Shopping!  We have 8 days to go, and I'm not sure that we'll be able to avoid spending.... I know Jordan will owe some to his food truck and we need to go grocery shopping too. I'm doing my part by getting up a bit earlier...

Do you Bundle?

We currently have our TV, internet and phone services bundled with Shaw.  Normally we are pretty pleased, but leading up to yesterday the customer service has been pretty dismal at best.  The PVR was glitching, the prices went up b/c some promotions fell off, and I've spent far too much time on hold (over 45 minutes during my lunch hour yesterday). Jordan and I went down to a physical Shaw...

Weekend Re-Cap

Jordan and I had a fantastic weekend in Golden.  We were able to visit with lots of family, see my grandmother win a volunteerism award, and have our engagement photo's taken!  I'm hoping that there will be a couple I am comfortable sharing here - but we'll have to wait and see what develops (ha-ha-ha). I don't normally read blogs on the weekend, it's my evening activity, but I was checking...

Engagement Photos

I'm pretty excited!  Jordan and I are having our engagement photo's done this weekend in BC.  We've never had professional photo's taken, other then school class pictures - but I don't think that really counts.  I asked the photographer for advise on what we should do/wear and this is what she said: In terms of prep, just have a think about what you want to wear and what kind of overall...

Potential 2011 Budget

Based on the goals I described in the last post, here our potential 2011 budget.   While we budget on a monthly basis for the big picture, the variable expenses get broken down into weekly transfers to align with our pay schedules. Rent and utilities are based on having two roommates, so...

J&J's Goals

I wanted to do a 2010 checkup on the goals that I started out with this year.  I did a search and found that they changed so often, it's no wonder that I feel like I havn't acheived much.  Of course, we did have the huge success of becoming debt free this year - but we didn't realize any of our savings/planned spending goals.  Part of this was the merging of our finances and working...

Getting Back On Track

Instead of writing another post complaining about how stressed out I am, I'm going to write a post outlining how I'm going to get back on track.  Some of these things I already took care of today, but writing it all out helps me see that I've actually acheived something. Work Submit receipts for work visit to Ontario Meet with manager to discuss trip and where I'm at locally Personal Close...

Chaotic

I'm feeling a little bit all over the place.  I'm back in my  home town and done with travel for now, but there are so many things I need to catch up on - both at work, and with my personal life.  I'm feeling a little out of it with regards to where the money is at - but I did a quick check and I think we're okay budget wise - but I'm no 100% sure. While I have booked the venue/caterer/photographer...

Guest Post: The Best Way to Save Money Is Not Having It

By Bella PaigeTransferMate If you can’t trust yourself with your own money, then you have a problem. Let’s admit it – money is never enough even if we get a salary increase, bonuses, etc. Buying and consuming has become such an incredibly big part of our lives that we don’t really make the difference between a necessity and a shopping obsession anymore. The problem is, I realized, shopping was swallowing...

This & That

I'm feeling a bit more comfortable with my little hotel life that I'm developing.  While I really miss Jordan and home - I'm settling in a bit.  Maybe it's a bit late, but better than never.  The bartender in the lounge here knows what I drink (coors lite) and makes small chat, the doorman says hello and goodbye - and I like my five minute walk to work in the morning and my mini coffee...

Ugh...Due Dates!

So when Jordan and I first got our joint credit card, we set up all of our budgets based on  monthly spending patterns, because a credit card bill is due once a month.  That make sense, right?  Right.  Not Right.  We soon realized that our credit card bill came on the fifth...

Back in Ontario

I'll be here for another we...

Home Today

Today marks the last day of my trip, I'm heading back to my city tonight.  It will be a long day, working in the morning then dealing with the airport!  While this part of my business trip is over, I'm actually going to be coming back on Tuesday after the long weekend.  The office here has decided they need additional support and my home office is happy to support them.  So, the...

October Monthly Spend Report

Another month has flown by! I don't want to get too detailed in commentary around the spending last month - but I do want to share that I am finding this processes is really helping identify our spending trends.  It's fascinating to see the break down like this.  I'll let you see...

So far, so good

My trip so far has been pretty good.  It's been a struggle to adjust to the time difference, even though it's only two hours ahead.  I miss Jordan and my house... the quite is very strange. I'm sure the next couple of days will fly by though. Finances wise... I had to put my credit card on the room when I arrived, which I wasn't expecting.  So Jordan and I might not be able to pay...

I'm Outta here!

There has been an urgent request to have one of our team members fly out to an office in Ontario to provide some additional support.  Due to a variety of illnesses and emergencies, their office went from six support staff to one, in a week!  I'll be taking the red eye on Sunday night, getting to the hotel around 6:00am, hopefully I'll be able to catch a few hours sleep on the flight - because...

thoughts on retirement

tonight, after a great day of talking wedding talk with my mom we started chatting about retirement income.  I'm really not sure how we got on the subject, but at 26 years old - i'm far too concerned about my life 30 years from now.  I get very stressed out thinking about our income in the future, when Jordan and I are both retired. One, I worry because Jordan's job does not provide...

Fabulous Friday!

I hope you all have one! It's going going to be a hectic day at work, followed by a bunch of running around and then driving several hours into BC!  It will be so nice once we get there, and hopefully after the weekend is over I'll be able to tell you that we have selected our photograph...

Pension Commenced!

October 1, 2010 marks the first pay which my employer starts my pension.  It's a defined contribution pension plan which means that the contributions are set in stone, not the benefit.  The benefit (after I retired) will be based on how well the money does with the investment profile I've...

October Budget

As we're just a couple of days away, I thought I would put up our budget for October. This month has five pay days, which is why the income section is higher than normal. The cell phone bills and enmax are guesses based on previous use - and I update these as the bills come in throughout the month. whoo...

Catch Up!

Phew! It has been so so busy lately!  With checking out vendors and spending more time visiting family in the last few weeks then we have in a long time - I haven't had much 'veg' time (or blog time).  So, this is a bit of a catch up post. Wedding Jordan and I have paid a $500 deposit to secure or vendor and picked up a few things (benches, arbor) to help set the stage on the big day. ...