Update - This & That

Little Brother To all those bloggers who are also parents and have full time jobs - I am so impressed! With have Jordan's little brother staying with us, the frequency that I have been writing has gone down dramatically over the last two weeks!  We have had some significant trials over the past while - and although I love the kid like my own little brother, I am so glad his parents get back...

Student Loan Plan of Attack....

One of my goals for 2010 is to completely pay off my student loans.  Now that we're into the swing of things for 2010, I thought I'd review my plan to get it paid off. The combined balances (after today's deposit) are standing at $8,007.  The Alberta loan is sitting at $5,342 and the Canada...

I am now an owner!

One of the unique and awesome things about the company I work for is that it is 100% employee owned, in an industry where that is pretty rare (from my understanding of it). All salaried employees can join the share purchase program and put however much away each pay day towards their purchase. You can purchase shares twice a year (end of June and end of December). I’m sure some of you saw the budget...

Bi-Weekly Budget

Here it is, my bi-weekly budget: Current Balance Whoa! What?!  Is that a minus?! ... yes, yes it is.  It has been an extremely hectic week with Jordan's little brother, and during a visit to the children's hospital this past Saturday I wasn't thinking about $$.  We needed...

do you shop Costco?

Not too long ago I highlighted the grocery comparisson that CTV Calgary does each month.  The reporter compares the top four grocery stores in Calgary and there are pretty consistent results in terms of where it costs more/less to shop. I have been a long time beleiver that Costco is cheaper to...

Book Review: Your Money Ratios

I was recently approached to write a review on Your Money Ratios: 8 Simple Tools for Financial Security, by Charles Farrell. I’ve so far seen a couple of reviews crop up already, and I must say – I’m impressed with your work! I’ve picked up and put down this book a solid half dozen times trying to read it. I wanted to be able to provide a comprehensive, thoughtful review. Unfortunately, I am only...

The Truck Loan

Last week I posted a question that Jordan had about some vacation that his company wanted him to either take or have paid out.  After some really excellent feedback (thank you everyone), he decided to request the pay out and put it towards his truck loan. His company works quick!  They paid him out yesterday, along with his regular pay.  He requested an even $500.  After deductions...

Receipt Tracking

Last week, in my bi-weekly budget post, I promised that I would keep track of all of my receipts to try to get a better handle on my budget and to ensure that I had correctly allotted amounts for each category.  Week one is up, here is a summary:  Jordan and I contribute $100 to our food...

Utilities in the Winter

I`m not sure about all of you folks, but for me, winter is the hardest time of year to keep the utility bills down.  It's cold and costs more to heat the house, and people generally spend more time inside and at home (using more resources).  Rainy Day Saver has spoken about her struggles...

ahhh.. Finished The Basement

Yesterday I mentioned that Jordan's little brother (14 yrs old) is coming to stay with us for two weeks and that I was working to get the basement in order so he would have somewhere to hang out with friends, other then his bedroom, if he didn't want to hang out with Jordan and I.  After all of...

Comment Moderation

Hello Folks, I apologize as I have a couple of spammers that are starting to crop up.  Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to manually delete comments if I didn't have comment moderation on to begin with.  I  have just changed my comment settings to have word verification to hopefully stop any further spamming. Sorry for any inconvenience.  - for those who use blogger,...

This Weekend

So... what did we do this weekend?   I didn't post a list like some did, but there were a few things we wanted to and got done. We bought my great aunt a laptop (she paid for it, we just shopped for it).  She wants to be able to e-mail family.  She's 80, and never experienced a computer before, so it'll be pretty interesting to teach her how to use it.  We've got it set up, and...

Bi-Weekly Budget

It's that time again - below you will find my bi-weekly budget: This weeks pay is about what I thought it would be given the changes I made, but there of courses were variances because each year the tax man changes the rules around federal/provincial taxes. You can see all of my...

Jordan's Response

...to yesterday's questions was: @Jessie's Mom - I have carry over due to the fact that my employment date started Aug 8th of 2008. Of which time I didnt take any vacation hence the roll over. @Frugal Dreamer - aside from not having a performance review since I've started working here... its been great. I've been blessed with having only 2 bosses ever that were intolerable. @All - I am going to...

Vacation Pay: Carry Forward or Pay out?

I'm sure most, if not all, of you know that my boyfriend/common-law partner is Jordan.  He receives each of my blog posts via e-mail, reads them, and rarely comments - though sometimes we talk about them after work if something was particularly interesting for him. He's called me - and has a question for all the Jessie's Money reader's out there. Unlike Frugal's partner H, who's Boss in...

The house fund... is back!

Back in October, Jordan and I put our house fund on hold.  We had just gotten notice that all of our roommates would be moving out - and weren't sure if we'd be able to handle the rent on our own (It was $1,500 back then).  Since then, we successfully negotiated a rent decrease to $1,350 and went from having three roommates to just one.  Our rent effectively went from $300/month to...

Overtime Project II - Payout Question

In October, I wrote about my Overtime Project II.  My goal was to reach 75 hours of OT before Christmas, which would net me approximately $1,000 to put towards my student loans. I actually reached 54.00 hours, 72% of my goal.  I'm pleased with my effort - and still have some extra work to do in the office.  I'm going to continue to plug away at work, and if I get some more OT - that's...

Personal Goals

Hello All! What an absolutley fabulous Christmas/New Years vacation I had!  I'm feeling a little rusty, but am eager to get back into the swing of things. Thanks to everyone for their postive feedback on my 2010 budget and financial goals - I think it's going to be an excellent year!  In terms of personal goals, I've only come up with a few so far. Give myself more time in the morning...