Cloth Diaper Covers...Bam!

When I was pregnant, and we had decided we were going to cloth diaper instead of using disposables, my mom picked up the material and tools we needed so we could make some of our own covers (we use inserts/covers instead of the all in one systems).  Well, we also bought some ones that were already made, and then just never quite got around to sewing our own.

We're hanging all of our things to dry, and given that we can't dry outside right now, it sometimes takes a day or longer which means running out of covers!  So, we decided to get sewing.  We have two and a half so far, and enough material for a few more. 

The first one was pretty tricky, but getting into the third, mom and I found a bit of a rhythm.  Check out the first one on our model below!

DIY - Christmas Cards

Every year, Jordan and I send Christmas cards to about 65 people.  The list started at over 100 (everyone we invited to our wedding three years ago), and has been whittled down over the years from moves/address changes that we weren't told about and from people who don't respond etc.  I imagine it will continue to get smaller over the years...but 65 is where it's at now.

This year, instead of buying cards, I'm making them using the crafting supplies that I've had stashed in the basement for way too long.  Like so many others, I had briefly hopped on the scrapbooking bandwagon long enough to collect more paper, scissors, stamps and stickers than I know what to do with.

This year, I'm using them!

PIE!

Okay - I know this post is going to go live after Canadian Thanksgiving, but on the weekend prior I wanted to practice my pie making skills - in particular my pie crust making skills...check it out!

The crust is the super simple recipe from the Lard-Tenderflake package and it turned out great!

I wound up peeling way too many apples though - so I made an apple crumble along with the apple pie.

Jordan was pretty happy with all the baking and cooking that happened.

DIY Soup Stock

 This past weekend I made home made soup stock, and homemade soup for the first time (without my mom). It wasn't quite as flavorful as her's is - but Jordan went back for seconds so it must have still been pretty good.

I simmered a chicken carcass for about 8 hours with onions, carrots, celery and garlic and all of the typical spices you would see with a roasted chicken.

Saturday evening the pot cooled and went in the freezer so I could skim the fat off the top before making the soup.

Sunday was soup day - I started by melting the fat into a pot, then adding onions/garlic, followed by mushrooms, then celery.  Finally I added carrots then topped off with the stock.

From there I added a handful of rice and then after about 15 minutes I added fresh chicken (cubed) - and then after about another 15-20 minutes we were ready to eat.

It was delish!

I Heart DIY Painting

In my recent efforts to clean up my blog and get writing again, I noticed I hadn't actually posted this back when I wrote in October, 2013.

Goodness!

When Jordan and I moved into our home, it was (and is still mostly) builder beige/white.  I wanted my craft room to feel a bit funner, inspiring and so  scoured the web for inspiration and finally found this concept - stripes and circles!

Well, I'm super proud of how it turned out, so I've decided to share.  The big blocks of brown will eventually host family photos and the third wall that you can't see has the light taupe colour.

Check out some of the photo's below:

2014 - Debt Pay Off Plan!

Well - it's time. All of the holiday bills are in, and I've reconciled my spreadsheets with who we owe what to.
We had done a lot of holiday shopping for other people, a lot of shopping for ourselves and each other - as well as travel and some emergency expenses (parking, meals out) we had in December (my grandfather had a stroke). We are still holding on to a lot of cash while we wait to see what Jordan's first pay looks like (Jan 15th), and we are still waiting dental reimbursements ($3,000), and school reimbursements ($900). All of that said - I wanted to get our tracking bars updated, and start the year off on the right foot!

We have though - started making progress and it shows in our Networth which has already increased by about $2,200 in the first week of the year.

We paid off the Amex card which was around $900 owing, settled up with our family that we purchased gifts for (on their behalf), and made a payment on the MasterCard.  I transferred the balance (as it was about to start accruing interest) over to the LOC, so the M/C balance is now also $0.

The LOC, with an interest rate of 5.49% and the Escape with an interest rate of 6.90% are our two debt priorities for this year.  In the short term - we are expecting the dental and educational reimbursements which will bring the balance down to $25,100 - from there we have regular weekly payments of $100 which will bring it down (throughout the year) to $19,900.

We have about $6,000 in our chequing account earmarked for the LOC as well which should get us down to about $14,000.  So - in pretty short order we should have gotten this down quite significantly.  Our ability to get the rest of it paid off will depend greatly on Jordan's income which we expect to vary quite a bit.

The LOC maximum is $40,000 so once we get $5,000K paid off, we can move the balance of the Escape over and save a bit on interest there.  The Kia is at 0% interest - so we'll pretty much just ignore that as far as additional payments go.

Savings & Debt: Monthly or Lump Sum

I need help...

Jordan and I have a budget date coming soon; and we will need to decide if we should approach paying off the Line of Credit and our Savings (including planned spending) monthly or lump sum as well as if we should count on rent in the budget; or use it as surplus to pay off the LOC early.

