Thankful for Savings - October 2014 Frugal chatter thread

[coupon girl]

hey all (home from babysitting at 5.30-very tired)lizzie bargain very good valid points on debt repayment
-well -my hubby retired early from his job at 51-we almost had our morgage paid-he figured he workd 32 year in the plant and wanted to retire-now he is a school bus driver so that suppliments his pension-I haven't worked in 2 years (plan on going back some time next year)-so this is our life
-no morgage now or line of credit(both paid off)
- my car thats 9 years old I won years ago and hubby bought a used car a year ago -that's paid off
-credit card get paid every month mind you I dont put everything on them
-we save for a rainy day (our trip was paid off before we went on it -carriabean this past august( did we occur drink costs on the boat(nope only buy 1 wine get free 8.00) our kids laughtd but we are not drinkers
-some months we cant transfer to our savings -like my car needed fixed a few months back etc trip cost us
-plus we live within our means( I also buy clothing used from talize or on sale always)I guess having a mom live to be 91 and lived during the depression taught me to be frugal
-but hey we do enjoy things(treats) sometimes like tonight i got fortinos already cooked chicken deal 16.99 with salad and fries
-but hey on wedesday morning will make homemade chicken soup from the legs=2mealsplus have a bit of chicken left over for my cesar salad
my daughter always asks how are we doing financially(we are doing okay for now)

[lizzie bargain]

Coupon Girl-reading your post it sounds like you are "mindful" spenders. Generally frugal with the occasional planned treat thown in! We also work a bit to supplement pension/savings and for the change of pace and fun that comes with working with young people. Having said that my DH said today when he was doing his noon hour supervision stint at the local school, one of the boys came over and said he did not feel well and needed to test his blood sugar( he is diabetic). So my DH said it was extremely low and the boy had to drink juice and eat candy to get it back up to where it needed to be. I would think that if your child is diabetic or asthmatic or has a severe allergy and needs an epipen it must be hard to let them go out to school or eslewhere and feel confident the adults will know what to do in an emergency!Fortunately most of these children. especially as they get older, are very good at recognizing symptoms and taking corrective measures quickly while alerting an adult.

[Frugalbigmama]

Well ladies wish me luck. Just popped this Mac and cheese in the oven. Hoping DS thinks it is as good as Grams!

[jasperandchar]

WOW- I think your costs for highschool are way more then ours. I am happy my 10 grader is happy to take a lunch and he actually eats it. He never asks me for lunch money but I give it to him now and again when I don't have much for lunches. If he hadn't won an award he wouldn't need the dress pants so I don't mind and can afford it

What is the award for?

[jasperandchar]

I hear you FBM-when you have kids at home you are always shelling out whether it be school or sport fees or a special outfit for the band concerts, award or grad ceremony, gifts for friend's birthday parties etc. Oh and my daugher suddenly announced last night she needed a $150 calculator for her grade 10 math course. Fortunately we have enough in our monthly budget and savings to cover such expenses but I did say to my DH how do low income parents pay for school fees etc especially if they have multiple children? I think our high school has a fee waiver in place if you can't afford the school supply fees etc but it has a very low cutoff rate of something like $29,000 for a couple with one child so is definitely geared to very low as opposed to moderate income famillies.


So far in 7 weeks of high school we have paid

$262 instructional resource fee-mandatory
$250 band supply fee( compulsory if your child is in band)
$260 band camp( this one was optional)
$41 per month for a subsidized bus pass as the high school is too far away to walk
$70 for gym( $10 for a mandatory gym t-shirt) and $60 for optional off site gym activities like rock climbing etc
$60 the other day for dress pants and dress shoes for the band concerts( the shirt, tie and vest are loaned by the school and must be dry cleaned at the end of the year and returned or you will be charged $100.

This is all in a public high school-not private. I know elementary parents have to pay for bus transportation and noon hour supervision unless they live close to a school that has room for their child-although I think rural kids get this for free.


Anyway just saying I don't know how low to mid income families do it with multiple children-or maybe Calgary is more costly than other places. This does not include any extra curricular sports, requests to buy chocolates etc to raise money for the band, purchase school pics or school insurance etc. Parents, at least here, are certainly inundated with requests to spend.

