Competing Spouses!

Dh and I both run organizations ~ his is a registered

non~profit, and mine is both a registered non~profit

and a registered charity. At times, we're both after

the same grants and sometimes, we end up with the

same grant, but with different amounts and terms. It

happened again last night when we attended a grant

presentation. Everyone just laughs now when we show

up for these events, especially to accept precious funds.

~ Chy

Bake Sale.

Every year, we host a Bake Sale at

our little preschool to raise funds.

Elves on the tree and cookies on the

tables. A great turnout and money in

the bank for new projects we plan

to work on in the New Year. Yum!

~ Chy

Jumbled Numbers ....

.... in my head ....

I can't sleep! The numbers are swirled all over the place. They won't stop moving. Just when I think I have them in order, I go back to them and start all over again. What numbers are jumbled in my tiny little head, you ask? These ones:

*the price of our land, now up for sale - a hard decision to make

*the small remaining amount owing on our house, which was up for sale on the weekend but we will take it down now today - knowing how much equity we have helps us figure out the size of the new house

*the phone number of the gentlemen who has expressed great interest in our land - waiting for him to call back with a time to view

*the proposed price we would be comfortable with to accept if he makes an offer

*the price we would hope to pay for a new piece of land we found yesterday, if it's still available, but with no online listing to be found, we've come up with what we think it would be worth, based on the other land we looked at yesterday

*the "best case scenario" cost of what it would cost to build on said land, if it is available and a decent price

*the number of months it would take to build a decent sized home

*the timing of when we would then sell this house - moving twice is not an option but thankfully our bank has already confirmed we would stay here as our equity more than covers a build

*the potential new equity we could achieve by building from the ground up vs. buying a house to reno or buying a house that needs no work - gaining equity at this point in our lives is important for our potential move to the West Coast - what we build here will buy comfortable there

As you may have guessed by now, we've switched gears a bit to explore the idea of building a new house from the ground up. On Saturday, we looked at several homes with a realtor. One that needs a ton of work and is way overpriced (his term but we totally agree), one that is so outdated that it lacked life and one that was charming and needed no work. But only gave us 100 square feet more than we have now, at a premium price, more than $150,000 above our home's value. And in that house, as much as we loved it, we'd lose a bedroom, a formal dining room and an office for dh. We'd gain a fireplace in the master bedroom, a walk-in closet too, a walkout basement for dd and grandson, a bit larger lot and a lake view. Keeping it on our list but I think in the end, we'd kick ourselves for paying higher for a beautiful look but less functionality.

Yesterday, we viewed 6 pieces of land in our County. The first 2 were right in town and the others were 5.5 minutes out, 3.5 minutes out and 1.5 minutes out. The last was our favorite but that is the one that we have no idea if its available. Realtor sign is on the land and out on the road but not online. Fingers crossed the realtor calls soon so we can bid it a fond farewell and keep looking. Or start figuring out if that is the right one. Excited about the idea of creating our dream home, to suite our needs now but also in the future when it's just the two of us. And build good equity for resale when we're ready. 

I hate that I often have numbers rumbling around in my head. Watching "Call the Midwife" and "Games of Thrones" and creating visual budgets in my brain at the same time. Because we live a very frugal life, the numbers are important to me. I can't let them get out of hand and we refuse to take on debt. We'd only go this route if the numbers work out in our favor. Selling our land is giving us that edge up we need to enter this project. Without it, we'd never entertain the idea as the cost of land around town is not cheap. 

Exciting new adventure! It may not work out in the end but giving it a try and we'll see how it all falls in to place. My parents raised me with the idea that if it's meant to be, it will unfold but if it's not, it's not worth the energy to fight it in to place. 

Happy Easter Monday! I'm off to start dinner prep. Big family dinner at our table tonight. 

Blowing the Budget! Updated!!

We live a fairly frugal life. For many years, while I was home with our large group of little people, we lived on an income and a half. The income was not large and the half was supplementary but we managed to make sure that everyone was fed, had clothes on their backs, toys and books, entertainment, transportation, and the utilities needed to live a comfortable life. No one went with out and celebrations were abundant, though we did have to save for all those extras. We managed a family vacation once a year, which for us often meant visiting our families on the west coast or turning business conferences into a family trip. We made many sacrifices so that our children had what they needed but that took hard work and they did grow up knowing that they wouldn't receive everything they asked for. 

Now we live a life that includes two full incomes and an abundant savings. Our mortgage is almost paid off, we have no other debt, we can go out and shop if we choose or go for dinner. Vacations have become more frequent and our destinations have expanded. If we want to buy something for ourselves or the house, we don't need to save as much, though we are still in the habit of planning, budgeting and waiting until we have the amount saved. I like that we have the freedom now but we are still so careful. 

