This Week in Review

Good Stuff:

• Gramma getting kids pictures at Mal-Mart yesterday and taking us out for dinner
• Sending direct deposit info for government payments to biz
• Making it to playgroup 4/5 days
• seeing my niece and great-nephew at playgroup
• Finishing another book

Not-So-Good Stuff:

• having sneaky little increases in debt total
• Cub's meltdown at playgroup today
• not paying down more debt than we have
• not sending out business invoices faster
• actually worrying about bills this month

All in all, it's been a good week. I've managed to get a handle on some of the stuff I've been needing to do. I'm slowly working my way through the knitted items needed for the "Made With Love Swap". I'm going to venture into the kitchen today with my daughter to make a recipe I've never tried before.
Hopefully, it'll be a nicer weekend weather wise, and I can make it out for a couple of walks.
Happy Weekend everyone!

The Future Value of $1

I wrote a post a little while ago about saving as much as you spend. At the end of the post, I said that there might be a challenge coming up. I'm thinking May would be a good month for that. In the mean time, I'm working up some rules for myself and my family for this challenge. I think this would be a wonderful way to boost our savings for our Emergency Fund and/or retirement savings.

On strategy that I will be using is the coupon. Say I have a coupon for 50 cents off an item that I would typically buy in the grocery store. When I use this coupon, I save 50 cents off the price of the item, but it is not really 'saved' (yet). I will then log onto my online banking system and transfer that 50 cents (it would have been spent anyway) to either the E-Fund or RRSP account.

This is going to take practice for me. The months of March and April will be practice months for some of the strategies that I want to use for the challenge. I must practice them first, to see if they are actually viable strategies, and to reduce my forgetfulness factor, kwim? :)

Two fifty cents' off coupons equals one dollar for our future.

One dollar may not seem like a lot. Or does it?

I have about 26 years until retirement. $1.00 invested at 8% for 26 years will be worth $7.00.
So for the use of two fifty cent coupons, and a little discipline to transfer the money (and a little luck on getting the 8% interest rate), my dollar will become seven.

I cannot speculate on what my average interest rate will be over 26 years until retirement, but even if it's only 3%, my dollar will be doubled. Imagine if it averages 15%? My dollar will then be worth $37!!

What if I could manage to save (actually put money into savings) $10 per week?
$10 X 52 weeks = $520.00
$520 @ 8% X 25 years = $3,561 ( I put 25 years cuz it'll take me one year to come up with the $520 )

D'you see how a little sacrifice on my part could benefit future me?
Here's to a couple of months practice for our upcoming challenge. Please let me know what you think!
Comments are always appreciated!

What I would like in our Future Home

 These are my expectations of what I would like to have in our future home. I know that is likely going to be several years before we are ready to purchase (if at all), so this is a dreaming type of list. Perhaps in a year or so, I could go over the list again to see if anythings changed at all.

1. Three bedrooms. With an eleven year old, and a three year old, it is imperative that they both have their own bedrooms, as well as one for Hubby and I.
2. Garden space. I cannot imagine living in a home without growing some of my own vegetables at the very least.
3. A two car garage. Not having to brush snow and scrape ice from my vehicle when I need it for work in the winter will be much appreciated. I can live with room for only one vehicle inside, as long the driveway is wide enough for two vehicles to be side by side.
4. A finished basement for a kids playroom and an office area. I hate having the computer in my living room.
5. Storage area in basement, garage or attic. I don't care where, as long as our boxes of seasonal things aren't taking up closet space anymore.
6. An area in the backyard for the barbecue and table and chairs. I like to cook outside and have a place to sit outdoors with my morning coffee.
7. A big bathtub.
8. Not too many stairs. I have trouble with them some days due to my arthritis, which will only worsen as I age.
9. To stay there forever. I never want to have to move again after we purchase our home. so once we decide, that will be where we will live forever.

What do you think? Am I asking for too much?

Sunday Thoughts

In keeping with my idea of writing everyday, I created an account with 750words.com . The idea is to get my brain functioning in the morning, and helping me to get my creative juices flowing. I don't have to worry about what I type in for my words, as no one can see it. Whatever enters my sleep clouded, not yet caffienated brain gets typed out through my keyboard. I've done this only for a couple of days now, but it's all a part of my grandiose plans to make writing every single day a habit. Otherwise, how in the world would I ever find the time to write my stories?

My wee little cherry tomato seedlings have sprouted, and are growing right along well. They haven't yet sprouted their first set of true leaves, but I'm hoping that it will happen this week. I can't wait to plant them in the hanging bag and pot I have waiting for them. Cub will love picking the baby tomatoes from the plant just for something to munch on.

We're heading over to Great-Grandma's house today to celebrate Cub's birthday with B's extended family. Gramma is making pork roast and we will be having a cake as well. I love getting together with his family. Not all of his extended family meet there every week, but at least one part of the family always shows up. I love that everybody in the family pitches in somewhat to assist great-grandma to continue living in her own home at the tender age of 91. They have a rotating list of B's aunts and uncles who provide a supper meal for g.g. at least every other day. It's their own version of Meals On Wheels. Someone from the family comes once a week to clean the house for her, and help with laundry, grocery shopping, and whatever other errands that g.g. has. We should all be so lucky in our golden years.

I had the opportunity to sit and do some knitting and reading yesterday. I started and finished a short book called "Blockade Billy" written by Stephen King. There were actually two short stories in the thin volume, but I'm only going to count it as one book, seeing as it was small. We found this book at a bookstore in Toronto several months ago when we took a evening trip there. It wasn't one that I had in my collection yet, and hadn't even heard of it. It's been difficult keeping up with the books he writes, and harder still to find older books that were published decades ago.

My prized possession in the Stephen King collection is a pop-up book version of "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon". I don't know how many collectors have this version of the story in their collections, but I do know that it is much more rare than I could imagine. Most have never heard the name of the story or have a copy, let alone the pop-up one. Now if I could keep Cub's hands off it, it may be worth something in a hundred years. Lol!

Well, I'm off to get some more knitting done. I'm aiming to have 4 dishcloths done for the Made With Love Swap. Have a happy Sunday!