Granted we used to pay private school fees for elemenatry school so our school fees have dropped significantly this year- but I guess the days of a free public education are long gone-at least around here and perhaps in your neck of the woods too.

My word Lizzie that's a lot of $ luckily you have the funds set aside or can afford them.

[jasperandchar]

We are low income - so low, in fact, that we get all our income tax back after filing our income tax return. Any of the extra fees you mentioned were paid by our own kids. They had a paper route by the age of 12, mowed lawns, did general labour for people in the summer, went berry picking etc. and were required to save a lot of it. Even after paying for their own clothes and those extra school fees, they still had a good chunk of savings in their account for post secondary (because they pay for this themselves as well). Three of our five are done post secondary - one studied for six years and ended up with $5000 debt which has been repaid. The other two finished studies without debt. It is possible - kids have to be taught to work hard and save hard.

Yes I agree with teaching kids a good work ethic and savings, budgeting, etc....these are very important life skills that can't be learned in books or appreciated when you get older.

[jasperandchar]

As I age I have become even more debt adverse I think in part because I watched my family spend money like water. Right now I am stressed about debt and it’s not mine. I am paying the car insurance on my parents vehicle (we gave them the van when I bought my new car). My parents are retired and still have a mortgage insane I know, crazy thing is they would not qualify without me as a co-signer. Our LOC has the money we loaned my brother. We have been helping him get back on his feet and he is grateful but its stressing me out. I am going to tell him he has to pay the money back with interest because right now I am paying interest on it. I know we are fortunate in that both DH and I have good jobs, so overall our savings are not impacted. I don’t want to stop putting the money in TSFA/RESP/RRSP to pay the debt of others. We are less than 4 years to university for our oldest. So basically whatever is left over goes to the LOC as that is the only debt we have.

Wow lilo your parents are lucky to have you as is your brother, you are very kind & generous but like you said you need to think about the future and no point stressing or putting yourselves short for the future either kids schooling and your retirement. These conversations are not pleasant but I am sure your brother will understand.

[jasperandchar]

We currently have a total of 5 years left on our mortage and this current rate expires in 2 years, so 5 years and we're done.

I used to have automatic transfers set up had this in effect until 2 months ago, that changed as I asked for everyone on here's input and dh & I sat down in late August to create our September budget, then October and soon we will be doing Novembers and this new method of debt repayment is really working. Leaving within our means is very important as I don't like debt.

I am now focused on paying my income tax installments which is to begin this month and I owe quite a bit, so I will make my first payment at the end of this month when I get my deposits.

I am 40 years old and on a medical retirement from Health Canada where I worked for 15 years. My hubby has not worked since March of this year and receives a small amount from WSIB for a workplace injury, we are grateful he receives this but it's crazy that EI literally pays more than his WSIB pension.

Once my income tax installments are paid off I plan to start our emergency fund, then restart my mortgage prepayments, cottage tax account and go from there.

That's our plan and hopefully by March 2015 things will start to look up.

[saundyl]

We made some changes to my car insurance. My car us 10 yrs old and not really worth 900 in insurance plus a 500 to 750 dollar deductible. So i downgraded to plpd with basic theft and fire. It will cost 360 a year and im still covered if i hit some thing else. It works out to around $500 saved for the year.

[lizzie bargain]

J and C-nice to look forward to having your mortgage paid off in 5 years!

[coupon girl]

-thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts on the topic (debt plans)
-plan to go to library and get more books on hold -make chicken soup,since i ate the 4 freezer bowls that helped kick my cold in the butt
-may pop into shoppers an use a few of my emailed coupons
-had so much fun with my "ashlyn"today she didnt want to go down to sleep hat easy -so hubby dropped in "papa" in between his school bus run and he helped me relax - he rocked her to sleep before her nap
-we have so much fun with her -I was crawing around -reading her books she loves to be read to -I sing to her (trust me I cant sing)I am so touched they asked me to watch her for 3 months - I feel so much love from my little "ashlyn"
-angela my hubby is like you -picking up all the extra runs(from the schools when his bus company asks him he always says yes - last week a high school after his reg highscholl-extra run today after his reg run a pumpkin patch on Friday ( this all ads up to extra money for us )

