June Budget Results

June Grocery Budget 
$425 - Actual Spent was $472.37.  Over again!

Includes all over the counter medications, personal grooming items, soaps, cleaners and household items for two adults who eat at home 99% of the time.

The 24 Hour Car

So I was talking on Tuesday about the used car we were buying on Wednesday  for a great price with really low mileage.  Well, Tuesday was a really bad day.  We paid for the car, transferred title into our name and insured it, and hubby got to test drive it as I had bought it after my test drive.  For the first time we tried out the cruise control - uh oh.  It doesn't have any!! This is something we use often and while not mandatory we really wanted it.  It was listed in the online advertisement as having this option so I saw no need to test it out. We drove straight back to the dealership.  After fully admitting their error they spent 24 hours trying to figure out if they could install it (not possible on this car, even aftermarket) or if they could offer us an alternate vehicle.  There was nothing else we were interested in so in the end, on Thursday we returned the car and they gave us 100% of our money back and also paid for all the out of pocket expenses for plating and insuring it ($127 with cancellation fee).  They gave us two boxes of chocolate (my butt doesn't need it but I appreciate the thought) and hope to find us the vehicle we do want.  I have my doubts but have you ever heard of a dealership giving all your money back?  Yes, our range of emotions went from really mad, to upset, to stressed, all over a stupid car.  We wasted lots of time but in the big picture, we have a really nice life so it is hard to complain too much - and it was pure human error by whomever placed the listing online.  We even thought about keeping it at one point but decided we weren't settling as usually own vehicles for 5-10 years so are stuck with our choice once purchased.  That plus the dealership wouldn't knock any more money off (I am sure they could of but they can easily resell this vehicle for more than we paid for it).  Yes, they apologized too so we just need to get over it.

Oh yeah, the same day the bugs ate all my dill and basil and my hamster pooped on me.  I still say we have a really nice life and today is a new day.  I have that perspective based on hearing of blog friends who are going through much scarier sadder more stressful times than me - I am thinking about you Alex and Carla.

This Week I'm...

Waiting for some sunny sunny weather!

• picking hubby up from the airport this afternoon - seven days is the longest I have ever been apart from my sweetie, way too long, can't wait to have my best friend back

• picking up our new-to-us car as a replacement car for the one I normally drive.  I found a smoking  hot deal on an '07  car with only 55,000 km in excellent condition and bought it while hubby was away, although he was involved in the purchase by telephone.  We have planned and saved for this purchase and will sell my older car to pay for part of the purchase.  We like to have vehicles that are less than ten years old and my car was just at that age with 155,000 km.  As we have a zero commute now I expect this new-to-us car will last a very long time.  And no, we are not purchasing a warranty for an extra $3000 like they suggested as we believe in pay as you go. 

• planning a short holiday in our new-to-us car for a few days to Washington State as we cannot currently get away longer than that due to the business.  You can never be sorry that your business is doing well so you work with what days you have.  There is more than enough money in the travel fund for this and the remainder of the fund will sit there for our trip to Oregon in September as well as a future International trip, likely in 2014.

• Taking inventory of grocery items in the freezer and cupboards.  Once again I have hit the end of the grocery budget with several days left in the month.  The high gas prices have obviously effected grocery prices as the way I buy groceries has not changed.  While in Washington state we will look for bargains to help future months of the grocery budget.

• Re-doing the list I made last week that started with 25 things to do.  Every time I thought of something else I should do I added it to the list.  The list grew to 40 things and there are only about 10 things I did not get done, as some require hubby's help in doing them.  Instead of going to the gym this week I got my exercise by doing all of the yard work and these list items.  I lost two pounds this week.

• Preparing some items to sell on Craigslist from our old Alberta home and a few items for my Mother.  I don't like to sell privately unless both hubby and I are home so now I have no excuse as hubby is coming back today.  Any money from our own items sold will be going into the sealed pot Christmas Fund and Travel Fund 50/50 split.

