August 2015 Frugal Chatter thread

[Crochetlady]

Had an eye injection this afternoon. Think the worst part is remembering to put drops in my eye every hour. Have to take hubby tomorrow morning for his semi annual eye checkup and get my blood work done. Also want to go to Spinrite and am meeting friends for lunch. Not sure how I`ll fit everything in but I`ll try.
@thriftygranny Hope you get the info soon.

Haha granny You posted your update while I was typing my post. SIL called and I had to find a recipe for her.

[jasperandchar]

@thriftygranny glad they called you with the results, thinking of you and hope your scan doesn't take too long and they discover the problems with your blood pressure

[jasperandchar]

@Crochetlady take some much needed me time and enjoy the spinrite sale and meeting up with friends = do I perhaps see you enjoying Chinese????

[jasperandchar]

@coupon girl enjoy the evening at the bingo and good luck. Glad you are pampering yourself and are so looking forward to flower girl...ooops....I mean wedding (smile)

[jasperandchar]

well seems that dh thinks that we are best to stay with our current rate...grr...still waiting to hear the final figures. If we renew now it would be 4 years but if we wait until after January then it would be 3 years.....grr....we'll see what the bank says tomorrow

[bobbiegirl2010]

@jasperandchar Is it just me or does it sound like Scotiabank doesn't want to keep your business? If you have to pay a penalty either way why would you take the 4 year mortgage when you could just leave and go with a different bank with better interest rates? (Do you know if the penalty would be the same if you leave Scotia?)

My advice would be to talk to a mortgage broker and get them to run the numbers for you to see if it would be worth it to pay a penalty and get a better rate with a different bank now or wait and see what your bank offers when you have 6 months left. Scotiabank offered us very competitive interest rates when we had 6 months left on our mortgage so we signed with them for another 5 years.

I don't know what your monthly mortgage payment is but would the savings be worth paying the penalty? If you have 14 months left on your current mortgage and you can renew at 6 months with no penalty (if you stay with your bank) it would only be worth paying a penalty of $846 if your mortgage payment would be over $100 per month cheaper ($846 divided by 8 months).

[Crochetlady]

@Crochetlady take some much needed me time and enjoy the spinrite sale and meeting up with friends = do I perhaps see you enjoying Chinese????

Not this time. If the weather co-operates we each get what we want for lunch and meet in the park. That way we can linger as long as we want and don`t get the evil eye for staying too long.
One of them is going west after next week...the other is going camping for 3 weeks so won`t see them for a while.

[Ciel]

I have quite a bit of overgrown garden peas, from when I was on the hospital having the twins. I'm not sure how to use them up. I could dry them all and use them for next year's garden, but I'm sure some people might have suggestions for a meal. The only thing I can think of is pea soup, but I'm not a big fan. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Put them in a batch of shepherd's pie? Too bad I cannot teleport and help to harvest them for you!

[Ciel]

Can't do magic in raising the waistband on the pants but did take in the side seams on the waistband sections and outer side seams and restitched the lot (so much thread to take out and to sew back in). Hand hemmed the really small pant hems. Ready to toss the old pants within hours! Glad to have done the task-it's been 7 days since I bought the pants.

[lizzie bargain]

J and C-there is also the personal finance section on SC with a section about mortgages where some people who work in the field advise about mortgage deals but I think BG has a good idea of talking to a mortgage broker so you can make an informed choice. Good luck.

[jasperandchar]

@jasperandchar Is it just me or does it sound like Scotiabank doesn't want to keep your business? If you have to pay a penalty either way why would you take the 4 year mortgage when you could just leave and go with a different bank with better interest rates? (Do you know if the penalty would be the same if you leave Scotia?)

My advice would be to talk to a mortgage broker and get them to run the numbers for you to see if it would be worth it to pay a penalty and get a better rate with a different bank now or wait and see what your bank offers when you have 6 months left. Scotiabank offered us very competitive interest rates when we had 6 months left on our mortgage so we signed with them for another 5 years.

I don't know what your monthly mortgage payment is but would the savings be worth paying the penalty? If you have 14 months left on your current mortgage and you can renew at 6 months with no penalty (if you stay with your bank) it would only be worth paying a penalty of $846 if your mortgage payment would be over $100 per month cheaper ($846 divided by 8 months).

Scotiabank is offering a competitive rate, however, they are being smart as only TD & Scotiabank will do a mortgage of $35K, yes I won't quite be at 35K if I renew in mid April, however, I would have to pay the penalty no matter where I go plus a discharge fee which I wouldn't have to pay if I stay with Scotiabank. The penalty would be less if I sit tight until January, however, come mid April I will have no choice but to take a 3 year mortgage vs. getting a 4 year mortgage come January or sooner but would have to pay the penalty. I would still have to pay the penalty regardless of where I go and like mentioned above only the 2 banks would take my mortgage.

I have been in contact with a broker we used before and she said that TD & Scotiabank would be my only choices come renewal time.

If we get stuck with a 3 year mortgage our payments will increase substantially to a point where it might not be manageable given our financial situation. As it stands now if we took a 4 year mortgage with a penalty we would have to pay an extra $150 a month and that's where dh is like - we can't afford that and won't listen to the fact that if we are stuck with a 3 year mortgage it will be substantially more per week as we pay weekly.

DH is not financially practical where I am, I put everyone's needs first and have always taken my income tax refunds towards home renovations etc. I have in the past purchased a 24x22 pre-made garage and had it moved to our house as dh physically could not build 1. Also purchased a Kabuta tractor again it would save dh's back but nope he purchases items that are fun such as UTC (utility vehicle/side by side). It's just so frustrating when renewing before January makes the most financial sense.

[bobbiegirl2010]

@jasperandchar

Wow so basically because your mortgage amount is below a certain amount they want it paid off in 4 years! That's good to know for when we get closer to that amount and need to renew.

Another idea you may want to look into is if there are other options other than a traditional mortgage. I don't know what products are all out there but I used to work for Manulife and I know they have a product called ManuOne which is a mortgage, line of credit and chequing account all in one.

I sympathize with you about your DH. I am in the same boat where I do all the financial stuff. I did all the research when we renewed our mortgage and all he did was come to the bank and sign the papers... Same thing with the life insurance...

[Natalka]

Good morning, everyone!

Another terribly hot day here - I'll be stayin' in!

[Frugalbigmama]

Happy Tuesday! I like not working on a Monday!!! Finally got my internet annual bill. Thought they forgot about me. So paid that with PC MC and will have some points added to my account which is good since I redeemed $30 in PC pts on the weekend. (stocked up on Pasta, Pork ) I also bought another $30 in pork the day before so we are stocked for awhile. Had a $4 pick up last night from the storage locker. Will have to keep posting stuff. People seem to be shopping for used clothing for back to school

[saundyl]

Discharges of mortgage have to be registered for every change in mortgage as the instrument number on the back of the title pertains to only one document and also beside it indicates which year it was registered. Lots of banks don't charge the 300 plus fees to draft the discharge if you stay. Some banks like cibc's however send it to the client or their lawyer to register and others...send it directly to the land registry for the respective province or territory.

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