A tale of our family trying to dig out

February was a good month :)

2011-02-26T19:55:00.000-08:00

I said before that we know just how fortunate we are to have friends who were willing to help us. We're so very lucky.

We made it through Christmas - it was hard and I wasn't sure how we'd do it, but we did. We spent about $1300 on gifts which, for us, was on the low side, but apparently it's more than the average Canadian family spends. Go figure.

We had a good month this month. I worked quite a bit of overtime at double time, so I took home about $800 extra, plus I got a $1300 bonus.

Our rent is paid for the month, but we are three weeks behind. Our landlord doesn't mind, and he always says that we are such good tenants. I really want to catch up, though. I should be able to do that in May.
We do have one payday loan, and we pay about $120 in interest each month. I'm counting on April to get rid of that.
Our hydro is up-to-date
Our gas is behind, but in March we should be caught up
Our car is up-to-date
Our insurance is up-to-date
Our furniture loan is up-to-date and paid off in only four months!!
We have had gas in the car and groceries in the cupboards
I started my e-fund again. It had been depleted and, although I'm only putting in 1% of my net pay, it's a small start.
I bought new contacts and paid for them in full
We got an oil change and took and passed our emissions test
We paid a parking ticket and paid for our car renewal

I am contributing very little to savings right now, however. I am putting $15 biweekly into RRSP, and I just signed up for the employee share program at 4% of my net pay (about $50 biweekly). My company will contribute 25% of my contributions in year one, 33% in year two, and 50% thereafter. My plan will be to convert the shares to RRSP each year.

M is back to work, too, and although she doesn't contribute to RRSP yet, she just signed up for the employee share program at 2% of her net pay, so about $18 biweekly.

Oh, I also opened savings bonds. I have $50 biweekly for me, and $25 biweekly for each of the kids. The kids' can be used toward education and back-to-school time. Ours can be for Christmas next year, or for emergencies if needed. The money collects interest immediately and can be withdrawn without penalty at any time. I have over $400 in there right now, just in case.

My plan for the near future:

Ensure rent is paid before the first of the month
Get rid of that last payday loan
Pay off the furniture loan
Increase e-fund
Get M contributing to RRSP
Get the dog vaccinated and fixed

I'll be back. :)

After typing all of this out, I realize that perhaps February wasn't as productive as I had thought, but at least it felt better. I never wondered where we would get our next tank of gas or our next meal.

Fresh start

2010-10-20T12:45:00.000-07:00

I was really disappointed with how things were going financially. We got ourselves into a lot of trouble with payday loans, and I wanted to get rid of them by myself so I could proudly say that we did what we had to do. Unfortunately, it didn't happen that way.

We were buried in payday loans. The amount coming out of our account on payday was more than what was going in. We were behind in everything, and we felt like we were drowning. We were upset all the time and we didn't see a way out.

We finally asked friends for help. They were upset that we didn't come to them sooner, and they wrote us a cheque for $2700. We will pay back $225/mth starting in January and we'll have it paid in one year. No interest. We're very fortunate.

With this money were were able to get caught up on our bills and pay off our payday loans. This is where we stand now:

We are still one month behind on rent. We'll get caught up by mid-November. I hate this.
Our hydro is paid in full
Our gas is paid in full
Our phone / internet / wireless is paid in full
The kids' school fees are paid in full
Our furniture loan is paid in full
Our car is paid in full
Our insurance is up-to-date

We have a plan and we're working toward our goals. We are so thankful to have received a "bail out package" but we're disappointed it came to that. We understand just how lucky we are.

Going forward, we have to stick to our budget but it'll be really hard because Christmas is two months away and we have no plan and two kids to buy for. It's always a stressful time, and we don't want to "fall off the wagon." We also have to get our rent paid before our landlord decides he's had enough.

I'm hopeful. I'm scared to fail again.

Still not doing it :(

2010-04-28T07:50:00.000-07:00

So we still don't have a handle on anything financially. M has been off work sick for more than a year. Although she's getting paid, it's less than she was getting paid before. We're still squandering more money than we should, and therefore we're not paying everything we need to pay.

Currently we're one month behind on rent, which is $1312
We're up-to-date with our $422.47 car, but it'll be tough to make the next payment
We're up-to-date with car and house insurance
We're up-to-date with gas
We're owe about $200 to hydro
We have $900 in payday loans which is killing us because we can't afford to pay them off without reloaning :(
Our phone / cable / internet / wireless is about $370 behind
I have no idea how we're paying for gas and groceries for the next month

This all really sucks. I thought that for sure by now we'd be well on our way. I thought wrong.

It's been a while . . .

