2020 Financial Resolutions...

[Frugalbigmama]

Payday is Friday so I have started the end of the month budget clean up.

Transferred $100 to the Christmas Account and $40 to the Boys clothing account.

Paid credit card off in full - had my new summer tires charged on that this month. Car should be good for awhile, new brakes and tires! Winter tires are still good hopefully another 2 years.

PC Points. sitting at about $300 in PC pts. I have been using them to cover mostly all groceries the past few months.
I have $200 food budget money to carry forward to the next period. Will try and build this and not shop so much in the next while (not using points either, save them for down the road)

House and Car insurance annual premiums due June 16th and June 30th. Yeah, PC points lol. (for using credit card)

3 birthdays in June. Have my niece done. Just a card and scratch tickets for my sister. My mom- Will have to think about that. The lady needs/wants nothing. I usually take her to casino for lunch etc. We will see.

Good start on selling stuff this month. $212.00 as of May 26th. ($122 Cash/$35 in new account started from etransfers/balance was put on credit card towards tires lol) Will keep at it.

[Giseledta]

FrugalBigMama - i put alot on my cc as well... its a cash back one. very pretty to have all the balance come back .


i did a budget clean up as well, i am back to work for June 1. so need to focus and not let things fall through the cracks.
with the higher price of things, and me needing some items to reopen... sigh.. i wonder if i can write stuff on my taxes a s covid.

i eneded up writing out a list of .. rebates coming forward , reimbursment, pay , ext.

no money left behind.

[Frugalbigmama]

I really do love my PC MC and getting the 3% in points at Loblaw Banner stores is great (I shop RCSS and No Frills where I can price match) I also get gas when I can at the Mobil for more points. But I do have a cash back card I was thinking of using for my other purchases. Or my CT MC to collect Canadian Tire money. I can pay bills on it (no charge) and collect CT money on that too.
May change it up down the road but for now think I will stick to my PC card (main reason is they have been great customer service wise when card was used and I still had the card! I also like how it shows the charges right away.

[Arjon]

I really do love my PC MC and getting the 3% in points at Loblaw Banner stores is great (I shop RCSS and No Frills where I can price match) I also get gas when I can at the Mobil for more points. But I do have a cash back card I was thinking of using for my other purchases. Or my CT MC to collect Canadian Tire money. I can pay bills on it (no charge) and collect CT money on that too.
May change it up down the road but for now think I will stick to my PC card (main reason is they have been great customer service wise when card was used and I still had the card! I also like how it shows the charges right away.

Every credit card I've tried has pros and cons, some of which involve personal preferences. In my case, I only ever use my PC MC when I get bonus points for doing so. My go-to for grocery store and gas station purchases is a no-fee cashback Visa from a deal years ago that's NLA. It gives 4% on those two categories, but it has other drawbacks; e.g. the CB is only given once a year.

[Frugalbigmama]

Budget clean up. Not much new. Just chugging along.

Crap sold cash envelope/account for etransfers are building and junk is going out the door.

[johnb56789]

Well, the HOPE is to be able to pay off my OSAP loans within 2020. Although it will be rather tight/ likely pushed into 2021, but still SOOOO much better than the average 10 yrs most new grads take to pay it. Remainder on that is $28,xxx, currently on a Repayment Assistance Plan and saving up the difference every month into savings, and will have some other money come April to use for it as well (Tax Return, maybe Inheritance, other/current savings account balances).

Currently have another savings account started as well to save up for a trip. Just for any extra little money (maybe CO51/Caddle Cheques and Interest?), it was gonna be for another trip to England, but decided to change it to Peru. My Grandmother really wanted me to go, and my family friend is from there with her mother living there, so only the cost of flight and spending money.

I hope to have a second job eventually to bring in a little extra money, or maybe my business that I keep fearing to get off the ground.

I did managed just today to negotiate my rent. My landlord though/forgot that what I have been paying ($525/mo.) including parking since I had to move from another room into a smaller one, so the room rent is $450 PLUS $75 for parking. He though I wasn't "paying" for parking over the last six months, but I reminded him of the agreement and he agreed with it that he forgot. Likely I will be renewing my lease again come April since I can't get anything CLOSE to that price in St.Kitts. I expect rent to go up, so I will sit down with him and discuss options/ what I can afford to go up to. My hard cap is $600/mo all-in, which would be about a 14% increase in rent for him, but will obviously try for less...

Update for my 2020 budget/financial resolutions...