If we attacked it lump sum; the repayment/saving schedule would look something like this:

This plan assumes that we will be able to incorporate about $500/month into our annual budget for the first six months of 2014 from our new roommates.  The Emerg fund would see a lot more money then in our plan; because at the end of the year; everything extra would go to that.

Monthly, would look something like this:

This plan does not assume any income from renting out a couple of our rooms.  The monthly plan would see us reaching all of our goals; at the same time, in December, 2014 rather then reaching goals all throughout the year; every couple of months.  Each month we would apply the rent to the Line of Credit to help reach that goal faster - but would not assume/count on the money to reach our goals.  The end of the year would see some cash left over and unaccounted for currently without a plan.

I would really appreciate comments/suggestions/challenges to either plan.

Part of me really wants to 'set it and forget it' and not have a bunch of manual transfers every month - the other part of me wants that debt gone and pay as little interest as possible.  

Jordan doesn't want to count on the rental income; but I think that income is income and we should count it.

What do you think?

$7,900 in Teeth

Jordan was born with two congenitally missing teeth - every since he was small; his benefits have only provided for a flipper/mouth piece that give the appearance of teeth.  That appliance after 20+ years is now starting to wear on his existing healthy teeth causing more problems.

So...given that for the past year we have been exploring alternatives to the mouth piece.  There are two - either bridge or surgical implants.  For a variety of reasons; primarily longevity, quality and ease of maintenance Jordan has chosen implants.

After many quotes, and many arguments with our benefit providers and dental surgeon...we have a plan.  The total cost of the two implants is $7,900 - are combined benefits will reimburse us $3,000 each calendar year....that led us to the tough decision to plan for two surgeries rather then one.

Jordan's already undergone the first surgery to implant a screw into his jaw bone and now we wait 2-3 months for it to heal. Once healed (end of December), the implant/screw will be fitted with a tooth.  Then, and only then - when the first tooth is considered 'complete' can the dentist submit the expenses to our benefit providers.  So, Jordan and I have had to pay cash (read use the credit card) for the first part of the procedure (and will continue to pay cash each time something happens related to the procedure).  In January we should get our first reimbursement; and then we'll promptly schedule the second surgery.  

Our debt load is getting a bit scary, but we have a plan and will eventually be reimbursed.  Jordan and I would both rather pay the interest now for him to have a happy and healthy mouth before we have kids or anything else when there are more demands for the money.

Update: LOC, Big Backyard Project, Shares & Escape Pay Off Plan

In November of last year, I was offered a Line of Credit with BMO.  We accepted it, thinking that it couldn't hurt to have the funds available - especially with planning our Big Backyard Project.  A few months back, we actually increased it from $10,000 to $40,000 thinking that it would be a way to also pay of the Escape at a lower interest rate.

When we polled our readers, everyone suggested that we increase our payments as well as pay off the Escape with the LOC.

We haven't done it yet (waiting until the dust settles with the Big Backyard Project), but we're getting close.

We currently owe a total of $15,337.77 on the LOC - this includes payments for the backyard to date (Fence, Deck, materials for garage) as well as about $3,530 in spending from our MasterCard that was unplanned (some costs with the Escape - windshield, new tire ect., spending more money on birthdays then planned, as well as extra costs from camping more than we had planned).  We're expecting the following upcoming bills that are planned to be covered by the LOC as we pay it off as aggressively as possible:

• $5,775
• Labour for garage
• $356.30
• Last 8 Feet of Fence
• $6,782.10
• Investment purchase of Shares through work

That will bring the total LOC balance to approximately $28,251.17.    We’re planning on being able to pay off $12,500 to the LOC for the remainder of this year (less then originally planned - details on that later when I finally catch up on our month-to-month spending updates) which will leave us carrying $15,669 forward into 2014.

The original plan was to carry forward $0 into 2014.  This changed to being comfortable with carrying less than $5,000 into 2014.  With the addition of the share purchases, and spending more this summer than planned - we're now looking at a significantly bigger number.  I'm sure we'll make a plan for that too - just haven't looked at the 2014 budget yet.

Let's loop back to the Escape - we currently owe about $18,500 there.  If my approximations are right for the last big of the garage and the share purchase - we should be able to transfer the balance from the Escape Loan (also with BMO) over to the LOC sometime in late Fall.  The balance owing on the Escape will be about $16,600 which would bring our total debt load (not including the mortgage) to be - $32,269   

We will then increase the automatic payments and treat the LOC line any other loan and get it paid off as quickly as possible.  

So, there it is - all of the details of our current projects and debt load.  I've probably missed a few details so please feel free to ask questions if you have them.

This Christmas

This Christmas was hard.

It was the first without my dad.  It was also the first without my brother (he's moved to Winnipeg).  It was Jordan's first without his mom and his brother (they were on a trip together).