• Banking funds from sealed pot this week as there was too much cash there so deposited $400 into the bank for the Christmas fund.    This year our expenses will be slightly higher than normal as we no longer have our home in Alberta so will be renting a car, paying for taxes on the airline tickets to get Alberta (using points), and will have to pay for a few more eating out meals so we can see everyone.  We will be staying with my Mother-in-law so will not have to pay for a hotel.

• Organizing and cleaning all my jewellery.  Let me first say I likely have way less jewellery than the average woman.  Most of it is costume with a few nicer pieces that hubby has given to me as gifts.  I don't have a jewellery box so it had been a mess in a drawer.  We have a lidded basked that sits on our dresser that hubby had a few things in that I have now claimed as my own.  Mom gave me a bunch of small plastic bags that she had from crafting so now each set of jewellery is in it's own bag and cannot get tangled up.  This project cost nothing and I discovered several things I have not worn in a long time simply because they were tangled up.  Now I have a bunch of new jewellery to wear!

• Getting caught up on cleaning the office and sorting/recording/dealing with a bunch of business paperwork.

What have you been up to?

Devastating Floods

Hubby is still in Alberta until Tuesday.  I have been watching the news every day with three dead and  increasing devastation occurring to Southern Alberta with flooding that is wiping out many homeowners in the Calgary and Canmore areas.  Downtown Calgary was evacuated, the site of the Calgary Stampede (which usually starts in two weeks) is under water, the Zoo was trying to figure out how to evacuate their larger animals, and the Calgary Saddledome where the NHL Calgary Flames play had water up to row  10.  Canmore was cut off - a major highway being totally washed out.  News today says the level on the Elbow river in Calgary is dropping today so hopefully they see no more rain.  Edmonton, where hubby and the kids are is under a flood watch as although they have not received the rain that Calgary did, all the water has swollen the rivers across the Province.  A couple of our largest clients are from Southern Alberta as well as many friends.    There has been some flooding in British Columbia in areas around Kelowna although it seems most of the worst has past there now.

*from Calgary Herald website

If you are not in Canada you may not be aware of the situation.  See:
Calgary 
Edmonton Journal


My previous career in Alberta as a property underwriter for an insurance company made me more aware than most of certain things.  In Alberta we were unable to purchase flood insurance.  It is something that is not offered there (nor many other Provinces, if any).  If water comes in through doors and windows it is generally not covered(**if you live in Alberta and have specific questions contact your insurance agent for details on your own policy as they differ depending on circumstances).  If it backs up through your sewer drain if you have sewer backup coverage then the damage may be covered, and even then may be limited depending on your policy.  What usually happens in these cases is that the Province declares a State of Emergency and then Government aid becomes available to those who have damages.  Even then, they may get considerably less compensation than damages, and usually many months after the event.  Vehicles depending on the coverage you choose to buy may have water damage coverage.

No matter where you live you need to know what coverage for property insurance you have and make sure that you pay the bill on time EVERY TIME!  I remember last year when our brand new neighbors came over (now our friends) knowing that I had just left insurance to ask whether Earthquake insurance was really necessary as it is a quite expensive add-on.  We live on the end of a fault in the Earthquake zone here and I just said to her that I couldn't imagine living where we live without buying it.  They bought it. I hope for their sake and ours that they never have to use it.

These kinds of disasters can wreak financial mayhem to your job, your business, your home.  Just another reason to try and always live BELOW your means and have access to cash in case of emergency.   Let's just hope the rains stop and the water recedes as soon as possible as many will have to spend countless hours rebuilding their lives.

Shattered!

It is not often I splurge on something brand new but in the spirit of this new weight loss effort we splashed out for a brand new digital scale on Saturday - using up part of a gift-card that the kids bought me for Mother's day.  $32 including tax from Canadian Tire.  Sunday morning I nudged the scale two inches with my toe so I could weigh myself and it exploded into a thousand pieces.  No, I was not cut, thankfully, nor was my linoleum damaged but I was cheesed off to put it mildly.  How dangerous!  Apparently if tempered glass has any small imperfections it can do this.  Fortunately Canadian Tire responded very impressively and immediately refunded my money no questions asked and as I was concerned (she was equally concerned) for the safety of other customers they pulled every scale off the shelves and will put the word out to their other stores to see if there have been other shipment problems.