[lilo0003]

I agree coupongirl. All the ideas and encouragement keep me on track and motivated. I spent some time with the budget today and while the LOC is not dropping as fast as I would like I do see huge reductions in some areas. Dining out is less than 100..00 for the month and most of that was food at Canada's Wonderland. Two of money saving things I started to do because of this thread and all of you would be the budget and selling stuff on kijiji.
Also I must brag...still have not turned on the furnace. The house is still cozy, I have burned a candle each night after dinner (another great idea from one of you). Not to mention the new insulation is paying off now. The mornings are chilly, but it just makes me move faster.

[sweet sparrow]

Well ladies wish me luck. Just popped this Mac and cheese in the oven. Hoping DS thinks it is as good as Grams!

FBM, I don't mean to make fun of your photography skills, but I couldn't help but notice that your pic of your mac and cheese is upside down. It really amused me to put my plate underneath the monitor so it looks like the entire dish is falling on my plate. I'm either really weird or just hungry.

[bobbiegirl2010]

Inquiring Minds Want to Know!!!!

Do you have a debt repayment plan or course of action? Is it paycheque based, monthly based or do you pay the minimum or whatever you can afford, or do you put whatever is left at the end of the month on your debt?

And if you are debt free (lucky duckies) whatever your interpretation is of being debt free it could include being mortgage free or not counting your mortgage, not having a car payment, student loans are paid off, have you redirected or funneled the debt repayment amount into another debt repayment, rainy day fund, retirement savings, education fund, home renovations, travel, emergency fund, etc......sky is the limit!!!!

Do you have any advice for debt repayment for your fellow frugal friends besides not incurring debt

Our debt situation imo is really bad and so we're forced to make some tough decisions we should have made along time ago. When we moved to our current house 4 years ago we owed $30k on our LOC (new trailer and kitchen appliances - most in which we no longer have but are still paying the debt). We now owe around $53k total between LOC, VISA and hardware store card (both cards have low or no interest until Dec or Jan and then must be transferred to LOC). We have been on a vicious cycle of paying down the debt $10k or so then buying something else (trading in vehicles, camping trailer, home repairs and renovations etc....).

It is really hard to make a short term or long term debt repayment plan as DH is on LTD and my income is self employed and can change on a dime. The basic plan for now is:

1) Not incur any more debt for any reason what so ever

2) Make room on the LOC to transfer credit card balances once low interest or interest free period is up

3) Try to sell stuff and add to LOC payment

4) Save an emergency fund and for 2014 income tax

Possible drastic options we are still deciding on are:

- Take SUV off road for winter (to save on insurance/maintenance) or just sell it

- Sell camping trailer or at least put it seasonal somewhere so we don't need SUV to tow it

- Sever off side yard and sell (our property is 136 feet x 120 feet - so more than a double lot) and use profit to pay off LOC (however not sure what all the costs are involved in this or what the lot would actually be worth)

[Angela273]

Yesterday I taught a 1.1day at a school 45min away, a school that I have not taught at before. It is small and every grade is a split grade class, the students were nice and quite well behaved. Something bizarre and unexpected happened while I was there. In the staff room I discovered that someone from my home town of 500pl, which is located 3.5hrs away, was teaching there. I hadn't seen her in 10yrs. I recognized her by the family resemblance and asked someone her name. She was 2yrs behind me in school and she is one of 4 girls in her family. Anyway, I finally had the opportunity to chat with her during last recess. We both exchanged short updates on our siblings. She is pregnant with her second child in January. The extra weird part was when we discovered that our 2yr old children were both born on the exact same day (day, month, year were exact!). It was so strange. Someone asked me what time, but it hadn't even occurred to me to ask at the time. I hadn't remembered that here family had purchased the auction house in this small town years ago, I had even forgotten that they had owned and operated the auction house in our small town too. So when I spoke with my dad last night I passed along the update on their family too. Small world effect, I guess.