12 More Sleeps!

Zihuatanejo Mexico (borrowed pic)

Only 12 more sleeps until we jet off to sunny warm Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo Mexico!  This time of year is windy, rainy and dreary here on Vancouver Island so this is a perfect time to take off for 8 nights of rest and relaxation. I've checked the weather and it is supposed to be a low at night of 23 and high of 32 degrees celcius the entire time we are gone.   I have started gathering items to pack so that I don't forget anything.  We pack much lighter than we used to but it still requires some planning.  We will check 1 piece of luggage between the two of us this trip for $30 each direction as have too many lotions/liquids to go carry on only.  We have decided however to not do advance seat selection.  Odds are the computer will assign us seats together (Westjet automatically assigns your seats 24 hours out if you have not paid for seat selection).  Absolute worst case scenario we will not be sitting together but since we both travel a lot and can occupy ourselves this is not the end of the world.  We are saving $120 by doing this - money much better spent on meals out in Mexico in my opinion.  I usually only ever pay for seat selection on those airlines that might overbook the aircraft (Air Canada is our least favorite airline for doing this).  Westjet does not overbook, has never done so since they started 20 years ago - that is one of their policies I love and count on. 


I still have terrible tendonitis on my right foot - for 3 weeks now.  I went to the Dr and he prescribed a topical anti-inflammatory so it is a little less painful but doesn't seem to be getting better even though I have limited my activity level.  I will not let it bother me in Mexico, we will try and do the best we can with it and take cabs instead of walking as much as we normally do.  A rum and coke or two might help as well!

Our generator arrived on Friday, I was very thankful it got here before hubby jets off tomorrow for a business trip.  It took 2 delivery guys to move it, weighs a ton.  We spent extra money on a wheel package.  Hubby unpacked it last night and found a spot for it in the garage.  Today he has to go get another gas can to put the right combo of oil and gas in and test it out.  We have had several more windstorms since Christmas - no power outages but now we have a form of insurance.

2019 will bring higher bills - just got our truck insurance bill that is $1330 for the year.  We also received our tax assessment on the house.  It went up in value by $100,000 in one year!  That is good news in one way and bad news in another.  While we are happy our house is a higher value this means our taxes will be higher - I've readjusted our budget for house taxes which we pay in full each June. 

We have a 2019 budget - It is annual and it is fluid.  When we hit limits throughout the year we adjust other categories to allow for overages.  Last year I was within $1000 on all of our bills (overage).  Our budget is based on 90% of our income, the rest going to extra savings so there is always wiggle room if we go over.  Most people don't have a household budget, they just wing it.  We don't do that as pay all of our big bills out of pocket incurring zero interest - pay every credit card off in full every month (usually in advance as we pay them about 3 x per month).  That requires us to know from year to year how much to expect to have in the account for house insurance, condo insurance, house tax, condo tax, and our vehicle insurances.  Mom lives in the condo we own.  One day when she can no longer do so we will sell that and those funds will go back into our retirement portfolio.  In the mean time that condo has gone up in value as well.  Our budget for travel this year is half what it was last year - after our trip to Mexico which we need to pay for hotels and meals we really have no trips planned.  I have penciled off a couple of weeks in the year to not book business but we will likely stay closer to home, maybe rent a house for a week or two on an island nearby and hang out with Buddy.  I think we are a little tired from all the touring and traveling we have done in the last 7 years.  We still love travel, I am sure we will be booking another trip in no time lol.  Even though we have no big plans I am putting several hundred dollars into the travel account each month so the money will be there when we decide what we are doing.  Future trips will definitely include Egypt (I've been but hubby hasn't), Germany and Thailand.  We both expect to not want to travel as much in about 10 years time so are spending/saving the money to do so now. 

In the saving money category this week I have a frugal win.  Buddy is super-fussy as to what food he likes.  He will only eat dry food in combo with wet food and we have gone through about 10 different ones to get to this one that he likes and that is good for him.  He's been on it for about 1 year now and I was previously told by the pet food store that they only made tiny 2.5 lb (1.14 kg) bags of it for $19.99.  Not cheap but I am not feeding my dog crap food.  Plus he doesn't eat very much so we can easily afford it.  This week I went to a different location of the same chain and found a 14 lb bag (6.36kg).  Based on the small bag being $22.39 including tax and the big bag $62.71 including tax I am paying $125.38 when I buy the small bags versus the big one - a savings of $62.67!  I will only go to the store that stocks the large bag now, it is a tiny bit further away but worth the extra drive.  I will transfer the kibble to an air tight container so it stays fresh - Buddy was keenly interested in the bag of food that is about the same size and weight of him.  This should last 4-6 months now.  I do feel sorry for those big dog owners that go through a bag of food this size every couple of weeks.

The house was entirely de-Christmasfied and decorations put away for another year on New Years Day, as is always our ritual.  Hubby even took down the outside lights as I was doing the inside.  We like to start the year off fresh and with a clean house.  As a reward for all that hard work we went to our revamped local movie theatre and watched Aquaman in 3D.  My stepson #2 gave us a GC for our local small town movie theatre which is such a great gift.  Less stuff - more experiences!  The movie was good but my favorite part of it was all the sea creatures in 3 D animation.  Worth it to see that part alone. 

Happy weekend everyone!