My Money, My Choices - Level 3, Activity 5 & 6

In this activity we set up our retirement savings..and automate them (activity 6) I think it's really apt on the tail of yesterday's post about my grandmother in retirement and the post we did about a week ago or so on Level 3, Activity 1 (calculating our personal savings rate). I'm still comfortable with where my savings are at, but I do think we need to bump Jordan's.  We've decided to go...

What is most important?

A few weeks ago, Gail wrote how important it is for people to identify what is really and truly important to them.  She mentioned that Canadian's living on government assistance may have as little as $16,000/year or less to live on.  Well, I would like to share with you a real example of this...

Weekly Spend Report

Oops!  This week is a bit of a mess. It carried over from last week, with lots of preparing for camping this season. I got a bit twisted with what spending was for vacation and what spending was for our day-to-day, but we went over! We ate out when we still had the money, but then we needed groceries and gas...more gas then expected b/c of all the vehicle trouble we've had, I kept driving different...

My Money, My Choices - Level 3, Activity 4

The fourth activity in level 3 is getting set up on a company pension plan if you're not already on one - thankfully I am but unfortunately, Jordan's company doesn't have one. Mine is a defined contribution (not defined benefit), both I, and my employer contribute 5% of my gross salary including...

My Money, My Choices - Level 3, Activity 3

A couple days ago, I wrote about creating the Emergency Fund, today is about automating it.  This one is really simple - just set up an automatic savings programme.  With a goal of $25,000 it's going to take us a loooonng time - but we'll never get there, if we don't get going. For those...

Spring Cleaning

There's just no point unless the dogs get a bit of a refresher too!  A week ago or so I shared that Jordan and I found a vet and got the pups vaccinations all up to date.  On Monday, they had a date at doggy day-care and the groomers (one place).  They've never been to that particular...

My Money, My Choices - Level 3, Activity 2

This activity is to set up an Emergency Fund...which Jordan and I have...but is it being used properly?  This is what Gail says an emergency fund is for: Needing new tires is not an emergency. Nor is a new roof, that replacement hockey stick or a vacation. An emergency is a loss of income due...

My Money, My Choices - Level 3, Activity 1

This activity takes us through calculating our personal savings rate.  Gail tells us that there is basically two different types of savings. Long Term - Retirement Planned Spending - Emergencies, Kids School Funds, Vacation The personal savings rate, is the rate we're saving for number one...for...

Puppy-Care

This past Friday I worked from home so I was able to take our pups to the Vet to get their vaccinations up to date.  I had never actually taken them to one...never had a need to.  I've been wanting to get my ducks in a row for them, so that in case there was ever an emergency they had somewhere...

Spoke Too Soon & Car Trouble

Well, yay. Apparently I spoke too soon and jinxed it.  Jordan's salary guarantee was supposed to stay in effect...but guess what.  Someone didn't tell payroll about it, because this morning is pay dropped to $1,029...and no commission from March in site.  Crap. Also. Our Escape is back in the shop...ugh!  The rear windshield washer motor is gone..we we were able to get the...

My Money, My Choices - Level 2 Complete

Now that we've got the spending tracking going well, and posting those updates to our spending journal (I'll do monthly posts for those summarizing), I've marked Level 2 Complete!  This step doesn't actually ever end, we keep tracking and posting our spending for a long time, but I think it's...

Jordan's Job

Back in January, Jordan started a new job much closer to home.  His commute was cut from 45 minutes, down to about 7 minutes.  It's lowered both our gas and insurance bills and has immensely improved his job satisfaction.  He was put on a salary guarantee for the first three months to keep him at his old jobs wage ($54,000), with the intention that he would go down to a base of $30,000...

Selfie-Sunday

This is Baxter (Handsome) and Aries (Harry)...learning to take selfies. ...

PayDay!

It's my pay day...and my raise went through!  My salary is now $75,000 or $38.46/hours (I work a 37.50 hour work week).  After that my bi-weekly deductions include: CPP/EI - $192.70 Federal/Provincial Taxes - $599.40 Long Term Disability Insurance - $19.12 Dental - $27.29 Pension - $144.23 (which is matched by my company) Shares - $50 Parking - $17.5 After all that, I'm left with $1,834.37/bi-weekly...not...

Good News!

For the second week in a row, Jordan and I have remained committed to the our new Spending Tracker!  It is just an amazing, amazing tool.  I even spent the $2.99 to upgrade to the pro-version to sync with DropBox and use the export to e-mail feature. Also...for the first time...in a very...

Weekly Spending Journal: MMMC - Level 2, Activity 2

Last week, I whined about my spending journal.  Yup, whined! A big thank you to Morgaine and Money, NZ Muse, & ND Chic who weighed in with some suggestions on how to tackle this a different way.  I've decided to go with  ND's suggestion and visited My 1/2 Dozen Daily....

Gail's 2013 TedTalk

I heart Gail! If you haven't seen her TedTalk at TEDx at St Lawrence College in May, 2013, you should...

March Spending Update

ohhh what a month it's been. Probably...not the best month to start the spending journal...or maybe, the best?  We started just two weeks ago so this months post combines what receipts we did keep track of plus a reconciliation of our accounts.  If you read Friday's post you saw I was feeling...

More Overtime!

Well, I got a bit of a surprise this past Friday.  I was expecting 10-15 hours of overtime being paid out, and instead, due to a clerical error, I'm getting 53.50 hours paid out!  This translates to about an extra $1,150 this pay day.  This puts a hiccup in vacation plans, but my manager will let me take some unpaid days if I don't earn the hours back (it's likely I will but not a guarantee). So...that...