For a long time, I've gone to the Bread Basket for their 10 loaves for $10 special on day-old bread. That's a real deal, seeing as you could often find good healthy bread and other specialty breads such as bagels and wraps, all for $1 each, as long as you bought 10 of them. Unfortunately, they have raised their price to $12 for 10 loaves, so it does cost a wee bit more now. It's still a fantastic deal though, if you can find the good bread.
In the past three weeks, I've been heading to Superstore for my bread! Superstore sells 4 loaves of unsliced white or whole wheat bread for $3.89. That's a pretty good deal for bread! So I have to slice it... I can slice it if it means that I can save money! Granted... when my husband slices the bread, we use a lot more because those slices are pretty big... but still! :)
When I was in Superstore the other day, I found the bag of 4 loaves on the 50% off shelf! That's now 4 loaves for less than $2! I always check their 50% off shelf, you never know what you might find!
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Stepping out of the nest!
Well the time has come for us to take the next financial step in our lives. No, unfortunately it's not buying a new house or getting our new kitchen as mentioned before.
I'll give you some background to the whole thing. Firstly my husband, Steve, is a drywall taper- an excellent one at that. He's been working full time for a commercial construction company for the last 2.5 years, but in the last two months, he's been taking side jobs. The extra money has been nice, but the rest has not been easy. His long hours meant that the kids wouldn't get to see their Daddy very much. Keep in mind as well, that we only have one vehicle, and that's the vehicle my husband uses to get to work. This means that the kids and I are stuck when he's gone. Any activities such as grocery shopping must be done when he's home. That has been pretty difficult lately!
Anyways, we've decided that since it's possible for us to double our earnings by finding our own work, we are going to take the leap. We still have a good relationship with Steve's employer, so when we gave him our 2 weeks notice, he told us to let him know if we ever wanted to come back. That's such a generous offer of him, and we certainly appreciated it!
February 10 will be Steve's last day at work for his current employer, and after that, we'll be out on our own. We kind of feel like a little bird who steps out of the nest and jumps off the branch, hoping that he will learn to fly before he hits the ground!
Now is when we are sure grateful for our 6 month emergency fund that we built up over the last couple of years. That will sure help us out if we don't get as much work as we need.
I'm sure excited though, once we are established and have a lot of good work, we will be able to go much farther financially that we were before. I'm so glad that Steve is willing to take the jump, and I'll be right there beside him all the way.
As for the new house and new kitchen, those things will come in time. It's a little disappointing to give those up, but I know it's less giving them up and more of postponing them for a later time. I'm willing to be patient and make sure that we are setting ourselves up for a better future. After all, isn't that what the Financial Peace University was all about? Live like no one else so later you can live like no one else!
I'll give you some background to the whole thing. Firstly my husband, Steve, is a drywall taper- an excellent one at that. He's been working full time for a commercial construction company for the last 2.5 years, but in the last two months, he's been taking side jobs. The extra money has been nice, but the rest has not been easy. His long hours meant that the kids wouldn't get to see their Daddy very much. Keep in mind as well, that we only have one vehicle, and that's the vehicle my husband uses to get to work. This means that the kids and I are stuck when he's gone. Any activities such as grocery shopping must be done when he's home. That has been pretty difficult lately!
Anyways, we've decided that since it's possible for us to double our earnings by finding our own work, we are going to take the leap. We still have a good relationship with Steve's employer, so when we gave him our 2 weeks notice, he told us to let him know if we ever wanted to come back. That's such a generous offer of him, and we certainly appreciated it!
February 10 will be Steve's last day at work for his current employer, and after that, we'll be out on our own. We kind of feel like a little bird who steps out of the nest and jumps off the branch, hoping that he will learn to fly before he hits the ground!
Now is when we are sure grateful for our 6 month emergency fund that we built up over the last couple of years. That will sure help us out if we don't get as much work as we need.
I'm sure excited though, once we are established and have a lot of good work, we will be able to go much farther financially that we were before. I'm so glad that Steve is willing to take the jump, and I'll be right there beside him all the way.
As for the new house and new kitchen, those things will come in time. It's a little disappointing to give those up, but I know it's less giving them up and more of postponing them for a later time. I'm willing to be patient and make sure that we are setting ourselves up for a better future. After all, isn't that what the Financial Peace University was all about? Live like no one else so later you can live like no one else!
Monday, December 12, 2011
Financial Peace University wrap-up
Well tomorrow is Tuesday, and for the last 13 weeks we've been heading over the the west end of the city to lead our weekly Financial Peace University. Steve and I have really enjoyed leading the course and seeing other people start down a path of financial security like we have.
We had such a great group, a good mix of ages, genders, and from all stages of life. Some were married, some were single, some were engaged. Some were grandparents, some had babies. Some people owned their homes, some rented, and some were hoping to move from renting to owning soon. It was a great opportunity for us to show what we had learned and to help pass that on.
