Wowitsawonderfullife's Personal Finance Blog

I was very surprised to see my tax refund of $908 in my bank account this morning. I transferred most of it to my Visa card, naturally. So my balance is down to $874 - down from over $5K in late December 2011.

I can tell you that I am taking a break in June as soon as this is paid off. Momma needs a new pair of shoes! I've been wearing the same pair for more than 2 years and actually had to duct tape the inside last week. I will likely go out and buy the exact same pair and brand even though they are very expensive. I only have three pairs of shoes - not like it was when I was in my 20's and had purses and shoes in every colour - and matching them as that was the ONLY way to do it at that time.

I can't really express what an amazing sense of relief I feel knowing the Visa will be gone within a few weeks. A huge weight off my shoulders.

I did another taste test today for $20, and had a message when I arrived home that they want me to do another one. My income tax return is $908 - only because my DH had medical expenses that can only be claimed under the lowest household income (c'est moi). This means I need $53.80 to meet my goal of paying off the Visa by the end of May (assuming I get my tax return by then). I have been invited to a garage sale this Saturday. I hope my table makes that much. To that end I am ripping art work off the wall to make my target. It's so much easier when I ask myself if I love it. If I don't - into the garage sale bin. Wish me luck. Visa is currently under $2K. I can't wait to celebrate the payoff on this one.

I'm finally working in the town I live in. It saves me more than $50 per week in gas and parking, not to mention lunches because I am 8 minutes away from my office. Unfortunately I no longer get mileage from my head office to my local office but that strikes me as fair. This means I won't be able to pay off my Visa until the end of June at the earliest. But wait - another door opened. My son accepted a job offer and had to buy a car. He opted for insurance with the same company I use. So when I called to remove him and save a couple bucks they advised me that we are also eligible for a family discount. So I save $60 per month and his insurance has decreased from $155 per month to $117. As a recent grad with two years of intership (one was three years with a summer job each summer in the industry and one year as a co-op year) he had two offers before he wrote his final exams in his last year. I may make that June deadline yet!

Can you share your experiences regarding this survey group? Is it worth it? When is the payout? How soon do they pay after you request your payment? Any other thoughts?

OK, paid off another bit. Down under $2,000. I hope to get it paid off in May. I need to manifest $472.56 so this is gone by end of May. I did an interesting food tasting yesterday for $20. It was really interesting and enjoyable. I'll do it again any time! Otherwise this won't be gone until mid June. Send it up there folks!

Balance now at $2,167. Down from over $5,000 at Christmas. My plan is to have the Visa gone by the end of June 2012. Then I'll take a break and focus on the EF for a bit. Starting in August I'll tackle the line of credit. If all goes according to plan I will have the line of credit paid off in late Spring 2013. Wohoo!

I'll also be calling the bank about the random 1% increase in my interest rate that TD/Canada Trust threw at almost every customer a few months ago. Nice customer service. No reason at all for the increase. I'm getting my new credit cards and lines of credit from another bank due to this type of behavior. Will do some shopping around.

I'm loving the posts of rewards people are getting when signing up for credit cards. But I'm a little confused. My understanding is that every credit card application reduces your credit score and therefore increases your interest you will pay on future cards. Can you share your experiences? I'd like to get in on this gig. Do you notify Equifax when the card is closed and paid in full?

We have a dead tree in our yard. We called 4 companies for quotes. All of the people we called are insured. For the removal of one dead birch tree quotes were $700, $525, $450, and $350. They all agreed to take the wood. I can't figure out why there is such a variation. The least expensive guy was the most professional. Guess who I'm hiring?

Made a few more payments to the Visa bringing it down more than $1,500 since the end of December. Looks like I'll achieve my goal of paying this one off in 2012. It's possible I might be able to pay it off sooner - my job may be moving much closer to my home saving me about $40 a week in gas and another $20 in parking. If it's meant to be it will happen. I am doing a happy dance!

Just paid another $257 to Visa. Down $1,050 so far. I am targeting another $450 in the next three or four weeks. It will be a challenge but I'm up for it. I'd like to see that balance at $3,500 by early March.