2009-03-02T19:43:00.000-08:00

It's been way too long since I've last posted an update. We're doing OK financially, but we are having a hard time withdrawing the cash and filling the jars. We were doing well, but I had a death in the family and we had to combine all of the jars to allow us to go to the funeral. This meant we had to play "catch up" the next week. That's the story of our lives.

We did have some successes, though. Our car payments have been made on time in full every month, as has our insurance. That big cable bill, which was once just over $1000 is paid in full. In fact, it's been paid in full before the due date for the past 2 months. Our hydro bill, which was nearly $500, is now $269.85. K's daycare is up to date. J had a field trip which, besides paying for, we were able to donate a few dollars to help subsidize someone else's trip. Our cell phone / home phone account is paid in full on time each month.

Right now it is March 2 and we get paid March 6. We have to pay all of March's rent out of that pay because we spent too much last week. :( We also have a $50 camp down payment cheque and a $14 field trip cheque out.

Oh! We have $80 in savings! That's new!

We're currently paying $80 biweekly in interest on payday loans. I want to get rid of those so badly.

The good news is both of us got a raise. M's raise is 2% and mine is 5% and it started yesterday. Apparently we're getting another bump in salary on April 1 as our workplace hasn't raised starting salaries in 8 years and they're doing so now, but also increasing everyone else's as well. I have no idea what to expect for that one.

On Friday I'll be filling the jars. My biggest goal is to stick with them.

Finally, we break out the jars!!!

2008-10-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, so yesterday was payday. We had agreed that on payday we were not going to spend any money using our bank card. Instead, we were going to take out all of our cash and use the "magic jars."

We paid:

$76 to hyrdo

$85 to cable

$100 to home phone / cell phone

$118 to Mom's Mastercard for our purchases

$105 to payday loans (I thought it would only be $90, but I was wrong)

In the bank and ready to go we have:

$26 for school pictures

$70 for afterschool care

$424.42 for our car payment

$100 for insurance

$415 for 1/2 of our rent for November 1st. This is new . . . part of the rent payment before it's due? Wow!!

We have our jars filled and ready to go. Groceries, Transportation, Clothing / Gifts, Entertainment, Everything Else.

I'm so excited. What a great feeling to have money for stuff not only for this week, but for next week, too.

We were even short money. I had 3 days off unpaid, and besides that there was an error on my cheque and I'm about $50 short. I'll get it added to the next pay, though.

Things are looking up!

A step in the right direction (m)

2008-10-18T10:57:00.000-07:00

October 3rd was payday, and although we didn't stick to our budget, we did pay of $100 toward our $400 payday loans. This means that instead of paying $120 biweekly in interest, we'll now be paying $90.

We didn't stick to our budget because before payday we had charged almost $400 in stuff (gas and groceries mostly) to my mother's Mastercard, so we had to pay back that $400 and it wasn't in the budget. We did pay our rent in full on time by cheque, and it didn't bounce! We got an oil change, and we paid for K's field trip and her afterschool care. Unfortunately, we did eat out twice at a sit-down restaurant and a few times for fast food. :(

Success?

2008-09-25T10:32:00.000-07:00

It's been a while! We had been falling off track before even having the opportunity to get on track. However, on Friday we had some success!! As it turned out, I did get more money on my paycheck than I had anticipated. Let me tell you what we paid . . .

We've paid off the rest of September's rent ($415)
We've paid our car payment on time and in full ($422.47)
We've paid our insurance on time and in full ($95.89)
We've paid K's child care up to date ($98)
We've paid off 42.5% of our cable / internet bill ($400 of $941.01 - and this was the first payment we've ever made on this bill, and the service has been active since May. We've also made arrangements to have it paid in full by October 3.
We've paid off about 1/3 of our hydro bill ($100 paid, $241.98 owing). Again, this is the 1st payment we've made since activating the service in May.
We've paid $200 to our wireless / home phone bill. We still owe $152.
We've paid back what we've borrowed on my mom's credit card this month ($72.89).
We've purchased tickets to an event that we're allowing ourselves to splurge on, but it doubles as J's birthday gift ($121.92).
We've bought groceries and gas as well.
We've paid $120 in interest on a $400 loan that was taken out from a cash advance store a few months ago - ridiculous, I know, but I'm proud that it didn't bounce.

I'm really happy with what we've done. Yes, we did squander money and therefore did not have the correct amount in our jars, nor did we write down what we spent in a "budget binder." I am happy with how it all went down, though. Right now we have $70 in cash and each back account has enough for the end of the month's banking fees so there will be no overdraft fees. Not a perfect success, but a success none the less.