By the end of the course, we had about 10 households pay off, or save up over $50,000 all together. I was so proud!! Quite a few of the families had completely paid off their debts and were working to get their emergency funds in place. Some families even accomplished their fully funded emergency fund!! We were very excited to see the progress that each family made.
As for Steve and I, we are now giving our kitchen a facelift, and the selling the house! We will be looking for a great deal somewhere, as we have been for a couple of years now. Our real estate agent feels that January or February should bring along a few great deals, and we need to be ready to jump on those quickly! We may even take the chance and sell our house before we find a deal. I'm not too eager to do that, because it puts us in a place where we could be without a home for a little while. At that point in time, we'd be far more motivated to make purchase and may not have the patience to wait for a great deal.
We are excited though, it's been 5.5 years in this little duplex, and we are simply outgrowing it. We are both looking forward to moving on to our next investment, another home that we can live in and add value to.
We had such a great group, a good mix of ages, genders, and from all stages of life. Some were married, some were single, some were engaged. Some were grandparents, some had babies. Some people owned their homes, some rented, and some were hoping to move from renting to owning soon. It was a great opportunity for us to show what we had learned and to help pass that on.
By the end of the course, we had about 10 households pay off, or save up over $50,000 all together. I was so proud!! Quite a few of the families had completely paid off their debts and were working to get their emergency funds in place. Some families even accomplished their fully funded emergency fund!! We were very excited to see the progress that each family made.
As for Steve and I, we are now giving our kitchen a facelift, and the selling the house! We will be looking for a great deal somewhere, as we have been for a couple of years now. Our real estate agent feels that January or February should bring along a few great deals, and we need to be ready to jump on those quickly! We may even take the chance and sell our house before we find a deal. I'm not too eager to do that, because it puts us in a place where we could be without a home for a little while. At that point in time, we'd be far more motivated to make purchase and may not have the patience to wait for a great deal.
We are excited though, it's been 5.5 years in this little duplex, and we are simply outgrowing it. We are both looking forward to moving on to our next investment, another home that we can live in and add value to.
Electricity Providers
After much research, we have finally decided to switch from Epcor to Enmax for electricity. In order to further our savings, we also switched our natural gas provider from Direct Energy to Enmax.
We locked in our electricity costs at a lower price than we've been paying for the last couple of months, and we kept a floating rate for natural gas. The natural gas costs will not be any higher or lower than the floating rate we were paying before.
After hearing the electricity prices were going to rise up to 40% in December, I decided that locking it into a non-contractual plan was the best option. With Enmax, I can switch in and out of the fixed rates at any time I choose. This means that there is virtually no risk involved, and if I don't end up saving money, or if it costs me more, I'll simply switch back to Epcor.
We won't get our first bill from Enmax until the first part of January, so we'll have to wait a bit to see if we will come out ahead, the same, or further back. I do expect to come out ahead... otherwise I never would have switched.
I'm not hoping for a miracle here, but if we can save a few dollars each month, it will be worth it!
We locked in our electricity costs at a lower price than we've been paying for the last couple of months, and we kept a floating rate for natural gas. The natural gas costs will not be any higher or lower than the floating rate we were paying before.
After hearing the electricity prices were going to rise up to 40% in December, I decided that locking it into a non-contractual plan was the best option. With Enmax, I can switch in and out of the fixed rates at any time I choose. This means that there is virtually no risk involved, and if I don't end up saving money, or if it costs me more, I'll simply switch back to Epcor.
We won't get our first bill from Enmax until the first part of January, so we'll have to wait a bit to see if we will come out ahead, the same, or further back. I do expect to come out ahead... otherwise I never would have switched.
I'm not hoping for a miracle here, but if we can save a few dollars each month, it will be worth it!
Monday, December 5, 2011
Couponing in Edmonton
So today I am officially setting up a coupon binder!! This is not going to become a blog about couponing because I believe there are already a lot of blogs out there that do the job just fine. Here are a few:
Canadian Coupon Mom
Money Saving Mom Canada
Extreme Couponing Mom
Mrs. January
Frugal Edmonton Mama
Any google search will reveal a thousand blogs about couponing in Edmonton (and Canada), so it's not too hard to find that info.
I would recommend that if you get the opportunity to take a couponing course, you do so. These are usually only a few dollars, but they really give you a lot of insight into couponing and how exactly it's done legally and responsibly here in Canada.
My personal belief is that couponing is excellent, as long as it has some boundaries. Those boundaries include staying within the store coupon policies, and not spending a bunch more money on things you don't need just because you have coupons. I believe in finding coupons for the things I use, can use, or can give away. If I can find free things, I grab them whether I use them or not, because I can always donate them to a shelter or give them away. I also believe in taking the coupons that you'll use, and not taking coupons that are on products that you are not purchasing.