We went to Walmart with the cash and for $45.26 (including tax and envirolevy) bought this Weight Watchers scale which so far we really like.  Our old scale was ancient and we both felt not necessarily accurate so it was time to upgrade.  I am aiming for slow long term achievable weight loss by changing our eating habits and working out.  We are giving up bread but still eating pasta and other carbs.  Any breadlike-substances like pizza that enter our gullets must be prepared from scratch so I know what goes into the mix.  We are still allowed muffins but they must be homemade and made with minimal sugar.  We paid $54 each for a 10 use punch pass to the local recreational complex that has quite a good gym and I have been making friends with the treadmill there.

Hubby is flying out tomorrow to Alberta do business for a few days.  I am going to go for a quick visit/de-clutter session to Mom's house and then attempt to clear off my list of 25 things to do  like cleaning the house top to bottom,taking bottles to depot,taking recycling to center and washing the car.  

My lilies are blooming in the front yard - I love perennials!  Lots more flowers to come here and in a few weeks a have pink ones that will bloom as well.  Have a great week!

Another Day in Paradise

Still playing tourist in our own town with my Stepson until Friday when he returns to Alberta.  These two shot were taken on Tuesday when the weather was stormy - kitesurfers taking advantage of the windy day.  It looked like a blast but I am not quite that adventurous.

Thursday we spent walking a couple of different beaches.  These two furry friends were on the side of the road.  Hubby took this from the car three feet away.  They were oh so unconcerned we wanted pictures of them.  The one in the back of the picture is just sprouting some small horns.  Comox is known for it's friendly deer.

My 19 year old stepson  is very good at beach-combing and finding things under rocks.   We located some creatures we have seen before like the baby starfish on the right and the snail on the left but the sea creature in the middle?  Not so sure what it is.  Some long lost relative of a shrimp or lobster.

We spotted this small green sea urchin under a rock hanging out with his starfish friends (slimy thing to the right and far bottom left) and some blue mussels.

We ended the day with meals in a pub (fyi you can drink alcohol at age 18 in Alberta and age 19 in British Columbia)  instead of a BBQ and a great time was had by all.  Now enough of this lollygagging around - we are back to work and back to healthy eating and working out.  Cheers!

Holiday Time

My stepson is in town for five days this week so we took a few days off work and have been spending lots of time being tourists.  We decided to do a short day trip to Campbell River which is a 45 minute drive from our home.  The day was extremely windy and rainy off and on but we still managed to have a nice look around.

The town of Campbell River has miles and miles of waterfront that is great for walking, biking and shell picking. 

We spotted part of Canada's extremely tiny Navy going by.  

I have never seen bald eagles gliding for the fun of it but this family of five eagles were just riding the wind gusts of up to 50km per hour.  It was great to watch.  There was Mom and Dad and three young eagles who still don't have their full coloring.  

Then we drove back to Comox and did a bit of exploring at our marina.  

I love watching jellyfish.  This guy was about three inches wide and floating around the base of the dock hanging out with some of his molusk friends.  The Vancouver Aquarium has a brand new jellyfish exhibit that just opened that I hope we can visit later this year if we go to the mainland.  The even have a live jelly cam - click here to see!

Today is sunnier and warmer so we plan on exploring some more beaches and ending the day with a BBQ. Cheers and have a great week! 