A bump in the road

2008-08-23T14:30:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling quite discouraged today. I had all these plans to start the real, new and improved budget on September 5 - I figured that day would be easiest because it is my payday (2 weeks) and M's first pay (3 weeks) so we'd have extra money. It turns out she got paid this Friday for her first pay for 1 week, so on Sept 5 she'll have a regular 2 week pay. Well, I thought that would mean we could start our budget 2 weeks early because I wasn't counting on her having money in her account this week. As it turns out, she got paid just over $500 but her account was overdrawn $180, so she only got just over $300 dollars. Then, a car payment for the car that she voluntarily repossessed came out of the account, leaving her overdrawn by $12! So now we're in the same boat as we were this time last week (her account is overdrawn) but now we're going to have a full week's pay less next week.

I'm not sure how to fix this. Back to the drawing board. Wish me luck.

We're getting there!!

2008-08-20T06:49:00.001-07:00

I was able to make a balanced budget, complete with the right amount of money for the jars. It's funny, we're going to be spending so much less, but we'll have so much more. How does that work? Well, before, sometimes an entire pay cheque would go no where, but now we'll have groceries on a regular basis, gas money always at hand, it's gonna be wild!

Tomorrow is pay day (just me, M's first pay isn't until Sept 5) and today I got child tax credit. With that money we're making last month's car payment, this month's car payment, our insurance, K's after school fees (we have to pay in advance), gas, and the kids' allowance.

September 5 is the day!!! On that day we'll be paying rent, but also making a payment on our $750 cable bill, we'll be putting a bit of money in savings, and doing the jars. This is how it will go:

We should have 35% of our income going to housing, but we actually only have 21.88%
We should have 15% of our income going toward transportation, but we actually have 24.78%. Ouch. Our 30% interest on our car is really hurting us! Not to mention the price of gas!
We should have 25% of our income for life. We have 32.75%. We do have a large internet and cable package, 3 cell phones, child care, pets, and active kids. If we can trim that we will, but right now I'm not sure where to start cutting.
We should have 15% of our income for debt reduction, but we only have 7.06%.
We should have 10% of our income for savings, but we only have 5.88%.

It's a start. For the first time, I totally see us coming out laughing.

Also, when M started this job, we figured she'd hate it and just stay there until she found something else. So far she loves it, though! That's great, because there's a real potential to make $$. She's starting at $29k which is what I started at exactly 1 year ago. Now I'm up to 33k. Not to mention commission and quarterly bonuses. Booyeah!

2nd day in a row - NO TAKE-OUT!!!

2008-08-14T21:04:00.000-07:00

We did it!! We ate 3 meals at home today! We did spend money, though. We went to Wal-mart and put a layaway on for Xmas. We bought milk and kitty litter, too. Then we went to the grocery store and spent $15 on food - convenience food, but food no less. I am happy with the way things turned out. M will be getting a cheque for around $100 tomorrow and we'll be putting that money away because we have to pay K's school fees on the 21st.

I used Gail's interactive budget worksheet today to get an idea of what we'll need to put into our jars. M and I will sit down tomorrow and tweak the numbers to suit us, but it's crazy to think that we'll be paying bills on time, paying off debt, AND building a savings account!

Tomorrow is week 2 of the kids' allowances, too. K suggested a family meeting each Friday to discuss how they did with their money, so I'm looking forward to finding out what they think about how they did. K is a spender, but she's always very generous with her money. This week she spent all of her allowance (on herself for a change!) and the $5 my cousin gave her. J hates to spend money, but when he does he spends it all on himself. He has $16. He spent some of his allowance, my cousin gave him $5 and he had some money left over from the grandparents. He was looking to buy cheap pants and asked that we take him to Value Village tomorrow. :)

No take-out!

2008-08-14T09:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we did NOT have take-out! We almost did, but we didn't and I feel so good about it! At lunch time I suggested it (WHY do I do that?) and M said instead of having lunch out we should eat at home and pick something up for supper. We ended up at a friend's for supper, though. So like I said, we almost did, but we didn't. :)

We did spend some money, however. We went to Wal-mart to buy a heating pad, but ended up with the heating pad, a case of coke that was on sale, 2 drinks, and garbage bags. Then we stopped at the grocery store to pick up a lunch for me for work, and besides the lunch we got cinnamon buns, cookies, a package of gum and a bottle of water.

I hope to write tonight that we ate all of our meals at home. We did have breakfast at home, and we're having lunch at home now.

A light at the end of the tunnel

2008-08-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

She got the jo-ob! She got the jo-ob! She got the job!! She starts on Monday and will be making $29,684 / yr. Her 1st paycheque will be on Sept 5 and it'll be a 3 week cheque. I can actually see how we'll be able to balance a budget now - not only rent, groceries, gas, childcare, insurance, car, hydro, cable, internet, phone, cell phone, but also savings and debt repayment. That's my job for tomorrow - budget. I'm so excited!