With that in mind, it's almost funny this week how we have been reacting to a loss that is going to cost us money. I hate stuff like that because it does take me back to those early days of worrying about every penny. We can clearly afford to just pay this upcoming expense but oh how we have agonized over for the last 24 hours. This morning I realized how much energy has gone in to that angst.

Dh lost his keys yesterday. He has two sets. One holds his works keys and his car key. The other holds our house key and a key for my car. It's bothered me for the longest time that he carries them separately. He claims that the weight of having them altogether is too much for the ignition. I have more keys than he does - both sets of car keys, both sets of my office keys, house key, shed key, lock box keys, filing cabinet keys and a key that I have no idea what it is for but I've had for ever and it must be for something! My keys feel light and it hasn't been an issue in my ignition but he insisted so he kept his separate. When he left home, he locked the door, put those keys in his pocket and took out his other set to go to work. When he got home last night, he realized that the other set was gone. He retraced his steps, made some calls and then drove back into the city to go to the one spot he thinks he might have dropped them. No luck but a valiant effort. He was literally on his hands and knees with a flash light in the middle of a downtown parking lot! But no luck. His cell phone number and our home number have been left in case anyone finds them. We may never find them, so I've started to figure out where in our budget will the funds come from to get a new key and fob from the dealership. I was thinking it would be a couple of hundred dollars (ouch!) but our dd suggested closer to $500 would be more reasonable, a fee she and her former husband had to pay when he lost the key to their van a few years ago. Different car maker so I'm hoping it won't be as much but will call this morning to find out. We're still looking and keeping our fingers crossed that someone picked them up and turned them into the security office and magically they'll call us this morning. 

This will blow our budget this month if we have to pay for a new key and fob. I hate the feeling of an unexpected bill. I guess I should take comfort in knowing the money is there and that we have a rainy day fund for those items we didn't count on having to pay for. But it still sucks! Last night, I did come up with an idea to replace the money if we do need to let go of it. Now that our half of our kids have moved out, we have lots of leftover furniture and kids items we could sell easily, so I'll start listing on kijiji and see if we can make the difference back. In the end, we'll have a new set of keys and an empty storage room. 

Maybe not such a bad trade off in the end!!

What have you done when an unexpected expense has hit your budget? Do you put lots of energy into the process or just pay it, writing it off as a life event?

****Updated to add that our misfortune was saved by the kind, unidentified individual who turned in our keys that were found in the parking lot dh spent time looking for. What a relief! We're still going to go thru our house and start listing items to sell anyway. Maybe put that money towards our travel adventures this year. All is well.****

Money Mash Up.

I found this on Simply Stacia and have decided to try it for a bit:

 

Monday Mash Up for January 7th. Each Monday, post the following questions then link to Stacia's blog. Address: http://simplystaciablogs.wordpress.com/

 

1. The most money I've spent last week was for groceries. We need to eat, I hate having to pay but it's a fact of life. We have lots in the cupboard and our fridge isn't empty but we love fresh and we often, on a spur of the moment, decide what's for dinner. Meal planning works to a point but for us, at this age, sometimes what we want might be different than what is listed on the menu plan hanging on the fridge! Working on this for this coming year.

 

2. A low-cost or free thing I did this past week was to bring home the extra art supplies that were donated to our centre. There were a number of items my teachers decided they didn't want or couldn't use that I was in love with. Free!

 

3.  The one thing I did for another was donate my free time on Friday and Saturday to help clean the centre, get it organized for today's classes and purge what we don't need. I did bring home the art supplies but nothing else and we had just purged our house before Christmas so the items had a place to go and did not create clutter.

 

4.  Something I really need to accomplish this week is take care of a number of tasks so we can leave on our little holiday on Saturday morning. I need to pay bills, tidy the house (it's still really clean and tidy from Christmas but by the end of the week it'll need a good clean), make sure the families that need counselling while I'm away are booked for when I'm back, make sure the families that want to start the group sessions are booked for when I'm back, answer all my emails and calls, send two letters overseas, send two Christmas/New Years cards to two people who sent cards unexpectedly, take care of one big headache that I haven't written about yet but is scheduled to "go down" on Thursday night at 6 p.m. (wish me luck), finish packing, book our rental car and buy groceries for the girls and the little boy so they don't starve to death when we're gone.

 

5.  My most favorite thing about winter is doing cozy things inside my warm house on blizzardy days, making yummy comfort food and sleeping in our big bed, full of quilts and comfort, listening to the wind howl outside.

 

How about you?

52 Week Savings Challenge.

Borrowed this from Simply Stacia over at https://simplystaciablogs.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/52-week-money-challenge-save-1378-in-2013/comment-page-1/#comment-1198. We have our weekly travel account that we contribute to and our monthly emergency fund - new house fund - rainy day fund - if we ever lose our jobs fund account but this 52 Week Challenge will help us save for either for next Christmas or for our RRSP accounts. Set up the spreadsheet today and will transfer our first week of contributions tonight.

 

Thanks Stacia!