I tried to stay upbeat and positive, mostly I faked it until I could make it.  I think for the most part people believed that I was in good spirits, and that put me in a better mood then I would have been otherwise.

I had a lot of lists.. I always do, but this year it felt a bit more mechanical.  That helped get through I think...task lists...accomplishing things.

To distract myself, I made a lot of Christmas gifts this year.  We also spent a lot - but instead of telling you how much we spent (I don't 100% know just yet... haven't added up all the receipts), I would like to share with you some photo's of my creations...

Homemade Chocolates

Hand Painted Christmas Bear

Home Made Spice Blends

Stocking Stuffer for Jordan

Scarf for Jordan's Cousin

Scarf for my Mom

Scarf for My Cousin 

DIY - Stairs

One of the options that Jordan and I didn't want to pay our home builder for was stairs in the back.  We're intending on building a deck in the spring, so really didn't see the value in paying to install stairs that we would just tear out.

It's been about six weeks in the new house now and we were both finding that we would really like to use the back entrance to the house.  The front entrance has been getting sooo messy with muddy dog paws!

Today, while I'm in BC visiting my family, Jordan built us some stairs - for a pretty decent price!

It cost $74.48 to build these stairs and took an hour and a  half!  It's such a good 'temporary set' that Jordan things we may be able to incorporate them into the deck too! I'm so excited and he did such a good job, I can't wait to test them out.

Getting Handy

Recently we had a dryer malfunction....not so good anytime but especially in the weeks leading up to a wedding (*eek).  Most of you know that we rent, so it should be easy right?  Just call the landlord and they'll get it sorted out.

Not so easy when we have a secret...a big secret:

Given that we have this large secret that needs to be kept until Christmas - we had to fix the dryer ourselves.  By we, I mean Jordan.  He did a pretty impressive Job too!  It wound up costing us about $50 for two different parts - it seems that in the recent power outage two things got messed up.  I wish I could talk more intelligently than 'things' but I do have some pictures to share:

Centerpieces & Isle Flowers

This past long weekend I went to my parents place in BC to spend some time with my mom putting together the centerpieces and ceremony isle planter pots.  Other than getting a nasty sunburn, it went really well and was low cost too!

We had gathered the centerpiece pots and painted them a while back and had some excellent soil that we had been given a while ago which was fantastic.  My mom graciously bought some miracle grow as well as the flowers (approx $175) and we had bought some large planter pots from Walmart (approx $30) as well.

All told the total cost was just over $200 for our centerpieces (25) and isle flowers (12).

Here's some photo's of pulling everything together:

Economical Center Pieces

One of the small ways that Jordan and I intend on saving money for the wedding is flowers, center pieces, and decorations.  Typically people spend a tonne of money on these items - and it makes sense, to a point - they have the potential to significantly impact the 'feel' of the wedding.  That said, Jordan and I would rather not hemorrhage our bank account.

So...on to my second DIY project (the first was our invites).

When my company first moved to our new building a few years ago everyone received a flowerpot/flowers on their desk.  Three years later - there are stacks of these things everywhere as plants have either died or been re-potted.  I've been collecting them for a while, and finally had enough for each table.

We're going to paint them grey and plant purple flowers in them.  Hopefully planted flowers will add to our outdoor/BBQ theme and be cost effective.  While they are not technically our favours, we're happy for a few of them to go home with people.

So far I've painted all of the bases and about 2/3s of the pots.  Once I'm done (tonight hopefully) I will spray them with a waterproof sealant.  The insides of the pots are unpainted as I don't want the ink/spray to leach into the soil.

As we already had the pots, soil, paint and sealant - this is very cost effective.  The only thing left to buy are the plants!

Hobbies

I asked Jordan for a post idea the other day and he said I should write about Hobbies, I kind of laughed it off because I couldn't really see the personal finance angle. I've been thinking about it the last week or two, and really, what doesn't have a PF angle?

I've been thinking about what my hobbies are and how much they actually cost. Here's what I've come up with in terms of my hobbies/interests:

• Horse back riding
• Fish keeping/breading (we have 3 fish tanks)
• Painting (ceramics or white ware)
• Cooking/baking
• Scrap booking (I have a lot of materials and one have finished book)
• I knit on and off and mostly forget how in between
• Checking out open houses/garage sales/estate sales
• Gardening
• Reading PF (and other) blogs
• Reading novels
• Camping
• Fishing
• I'd like to find ways to use all the tools I recently picked up (erm, I want to build a birdhouse, is that strange?)
• Wondering around home fixit stores getting ideas for my aunts place
• Spending time with family/friends
• Working at my aunts place

At this point, I'm not sure how much my hobbies cost, but wow! That seems like a big list. Some of the items above are free, some had large initial outlays however now wouldn't cost a lot (like camping & fishing). Some have fixed reoccurring costs (horse board), some have variable reoccurring costs (fish food ect).

Do you know how much your hobbies cost? What are your hobbies?