Using coupons can be very rewarding when done correctly. I look forward to progressing in my coupon skills, and I also look forward to being able to give a bunch of stuff away, and save money all at once!
Please feel free to contact me if you want to know more about couponing, but I think you'll find all the info you could need on one or more of those blog websites I posted above.
Canadian Coupon Mom
Money Saving Mom Canada
Extreme Couponing Mom
Mrs. January
Frugal Edmonton Mama
Any google search will reveal a thousand blogs about couponing in Edmonton (and Canada), so it's not too hard to find that info.
I would recommend that if you get the opportunity to take a couponing course, you do so. These are usually only a few dollars, but they really give you a lot of insight into couponing and how exactly it's done legally and responsibly here in Canada.
My personal belief is that couponing is excellent, as long as it has some boundaries. Those boundaries include staying within the store coupon policies, and not spending a bunch more money on things you don't need just because you have coupons. I believe in finding coupons for the things I use, can use, or can give away. If I can find free things, I grab them whether I use them or not, because I can always donate them to a shelter or give them away. I also believe in taking the coupons that you'll use, and not taking coupons that are on products that you are not purchasing.
Using coupons can be very rewarding when done correctly. I look forward to progressing in my coupon skills, and I also look forward to being able to give a bunch of stuff away, and save money all at once!
Please feel free to contact me if you want to know more about couponing, but I think you'll find all the info you could need on one or more of those blog websites I posted above.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Another Personal Update - Financial Peace
Little by little, we are reaching our goals of reaching financial peace. I'm very excited to share that we are completely finishes step 3, and have just over 5 months of expenses saved up in case of an emergency. I am also excited to share that we have started looking into our next options and have decided a good course of action.
With Steve working on some side jobs, our income has seen a bit of a facelift. It's nothing that will really make a difference yet, but it helps!
We thought about investing, and starting up my RRSPs again, and even looked into RESPs. At this point in time though, we've decided that we want to be moving to a bigger house within the next year. In order to do that comfortably, we are going to hold off on investments and focus on paying down our mortgage so we have a bigger down payment.
We even considered keeping this house as a rental property and buying another one to live in, but I don't think we are ready to take on that kind of risk yet. If the renters don't pay, or if we can't find renters, we are really in trouble!! Also, we still owe enough on this house that if the housing market really crashed, we could still be in a situation where we owe as much or more than the house is worth. If we turn our focus from the Emergency Fund and start piling that money into our mortgage, I think we can have it down considerably in a few months. Then when we go to sell, we can easily come up with a good down payment and feel good that we are saving a bunch of interest.
I have to admit, the idea of keeping this house as a rental property sounds good, and I know probably 95% of investment advisers out there would say that you want to keep a mortgage on your investment properties, because you can write off the mortgage payments on your taxes. Those payments offset the income that you earn through the rental property, and the theory is that you save piles of money. I just can't agree with that. I'd rather pay the government all that tax on the extra income, than pay all that interest each month and STILL owe a whole bunch on the rental property.
It would be much safer to have a rental property paid off, or very close to paid off, before I take the risk of having it trashed, empty, or simply not earning income.
Anyways, the outcome of all those discussions have let to one thing. We are going to focus on lowering our mortgage as much as we can, and once we find a new place, we'll be in a better position. We are looking for a place hopefully near my parents, and a house that we can take from being ugly to being a dream home.
We do know what we are getting in to, as we did that already once with this house! When we moved in, it really didn't look like much. After much hard work, paint, and soap, it wasn't too bad. Then when we tore out the basement and totally started from scratch down there, it was much better. Rebuilding the fence last year, and adding a deck this year, really helped the place to look much better too. I planted some bushes and shrubs in the front this past summer, in hopes of making the front part of the house look much more inviting and cared for.
There are a few things left to do here before we sell, little things that will bring up the value of the home, if only because it makes people feel better and have a better impression of the place. The last major project should be completed in February, and that is to renovate the kitchen. We want to replace the cabinets and the flooring in the kitchen, and possibly the counter-tops. If we can get by with replacing only the cabinets and not the counters, I'd prefer to do that. The counter-tops are still in fine condition and look nice. Once we do that, this house will be in great condition to sell.
I'm very excited to see our hard work pay off, but a little sad to think that the work will start all over again with the new house. Perhaps it won't be so bad though... but if it is, there's money to be made!!
So that's the update on our own journey to Financial Peace. One step at a time, we keep on keeping on.
With Steve working on some side jobs, our income has seen a bit of a facelift. It's nothing that will really make a difference yet, but it helps!
We thought about investing, and starting up my RRSPs again, and even looked into RESPs. At this point in time though, we've decided that we want to be moving to a bigger house within the next year. In order to do that comfortably, we are going to hold off on investments and focus on paying down our mortgage so we have a bigger down payment.
