Thankful for Savings - October 2014 Frugal chatter thread

[Frugalbigmama]

Happy rainy Tuesday. Calling for sunshine tomorrow and I am off! Took a vacation day since the weekend was a write off with hockey. Need to decide if I'm buying new washer and dryer of replacing my washer. And I need to get a new vehicle. I have been putting it off but I am ready. Plus need dress pants and shoes for my boy for a school award ceremony Will be a busy day for sure but I'm up at 5am for hockey so it will be an early start to the day!

[jasperandchar]

Lizzie you have some great points and insight on the Inquiring mInds want to know, thanks for sharing - a lot of food for thought!!!

[lizzie bargain]

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.

[jasperandchar]

The butcher called and the meat order (moose) is ready so I guess once dh get's back we will head out to pick it up...yippee

[jasperandchar]

Andit thanks for letting us know you will be MIAing, let yourself be pampered and the brats too.

[Frugalbigmama]

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

[Frugalbigmama]

I put money away each month into a separate account for clothing for my boys. Then we need something the money is there and I don't have to take it from budget of savings. So far I have been very lucky as they haven't needed much/smart shopping. I have almost $1000.00 in that account! Once I hit $1000.00 I will put the money aside for something else.

[lizzie bargain]

Yes it is amazing the costs of our local high school. Our 10th grader takes a lunch too as she has to use her own monthly allowance to budget for lunch treats, clothing ,gifts for friends etc. However we do pick up the tab for school supplies.

[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

I desperately need advice on this too...

[momof5boys]

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.

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.

[Crochetlady]

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

I don`t have a set amount. I pay the minimum plus however much I can in addition. It all depends on what my craft sales are that month.

[lilo0003]

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.

[lizzie bargain]

Well good for you Momof5Boys. You are teaching your sons very good work ethics. My daughter has money in her savings account from her summer job but given that we are given money each month specifically to meet her needs( she is adopted) we do spend it on her and any left goes into her RESP! I do agree with you that kids should pay at least some of their own money( from a summer job etc) or all if necessary towards their postsecondary education. In fact she has also put some of her own earnings into the RESP too. We have this money set aside for this purpose- but only if/when she is ready to be a serious student after high school and I certainly would not tell her how much is in the RESP account-she knows she will be expected to contribute from her summer job etc.

I know when I went to university my parents had 5 kids and could not afford to contribute-but based on their income I did get some student grants and loans and used my own money as well as I took some time off to work after high school before I started. While I "found" myself and figured out what I would study-lol.

On a side note, a friend of mine recently separated-her DH was court-ordered to pay their 18 year old son 1,000 per month towards his 2 year diploma!! Pretty sure we married parents could not be ordered to do that!

[lizzie bargain]

Lilo-yes it is a bite to have family loans or expenses impact on your own finances. We loaned money, with the best of intentions, a few years back to a family member and have yet to see it all paid back so I don't think we would do that again. I agree with your statement

"As I age I have become more debt averse". We were stunned a couple of years back when a friend aged 55 took out a 1 million dollar mortgage on a brand new home. Now granted she has a good income but DH and I would not have been able to sleep at night-nor would I have wanted to contemplate working until I was 80 to pay off a 25 year mortgage! Anyway hopefully real estate values will appreciate in her community and she could end up selling down the road and making a profit-or a loss.

[Frugalbigmama]

Bacon and eggs was dinner tonight. Cooking the macaroni now to make homemade Mac and cheese. (For DS lunch and quick meal from freezer). Have a whole chicken defrosting for tomorrow nights dinner. Will serve with fresh broccoli and potatoes of some sort.