Today we went out to eat again - fast food this time. $27, plus we went out for ice cream (K's was free, J didn't want any, so just M&I. We spent $7 and change on the ice cream. We also went to Value Village to buy rain gear for J because he's going away to camp on Sunday. We spent $29 on a rain jacket (brand new, with tags), pants, and boots. And we bought one small thing for the home.

Day Two

2008-08-11T18:52:00.000-07:00

We went out to eat today (bad, bad, bad!) but we only (only??) spent $62 and we have enough food left over for lunch and supper tomorrow. After dinner we went to the dollar store. We bought a notebook for each of the kids to track their finances and they each took the time to write down how much their allowance was, and they wrote down each purchase. I'm really excited, because I think that when they are adults they'll have a clue. Growing up my family didn't teach me anything about money. They had no savings. They didn't budget for anything. I want things to be different for J & K.

M & I also bought two piggy banks which can't be opened. One is for quarters, one is for toonies and loonies. At the end of the night we put our change in the banks. :) I think it's a great start!

M has her final interview tomorrow!! I know she's going to get the job. As I said earlier, it's not a job she will be keeping, but she will stay there until she finds something she actually likes. In the meantime I'm planning what we'll be doing with the extra money. As I said earlier, we're behind on our car payment, so it's going to hurt us to have to pay two car payments this month. Luckily, M will be getting a 3 week paycheque on Sept 5 so if we can hold off our landlord until Sept 5, the extra car payment shouldn't hurt us too badly.

In September we'll be adding an expense - K's after school care. It's going to be around $140 / mth. Pretty good, considering they run until 6:00.

I'm a little stressed about school supplies and school clothes, though. We'll have to get the school supplies on my next pay (the 22nd), and on Oct 1 when I get the $975 child assistance we'll use it for the kids' clothes.

I'm so looking forward to the time in our lives when we'll have money in the bank.

The start of our new life

2008-08-10T15:05:00.000-07:00

Okay so the whole point to this blog is so my family can track its progress as we move from financially shitty to a place where we have money in the bank, bills paid, and are able to use our bank card without holding our breath in anticipation of the dreaded "no funds available" message.

We are a family of four with one income right now (mine). I make $33,000 / yr. M is currently unemployed and looking for work. She may be starting a job this Monday, but it will be temporary, but with a decent pay. She should be making around $30,000 / yr. In addition to our income, we receive $425/mth in child tax credit, $975 / quarter in child assistance, and $180 / quarter in GST. I should be losing that GST soon, though, because my student loan is moving into the government's collections, which means I'll also be losing my income tax refunds. M currently does not get GST or income tax refunds because her student loan is with government collections.

J is 12 and therefore doesn't contribute, but he does take a weekly $12 allowance. K is 9, and her allowance is $9. J & K are getting their first allowance today. We usually don't give them one, but we've been watching A LOT of Til Debt Do Us Part and Gail says allowance should be $1 per year of life, but it is so high because they are expected to buy a lot for themselves. We'll cover the necessities (groceries, after school care, etc) but they cover the rest. When we buy their school supplies, if they lose things or run out of things, they'll cover it since what we buy them is supposed to do them for the school year.

We currently have about $300 in my account, and M's is overdrawn by $180 (and we don't have overdraft). We are up to date with rent and our car insurance and for the summer we have no child care expenses. We owe over $600 to our cable / internet provider. Our cell phones and home phone are up to date, although they are paid late every month (just before a new bill is due, we pay the old off). Our Hydro is sitting at about $300 owing (haven't made one payment, been in this house since May). Our car payment is behind (new car, payment is $423, 1st payment was due on July 20th but it's still not made yet. M has about $10,000 in student loans and about another $10,000 in consumer debt. I owe around $30,000 in student loans and around $1000 in consumer debt. I also owe my mother $800 (have paid $200 toward the original $1000 debt) and my cousin $700 (have paid $1000 toward the $1700 debt). I borrowed $400 in payday loans a few weeks ago and have since paid $300 in interest toward that but have yet to pay them off. I pay $120 biweekly in interest. I have completed a bankruptcy in 2006.

We live beyond our means, especially regarding take-out. When I reviewed bank statements from the past 6 mths, we average over $800 / month in take-out. Over the past year we have lived rent free for 2 months, borrowed 2 mths rent from my cousin (see debt above), had a charity pay two months, and the rest we paid ourselves. That's ridiculous, and we know it. We are trying so hard to get off the take-out, but when we get upset about money, we "treat" ourselves. We go to the movies occasionally, but we've cut back a lot. Our house doesn't have nice furniture or expensive electronics. We bought our computer outright with my last income tax refund. We have no credit card currently.

I'll be posting on a very regular basis, and will not hold back any financial information. If I try to sugar-coat it, I won't get ahead.

We're trying to move to a cash-only system as seen on Til Debt Do Us Part. That starts with my next pay, which is on the 22nd. Wish us luck!