We even considered keeping this house as a rental property and buying another one to live in, but I don't think we are ready to take on that kind of risk yet. If the renters don't pay, or if we can't find renters, we are really in trouble!! Also, we still owe enough on this house that if the housing market really crashed, we could still be in a situation where we owe as much or more than the house is worth. If we turn our focus from the Emergency Fund and start piling that money into our mortgage, I think we can have it down considerably in a few months. Then when we go to sell, we can easily come up with a good down payment and feel good that we are saving a bunch of interest.
I have to admit, the idea of keeping this house as a rental property sounds good, and I know probably 95% of investment advisers out there would say that you want to keep a mortgage on your investment properties, because you can write off the mortgage payments on your taxes. Those payments offset the income that you earn through the rental property, and the theory is that you save piles of money. I just can't agree with that. I'd rather pay the government all that tax on the extra income, than pay all that interest each month and STILL owe a whole bunch on the rental property.
It would be much safer to have a rental property paid off, or very close to paid off, before I take the risk of having it trashed, empty, or simply not earning income.
Anyways, the outcome of all those discussions have let to one thing. We are going to focus on lowering our mortgage as much as we can, and once we find a new place, we'll be in a better position. We are looking for a place hopefully near my parents, and a house that we can take from being ugly to being a dream home.
We do know what we are getting in to, as we did that already once with this house! When we moved in, it really didn't look like much. After much hard work, paint, and soap, it wasn't too bad. Then when we tore out the basement and totally started from scratch down there, it was much better. Rebuilding the fence last year, and adding a deck this year, really helped the place to look much better too. I planted some bushes and shrubs in the front this past summer, in hopes of making the front part of the house look much more inviting and cared for.
There are a few things left to do here before we sell, little things that will bring up the value of the home, if only because it makes people feel better and have a better impression of the place. The last major project should be completed in February, and that is to renovate the kitchen. We want to replace the cabinets and the flooring in the kitchen, and possibly the counter-tops. If we can get by with replacing only the cabinets and not the counters, I'd prefer to do that. The counter-tops are still in fine condition and look nice. Once we do that, this house will be in great condition to sell.
I'm very excited to see our hard work pay off, but a little sad to think that the work will start all over again with the new house. Perhaps it won't be so bad though... but if it is, there's money to be made!!
So that's the update on our own journey to Financial Peace. One step at a time, we keep on keeping on.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Investment tool!
Investing has always seemed a little scary for me... so many big words and so many variables!
We personally ended up in a bit of a pickle over some bad investment advice, and are still paying the consequences of our decision. In order to avoid the same mistake again, we've done our best to talk to lots of different people, researched things online, and have done our best to just get a general education on what investments are and how they work.
There is a fantastic site that we learned of in the last week, that gives you the ability to check out how funds, companies, and stocks have been doing for the last few years. If you have bought into a stock or other fund like that, you will have an ID number of some sort on that fund. Using The Globe and Mail's website, you can enter the name of any stock or fund into their search bar near the top of the window, and use the tabs on the fund's page to view information on the fund. Most importantly, you can view how well the fund has performed in the last 10 years, and then make a solid decision on whether or not you want to get in.
I'm told that when investment brokers are showing charts, they can easily (and legally) leave some information out of the picture and make their graphs look rather rosy. The Globe and Mail tells it how it is. Good or bad, it's the real picture.
If we had looked at those charts before we invested, we may not have been so easily convinced to buy in. Thankfully, we are learning much more now and will not make those mistakes again.
As Dave Ramsey says, "Never buy into something that you can't explain- something you don't understand well enough to explain it to a 7th grader."
We personally ended up in a bit of a pickle over some bad investment advice, and are still paying the consequences of our decision. In order to avoid the same mistake again, we've done our best to talk to lots of different people, researched things online, and have done our best to just get a general education on what investments are and how they work.
There is a fantastic site that we learned of in the last week, that gives you the ability to check out how funds, companies, and stocks have been doing for the last few years. If you have bought into a stock or other fund like that, you will have an ID number of some sort on that fund. Using The Globe and Mail's website, you can enter the name of any stock or fund into their search bar near the top of the window, and use the tabs on the fund's page to view information on the fund. Most importantly, you can view how well the fund has performed in the last 10 years, and then make a solid decision on whether or not you want to get in.
I'm told that when investment brokers are showing charts, they can easily (and legally) leave some information out of the picture and make their graphs look rather rosy. The Globe and Mail tells it how it is. Good or bad, it's the real picture.
If we had looked at those charts before we invested, we may not have been so easily convinced to buy in. Thankfully, we are learning much more now and will not make those mistakes again.
As Dave Ramsey says, "Never buy into something that you can't explain- something you don't understand well enough to explain it to a 7th grader."
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