Increase in Company Share Value!

Most of you know that as of yet, Jordan and I don't do any significant investing in the stock market.  We do however; own shares with the company that I work for.  I cannot share details about the structure of the program, or where I work, but I can say that the value has never gone down.  Not ever.

It's a very good investment.

The value has gone up again, from $46.36 to $51.48.  We only have 160 (so far), so the net increase in value is $819.20.

Another Fence Photo

I'm just wait to excited to post anything else today.....

Updated: The Big Backyard Project

The first deposit has been paid ($750 for the fence, and the work has begun!  Jordan and I are both working  so we can't see the work being done, but our lovely neighbor is taking photo's for us and sharing them.

Rebates

Have you ever purchased something specifically because of a rebate that was offered?

Back in December, 2012 I was purchasing contact lenses, and because of the rebate offered, I bought more than I needed immediately because I figured I would use them eventually.  I sent away for the rebate prior to the January 30th deadline and what did I get in the mail last month?

I received a letter, as well as the rebate form that I sent explaining that the program had closed and I was ineligible because I submitted after the deadline.

Well.  They also sent me the original envelope, which was postmarked with a date of January 19th.

I phoned up Bausch & Lomb and spoke a very lovely customer service agent a few days ago...and guess what?  She approved the rebate on the spot, apologized and said I would have a cheque in the mail for $40 within a few weeks.

I went from cranky to happy in about 5 seconds.

Hizzah!  Another $40 for the backyard.

April Spending Report

So, for some reason, that I can't figure out - Jordan and I spent a tonne of money on groceries in April.  Keeping in mind that our 'groceries' include toiletries, cleaning supplies and dog food - this number is still the highest I've ever seen it.

This leads me to the conclusion that we must have bought something that doesn't fall into these categories at Costco or Superstore that we've just forgotten about...time to start keeping receipts for a while I think.

I've include the year to date for each month, an average, and the percentage of total spending in each category for the average.  You can also see our day-to-day budget for each month, some are higher if there are 5 pay weeks and/or if I have 'topped up' the account if there was an emergency or money came from one of our planned spending funds.  Even still, after January, we have been steadily spending more than we intended - which has meant we're using money that was earmarked for the backyard, to avoid debt on the credit card.  

Home Maintenance for April included paint and painting supplies as well as a couple of flower pots for our newly painted bathroom.  It also includes a 'top up' on amazon.com - we bought a few things using a Christmas gift certificate and had to toss in some cash of our own.  

Eating out was high, however that tends to happen in months where we have an emergency.  My friend gave birth to her twins just under 32 weeks, it was a very high risk birth.  Mom, dad and the babies are okay now - but there was a lot of driving, eating, and feeding for our friends.

Hopefully May is a but calmer with the spending for food/booze.

Keeping Cool & Saving

Last year we completely forgot - but we're more on top of it this spring/summer.  Last night, we turned OFF the pilot for our fireplace.  I'm not sure how much we'll save, but not paying for the gas to keep it running 24/7 has got to equal some $$.

We also changed the furnace filter and need to remember to keep on top of this better - we can go six months before changing it, and we're really meant to at least every three months.

Last but not least, we will keep our curtains/blinds closed when we leave for work - it will help keep the house cool and we'll rely on the ceiling fans less to cool us down which will have us spending less in electricity.

What are you doing to keep cool and still save?

a Plan to Pay off the Escape

In November, 2010 Jordan and I purchased a 2011 Ford Escape.  We chose this particular vehicle because we knew in the few short years afterward we would be increasing the size of our family and wanted to be prepared for that.  So far, we have two dogs.  We adopted Aries in January, 2011 and Baxter in 2012.  No kids yet, but we'll have the space for the lot of us when we do.

When we made the purchase, we were given the choice between a good interest rate, or a better price.  We chose the better price and committed to paying the vehicle off early to make up the difference.  With an interest rate of 6.99% and a loan of $27,937 we signed up to pay the vehicle off over 7 years.  As the warranty ends after 5, Jordan and I wanted to have it paid off prior to then.

We started with bi-weekly payments of $189.88 then in January of this year after a ridiculous saga we moved to $100/week - increasing our payments by $260.26 over the course of the year. 

After all the talk of buying a Condo, Jordan and I have decided that we should look at all of our investment options - and some of those including paying down expensive debt.

I called up BMO and found out that there are absolutely no penalties or fees if we pay off our Escape, using our Line of Credit which has a lower interest rate.  The LOC has an interest rate of 5.49% - 1.5% lower then the Escape financing.  Switching, and leaving our weekly payments the same would save us $788 over the rest of the loan peirod (4 years/4 months) - having the escape paid off in late 2017.

To honour our original commitment of having it paid off in 5 years, we actually need to have the debt paid by November, 2015 - or in 2 years/6 months.   

Using an online debt calculator, I ran a couple of scenarios based on the lower interest rate.  If we increased our weekly payments from $100 to $160 - effectively $3,120/year - it will be done.

So, should we do it?

I suppose it's a two part question - one, do we tie up half of our LOC (currently at $0) with the auto debt to save an initial $788 and two, do we then increase our payments by $60 week to have the Escape paid off within 5 years of purchasing it?

If we did, here is what our monthly budget might look like to accommodate that:

There is still quite a bit of cash left over every month - but keep in mind that is cash that was allocated for the backyard.  Making this change would also mean that we would need to find an additional $2,640 to pay for our back yard in cash (or, use the LOC and have it paid off be February, 2014).

Okay - I think those are all the facts - what should we do?

What should we do?
	A: Keep things status quo
	B: Pay off the Escape with the LOC
	C: B & Increase Payments to $160/Week
	D: Other - Please leave a comment
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