Net Worth: January, 2013

It's been quite a long time since I posted on our Networth - so I thought I would do a bit of an update.  I don't think it's worth doing on a monthly or more frequent basis because quite frankly, our finances don't change that frequently - but I think ever six months could be a bit interesting.

Yay!  It's in the positive!

p  dot s

Did you notice?

Did you?

Our credit card is 100% paid off!!! 

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 

Three Year Spend Trend

It’s hard to believe we’ve been tracking our spending for the last two and a half years…when I started that project, I really didn’t know how long it would go on for – turns out, it’s been an invaluable tool.

Here is a look at our spending history for the last few years:

Something key to note with both Annual Expenses and Emergencies – I am really bad at tracking those things. Typically what happens is the rest of spending (like eating out and gas w/ regards to emergencies and vehicle maintenance w/ regards to Annual) just goes up.

Be that as it may, there’s still some interesting data here.

A couple of downward spending trends that I’m happy about include gas, pets, and banking. Carpooling is working – and we stopped buying more toys then the dogs actually need. Our interest costs have gone down – but I am truly looking forward to seeing a much smaller number here next year. Like $0.

Notable upward trends include groceries, entertainment, and home maintenance. My aunt suggested that perhaps we aren’t just eating more but it could be that the cost of groceries has just gone up over the last three years – something to think about. I don’t know if entertainment has actually gone up, or again, I’ve just gotten better at tracking that. This includes things like our Netflix subscription and any fights that Jordan has rented/watched with friends at the house. Home maintenance is a biggy – we moved last year, and bought a lot of ‘things’ for the house. What is not tracked well is the amount of $ gifts which helped us make some significant purchases this year.

Does anyone have a tip on how to track spending that is unusual but was gifted?

Some up/and/down trends include alcohol, and vehicle maintenance. We tend to buy a lot of booze. That’s true. We do a lot of socializing at the house and like to have a well-stocked bar. I also probably accidently included some Christmas gifts in the Alcohol spending. Vehicle Maintenance has changed as our vehicles have changed – I expect that this will continue to fluctuate.

We’ve remained pretty consistent in our spending on medical, clothes/shoes/hair, and education. I actually think that we need to spend a bit more on clothes – I work in a professional environment and feel a bit raggedy-ann sometimes. We also need to make sure that Jordan always has proper footware for work too.

So those are the trends…here are the goals:

1. Track Annual/Emergency Expenses better 
2. Monitor Grocery budget by trying to eliminate food waste
3. Track Gift Alcohol vs Consumption Alcohol better

There will probably be  more, but that's what I have for now.

BMO Sega....

Today, I hate the Bank of Montreal.

All I wanted to do was change the payment frequency of my auto loan...shouldn't have been a big deal. They messed it up so bad the first time that my mortgage payment bounced. thanks.

Then...then..after it was 'fixed', I found out that it actually wasn't.

As it turns out the payments we had made weren't a change to the old frequency. They had just put the old payments on hold and created new principal payments.

Seriously.

So when I called yesterday b/c Friday's payment hadn't gone through I was told that while I had made $200 in principal payments, my account was in arrears by nearly $400.

Thanks.

Plus today's $100. Awesome.

So, I had to come up with a whopper of a payment that we weren't expecting or planning to avoid the account being sent to collections or some such thing.

We didn't even get a phone call. And it was THEIR mistake.

Hate them.

Where The Debt Stands...

So we have had quite a few snafu's over the last few weeks - it's causing a bit of pain with regards to meeting our goal of credit card debt free going into 2013.

When we changed our car payment schedule, BMO accidently withdrew an extra payment of nearly $300

• BMO's extra withdraw caused a ripple affect whereby our account was overdrawn and our mortgage payment bounced
• We were charged a $65 bounce fee for the payment, but got it in a few days late once we realized what happened
• Jordan was sick one day a week or so ago and he was out of sick time.  His manager/payroll person didn't tell him and instead of charging the day to vacation instead (which he has plenty of) - they just docked his pay by 7.50 hours.  He's a salaried employee.  I was livid.
• Jordan was put in a Secret Santa draw at work that cost us $25 we hadn't budgeted for 
• An extra tank of gas this week ($60) b/c of two Christmas parties ($100) this past weekend

So.  There's that.

We also have overspent our Christmas budget.  Again.

Also I forgot that it costs $ to ship gifts.

Ah!

So...Merry Christmas.

Giving

There is nothing like the Christmas season to have giving on the mind. It’s a time of year when there are so many people in need, and we receive so many asks for support.

Two years ago, my family created a donor advised family fund to direct our philanthropic desires. Held within the Golden & District Community Foundation (GDCF), all donations to the Principal of the fund are in trust. The Foundation has support from the Columbia Valley Credit Union for above market interest rates – and it’s the interest that is granted to programs within the community that need support.

We have found that by donating this way, the money keeps working – and works collectively – to bring more and more funding to our community.

After we established our fund within the GDCF, we set a goal of raising $10,000 (the minimum before the interest earned can be used for grant giving). We have just recently reached that goal – and are immensely proud of our efforts.

It’s now time to set a new goal, so that our fund continues to grow each year and we can continue to support our community now – and in the future.

If you are in Canada, and want to find out if there is a Community Foundation in your town, you can check out this website: http://www.cfc-fcc.ca.

If you are interested in supporting my family’s fund through the GDCF, please click the donate now button on the right hand side of this page, and be sure to choose the Crandlemire-Keenleyside Family Legacy Fund from the drop down list.

~ thank you, and best wishes this holiday season

Car Payments - Made a Change

So we had a date with the Bank of Montreal this weekend.  Among many things including exploring the line of credit I asked you guys about a couple days ago and a changing my name - we also chatted about our existing car loan.

The payment frequency used to be every two weeks, just under $195.  It was a pain, because we bought the vehicle on a weekend, so the payments always came out on Monday or Tuesday rather then the Friday - and once and a while there was three payments - I didn't keep track well which months because it's the Mondays rather then the Fridays.

All that said - we changed our payment frequency to $100/week rather then $195/two weeks.  Annually, our payments have increased from $5,052.06 to $5,200 - not a huge change at all - but the payments now align with our mortgage and I like round numbers.