Weekly Money Check-Up

Weekly Money Check-Up courtesy of My Pretty Pennies

1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on our rent.

2. Today I am thankful for my husband. I had a horrible migraine last night and he went to the store to get Gravol for me and cleaned up the vomit bucket. :(

3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was cleaning up our balcony. I didn't realize how much I hated looking at it until it was nice to look at again!

4. I will consider this week a success if I spend less than $400 in Ottawa this weekend.

5. The most delicious things I ate all week was a Wolseley bar from Stella's! It's a delicious oatmeal/granola bar with chocolate chips, sunflower seeds and dried food. Delish!

May Goals

Ah, May! I am loving the warmer weather, the greenery and being able to wear flats without socks again! I'm hoping I can get some motivation this month to get out for some walks more and use the warm weather to my advantage!

Financial Goals

• Spend less than $400 in Ottawa (meals, outings and any shopping).
• Save $750 towards the house down payment fund.
• Limit eating out to $150.

Household Goals

• Clear out my closet. This has been on my weekend to do list's for weeks now, so I must get this done!
• Spring clean the kitchen. (It's one of the few spots that hasn't been done yet this spring). 
• Clean up our balcony and prep for the summer.

Personal Goals

• Work out 4x a week.
• Get an A on my mid-term
• Get outside at least once a week for a walk

April Spending Recap

I'm finally back on the wagon when it comes to tracking our spending. Since we were away on vacation in February, I got a bit sidetracked, but here is our April spending report..

Item	Spent	Breakdown
Rent	$1,122	Rent – ‘nuff said
Food	$969.01	$663.72 – groceries $305.29 – eating out or snacks at work
Car	$838.01	$99.75 – parking $500 – two car payments $150 – two transfers to our car fund (for insurance, oil changes and future repairs) $88.26 – gas
Savings	$400.00	$300 – RRSPs* $100 – vacation fund
Misc. and household	$273.08	Various drugstore purchases, household items.
Gifts	$126.69	Gift for my MIL’s birthday (This also includes my BIL’s gift for his mom and he paid me back)
Cats	$54.68	Pet insurance (we include their food and litter in the groceries amount)
Entertainment	$35.00	We went to a play starring a friend ($15 per person, plus the cost of a drink for husband)
Clothing	$33.05	One new summer top for me
Health	$15.30	10% of my 6-month dental check-up
Bank fees	$10.95	Monthly fee

*this does not include my pension, which is taken directly off my paycheque. 

Food is crazy high and we need to get better about not eating out or ordering in so much. I think we need to start going to the grocery store more often. If we have food that I want in the house, I am not as tempted. It's when we're low on snacks or easy-to-make meals that I get lazy and just go and buy something or order in. If we go more often and stock up, maybe this will ease up.

But what really surprised me was how high the misc. and household category was. I can't even remember what some of that stuff was. I know we bought a closet organizer, some vitamins, and that's about it... So I really have to start tracking where that misc. money is going better. 

Now that I'm back on the wagon, I'll try to keep better tabs on what was actually purchased instead of just the category and amount.

Ask, and ye shall receive

So I went home for lunch today and in my mailbox was a letter from MTS, our cell phone and internet provider. It was dated April 24 and said that my credit card transaction did not go through and that they would try again in 2 weeks. But, because of this, I would be charged a $30 service fee.

I knew right away why the transaction didn't go through. I got a new Mastercard because BMO suspected some fraudulent activity and automatically issued me a new card with a new number. So, on April 21, I phoned in to activate the new card (therefore cancelling the old card), and right away phoned all of the businesses that I have set up on automatic payments... MTS being one of them.

But, I phoned MTS at lunch today, talked to a very pleasant customer service rep and explained what happened to him. He looked into my file and saw that indeed I had changed the card number. But of course, communication on their end was lacking and the billing office didn't get the information in time or whatever, and they tried to charge the old card. But, because it was not my fault, he waived the $30 fee!

Morale of the story - always ask!

Even if there had been an issue with the card and it was my fault, I probably still would have called. I've been a loyal customer with MTS for 10+ years, so that alone gives me enough reason to call in and ask them to waive the fee for me. Always ask - it doesn't hurt. It took me less than 10 minutes and while doing this, I was making my lunch anyway!

Of course, when the bill does come, you better believe I'm double checking it! ;)

Weekly Money Check-Up

From My Pretty Pennies

1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on a credit card payment to pay off the last of our trip to Hawaii. It was expensive and over budget, but soooo worth it!

2. Today I am thankful for the fact that this is my last full week of work before some time off and a quick trip to Ottawa!

3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was go for a walk with an old friend who I haven't seen in a long time.

4. I will consider this week a success if I stay on top of my school work. (My mid-term is the Monday we get home from Ottawa, so I need to get a lot of prep work done prior). 

5. If I could redecorate one room, I would choose our master bedroom. The furniture is my bedroom suite that I got when I was in University, so we really need something more grown-up and "us". 

Overtime - time off versus pay out

I don't do a ton of overtime with my job. That's one of the advantages/disadvantages (depending on how you look at it) of working for the government. However, OT hours do come up every now and then and I always struggle with how to use them. I can either take time off in lieu or get paid out. Both are given at 1.5 times what you worked.

What typically happens is that for small bits of overtime (an hour here or there), I get it paid out, as it seems silly to just leave work an hour early. And OT happens so rarely that it wouldn't add up quickly enough to a full day off. Last week we had a minor emergency, so I did an hour and a half of OT. I put this one down for a pay out and I figure I might see $50 from it (after taxes come off). Nothing to complain about!

But, with larger chunks of time (i.e. when I'm on a video shoot after hours or we do focus group testing, which always occur in the evenings), I take the time off in lieu. A few evenings of work in one week equals 2 or 3 days off! And I love me some vacation days!

But does that make financial sense? Wouldn't a big pay out be better? Yes and no. Sure the money would be nice - a big chunk added to my normal pay cheque. But unless we're absolutely strapped for cash, to me it doesn't make sense to pay all the taxes that would come off. When I take time off in lieu (versus a pay out), I'm essentially getting paid and the government doesn't get to steal time from me.

What is your preference?

Hawaiian Honeymoon

We leave for our Hawaiian honeymoon in just over a month now! I'm so excited, but I also have that practical PF part of me that keeps thinking about the budget, so I thought it would be a good time to go over the costs.

Cruise - $4,429 (includes cruise, 2 nights hotel pre-cruise and a tour in Honolulu)
Flights - $404 (we used air miles, so this is just the taxes)
Excursions - $1,048 (we have 5 excursions planned, including a volcano hike, waterfall and rainforest hike and a luau. We figure we're only going to do this once, so we should make the most of it).
Hotel - $371 (this is for 2 nights post-cruise)
Passports - $174

Total to date: $6,426

Other costs to come: food (pre and post-cruise), spending money, and extras on-board, such as alcohol.
I want to keep the total cost under $7,000, but I'm not going to hold my breath. I'm guessing it'll wind up being closer to $7,500.

But I am very proud that we've been able to pay for everything so far in "cash" (charged to credit card for the air miles and then paid off immediately).

Adding up this trip and our first honeymoon (trip to Montreal and Quebec right after the wedding), we'll have spent about $10,000 on travel. To me, this was so much better than putting that $10K towards the wedding. We still had an awesome wedding for $13,000, but we also get two trips that we can enjoy as a couple.