Good News Day

I was not expecting today to be as quite as good as it has been as yesterday received a very large bill for our old Alberta house for the alarm not being transferred to the new owners.  They sounded like nice people, the type that did what they said they were going to do but you never know with people.  $369! That was how much we owed until the end of the contract June 2014.  It has been over a month now so I was extremely worried when the bill arrived.  Instead of contacting the new owners first  I contacted the alarm company to make sure they had not activated it in the time since the statement went out.  It turns out that it was the alarm company's error, that they never credited our account when the new owners signed up.  I am SOOOO glad I called the alarm company first.  Anyhow, it is now all fixed up and we don't have to pay that money which would have been a huge pain in the tushie and pocketbook.

Then today, I went to Shoppers Drug Mart to pick up some allergy medication that was supposed to be on sale.  Apparently they changed the day of their sales cycle so the sale ended yesterday - drat!  So instead, I picked up one package of bacon on sale and will look for another sale for the medication.  At the checkout the lady in front of me bought a whole bunch of perfume for $100. She did not have  a shoppers drug mart card as found them to be a pain to keep track of - she offered me her points.  This works out to points worth $30 off a future purchase.  Woohoo! These are being saved up for use later in the year.

Finally, I have decided to get off my butt and try and lose a bit of weight.  My current weight is 150 pounds - just putting it out there.  I was 133 pounds when I met hubby 10 years ago and would love to be in the under 140 pound range again. Yesterday we went to the gym, the first time for me in about 8 years.  Hubby always been a regular once or twice a week gym goer but me - not so much.  I hated gym in school as am completely uncoordinated and have never been good at sports.  I survived the first session without too much fuss and am not too sore today so feel that this is a promising step in the right direction.  I bought a ten visit pass and we hope to go at least twice per week with walks on the beach/in the neighborhood in between.

So all in all it was a good day.  Now for a great weekend!

Dreaming of Future Foraging

I made two dozen applesauce muffins this morning out of the last of the applesauce made from free apples given to me last summer.  The wild blackberries were gone in January after discovering how great they tasted in pancakes.  This August I hope to double the amount of blackberries foraged for as we love them and only have had Mom's blackberry jam to tide us over.  One dozen of these muffins went into the freezer as my stepson is coming for a visit next week and we will need some snacks.

I love watching robins and their little dance they do listening for bugs and worms.  This one scored breakfast this morning in our backyard.

This guy, called a Pacific sideband snail,  was spotted by hubby scaling the siding on our house.  We detached him and pointed him in the right direction out of the sun.  We have seen lots of snails at the beach but none in our backyard until now.  He was quite large and to give some scale here he is on hubby's hand. Yes, that is a big weed he is sitting on and dead rhododendron petals.  I did some weeding the day after this was taken.

Our yard is teeming with life - most of which we don't see until we slow down and look.  Kind of like smelling the roses....

Stocking Up & Preparing for the Worst

I went out today and spent 3/4 of the $425 June grocery budget stocking up on essentials and will use the last 1/4 filling in the blanks.  Hopefully this will work without blowing the budget .  I shop at 4-6 stores per month to get their loss leaders and to ensure I pay lowest prices.  Fortunately everything is quite close together in our town so it only takes time, and not too much gas.  

It is hubby's 51st Birthday today and we are celebrating quietly at home.  I plan on BBQing up a wild salmon with cilantro rice, salad and a store bought cherry pie which was his requested desert.   I could have made one and saved about $2 but was busy so decided this time I would go for the convenience.  We could have gone out to dinner but he wanted to stay in as we have eaten out twice last week, once taking business clients who were in town out for dinner and once when our neighbors took us to dinner as a thank you for some lending some yard equipment and childcare.  It was completely unexpected but really nice. 

I started on an Emergency Preparedness kit today buying 8 liters of distilled water.  According to this Emergency Preparedness Kit checklist they suggest you have 4 liters of water per person per day for a minimum 3 days in your home kit so I will have to buy more on the next shopping trip.  Reading the list makes you realize that you should make kits for home, in your car and at work.  You should also prepare a bag/backpack if you were evacuated.  You can buy pre-made kits but I prefer to make our own as it is less expensive. 

Do you have an emergency preparedness kit and if so what is in it?