My Top 10 Moments in 2010

Here are my favourite moments in 2010:

10. Seeing Gail Vaz-Oxlade at the "Picnic in the Park". Talking with her is a sheer pleasure.

9. Having hubby's bank account come out of overdraft, and seeing black instead of red.

8.Paying off the Green Monster, a.k.a. TD Visa.

7. Hubby's Grandmother's 90th birthday party. It's wonderful to know someone who is enjoying their retirement to the max.

6. Driving across Confederation Bridge into Prince Edward Island for the very first time. What a sight!

5. Helping hubby pay off an insane loan that was taken our before we got together. It was a mess, but we paid that sucker off!

4. Watching my RRSP grow to over $1000 that I personally saved.

3. My oldest daughter coming to me with pen and paper in hand and asking, "Mom, can you help me to budget for my new full-time pay?"

2. My youngest Daughter saying, "It's ok, Mom. I can pay for my own video game. I saved up for it."

1. When an unexpected bill came in to the tune of $5500, we took a look at everything financial, and within 5 days, we had the money to pay the bill. Savings took a hit, sure, but we *DID NOT* use credit.

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Some things I would like to put more focus on this year:

~ Buying Canadian made products. I believe in supporting the home economy as much as possible, and the positive trickle down effects it could cause for my neighbours.

~ Regular usage of my crockpot, breadmaker, stand mixer and freezer. Banking meals to reduce our dining out expenses would make a positive change for us.

~ Finding more things for us to do as a family that are free or cost little.

~ Saving, as in not spending. Being able to leave the money in the bank and not have to use it for anything.

~ Decluttering, getting rid of stuff we don't need, maybe selling stuff to increase money in savings.

~ Making our home a more comfortable place to be, by decluttering, and keeping it tidier.

~ Keeping up with business and personal paperwork. This will help me to reduce stress when bills are due.

~ Having a spending plan. I found things went much more smoothly when I knew there was $X avaialble for groceries, gas, fun money. I still overspent, but at least I tried. I did manage to stay within my limits for some categories. =)

~ Making time for myself to read and to write. The idea of a novel has been bouncing around in my brain for years. I'll like to get it out and into my computer to make room for some other stuff.

~ Start up a knitting class in my end of the city. This will take a lot of my time to begin with, but once it's up and runnng, I'm sure things will run more smoothly.