- Rent was kept to a reasonable increase (Up to $550 from $525, still all inclusive w/parking)
- Savings account for OSAP repayment is on track for the end of the year (Currently sitting at almost $25,000, need about $30,000 in 6 months, VERY DOABLE), I did end up getting some inheritance from my Grandmother that went RIGHT into the savings account ($5,000), and 99% of my tax return ($1,700)
- Trip account stalled a little once COVID hit, but sitting at $230 for a future trip
- No second job and no business yet, but getting a constant 40hrs at work which is helping (despite being a part time employee), I'm not really sure what my plans are yet for either of those...
- I have been looking at newer cars as of late... My car is still chugging along fine, but it is looking really tempting (Have to crush those thoughts)
- Have also been looking at apartments. My coworker (Judy) is helping me look around and go to some tours (eventually). VERY likely I won't be moving till next May, and by then I will get a few more raises, so income will start to look a little better.
- Due to COVID, my eating out dropped (From about $50 or more a month, to close to $0, eaten out 3 times since March 17th), and I WANT to keep it that way, same with entertainment
- Have to cancel my Fit4Less Membership once my Club reopens, that's $25/mo I could have back in my pocket

Also started to expand my investments... I was just doing "High" Interest savings accounts and the odd GIC, but I am now buying Loblaw stock (With our matching option at work, 25% top up to what I contribute up to 5% of my earnings), and on the advice of my mother, I will start to use either Questrade or Wealthsimple to invest my money for retirement better than 0.30%. I'm still a little worried about doing it, but I have to grow my risk tolerance more, and my investments in my future...

[Frugalbigmama]

Payday so budget clean up.
Paid my yearly house insurance premium. Ouch! Paid it then transferred the money to pay off credit card so they should be a wash on the same day!
Car insurance due at the end of the month so will wait to pay last minute.
Freezer is full so going to not buy much for groceries this week. Will get creative and make meals and have the fridge full of heat and eat stuff for the boys. Use up the bread in freezer before buying more (English muffins!)
We also have tons of frozen fruit and yogurt in freezer so will make lots of smoothies this week for an evening treat. (My boys like them)
So the plan is to use stuff up the next 2 weeks.

[Frugalbigmama]

Cleaned up the budget before the weekend.

Paid all bills. Transferred money into Driving School/new car fund for the youngest.

Paid off our purchases from yesterday and put a credit on card to cover the weekend purchases (need gas)

No big spending plans this weekend. Just frugal fun

[GoodBoy]

We are on a revised budget for 2020 since early March when COVID-19 really kicked us around. Good news is we are drastically under the revised budget. Even though we are spending more on food (price matching less etc) all other areas are less, so that is good. Starting to get back to price matching and coupons and have been hitting jackpots on surveys with good gift cards flowing through in our accounts ... a couple of 100$ since beginning of March. It all helps!

[Frugalbigmama]

Mid month budget clean up.

Money moved into savings. All bills paid.
Called Simplii to activate a dormant account.

Laying low. No spending really other then food.

Will continue to sell our junk once this heat wave ends (people don't feel like running around) Not spending the money, saving it for down the road.
I have $120.00 in an account from etransfers and $422.80 in Cash (someone left me a nickel thinking it was a quarter lol) Got rid of lots of junk and more to go!

Plan for the rest of the month:

Use up lots of stuff on hand. Shop for fresh stuff only.
Continue selling our junk.
Finish cleaning the garage.
Write out list of stuff needing done outside and get it all done.
Start emptying out the junk in the laundry room.

[lilo0003]

Added a significant chunk of money to our TFSAs took care of 2020 as well as some carry over for both DH and I.
Felt good to get that done.

[Giseledta]

my budget is getting a rework for the new AC . i will know more hopefully next week

i feel like my budget for 2020 should be renamed . covid mess budget......

[SassyAshley]

I think just 2020 sums it all up. Dealing with Covid and this seems to be the year for so many people I know that everytime they think they are on top of everything and have budgets figured out something else happens.It just feels like it is one thing after another.

my budget is getting a rework for the new AC . i will know more hopefully next week

i feel like my budget for 2020 should be renamed . covid mess budget......

[Giseledta]

covid , has lots of oppertunities for savings... lots.. however.. it also has loads to over spend online... lol.

[lilo0003]

Yikes. It’s a 1st world problem but when I looked at my CRA account I did not see a 2020 contribution. Of course because unlike RRSP they are for the prior year not to the end of February. So I had already contributed 6000.00 in January that I forgot about and added 10000.00 in July. Good thing my contribution room was 16500.00. So I am very happy I did not over contribute but even happier I have pretty much no more carry over.