It's minus 25 with the wind chill today. No walk but I might hit the stationary bike. Oh, I sound soooo motivated :-)

OK, really, this has been a brutal week or two financially. My son has asked for more money so he can graduate debt free. We have already paid $30K + living expenses for the last three years. And he wants more? We set up a line of credit so he could ride out his last year and accrue a small education debt (less than $10K). Was I ever that naive and feeling a sense of entitlement?

My employer screwed up my pay so I only got paid 10 hours out of 35 and they hoped I didn't mind a late payment for a week or two. Seriously?

Oh, and my brakes (pads and rotors) had to be replace on my new van. I have on 27,000 km on it!

I had to use all of my banked time because I was sick with pneumonia and in the hospital. That sucked another bunch of coin.

And what makes me crabby the most is that I was doing so well on my great Visa payoff plan.

RANT OVER - Thanks for reading.

Another payment to Visa, hope to have it down to less than $4,000 by mid February.

Didn't exercise today but did sleep for 4 hours this afternoon. Must have needed it!

Paid off another $220 to Visa yesterday. I hope to receive a $100 cheque for last week's side job some time this week to add to the Visa powerpayment this coming Friday. I'll update the side bar again next weeking and add in the interest due this month.

I have been asked last minute to make lunch for 20 teenagers. I figure 30 sandwiches and a vegetable platter should do it. Is that enough? I have several cans of tuna so that will make perhaps 8 sandwiches. I also have a few vegetarians in the group. Chicken and cheese are expensive where I live. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Well, the potential for a big Visa payment this Friday is there. I'm waiting on a $100 payment on a side job and another $119 for expenses from work. I'll also add $100 from my pay cheque. Oh, it sounds sweet. Will update on the weekend!

Wow, my son paid me back the $70 he owed me and therefore another payment to Visa today. Had a great walk at lunch - it's unseasonally warm - so did my exercise today. And because I've been motivating by all the bloggers who cook once and eat twice I made a pork and rice and veg concoction for dinner. Should be more than enough for dinner and a third meal for my lunch at work tomorrow. I hope it turns out ok. Will update my sidebar shortly.

Did 3 solid hours of decluttering a warehouse today and consider that to be my activity today. Yes, the heart rate went up for quite some time. Also made a payment to Visa in the amount of $60. Good to see some movement getting rid of that debt. So far I've paid off $130 since I started 9 days ago.

Not often that I have what I consider a perfect day. I'm off on a days vacation after doing too much over the holidays. Today I slept in, exercised, picked up a few groceries for the next few days and used two $1 off coupons. I found 66 cents at the grocery store. I just picked up a retro gaming system for my son on Freecycle and he is thrilled! I also posted a few items to give away on Freecycle. Someone just picked up a couple dozen VHS movies. I'm cleaning the fridge and have $36.00 put aside to pay against the Visa card. $20 was from DH's wallet, $10 was from returns, and the balance was from the change jar up north.

Beautiful sunny day, minus 18C with the windchill (you don't need to convert it to Farenheit - just know it's really, really cold!).

I missed 2 days of exercise getting over what I thought was bronchitis but turned out to be pneumonia. Felling better now thanks to drugs - and lots of them.

Hope to get the Christmas tree out soon.

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading all of the blogs here today. I had to catch up on three days worth. You are all so motivating. I am so fortunate to have SA as part of my life.

Truly an abundant day!

Made my first payment to Visa in the amount of $70. This was comprised of $50 paid back to me for a gift I bought on someone's behalf, $15 in returns, and $5 from my spare change. Will update my side bar randomly. Two days of activity so far! Hope to do something active by end of day today. Keep moving.

I have only two goal so far for 2012. The first is to pay off my Visa which as built up to $5,014 mostly as a result of low pay until August of 2011 when I was given a much better paying long term contract. When Visa advised me that my interest was being increased to 9.95% - an increase of 2.05%, I immediately called and cancelled the card. I may move the Visa debt to our LOC to save the interest and I am loathe to pay anything more to CC companies than I have to. On the other hand I won't be as motivated to pay off this debt if the rate is lower. I know my personal financial failings and this is definitely one of them. But if that Visa bill is staring me in the face every month it will push me to pour every cent into it.

My other goal is to start moving. I can sit and read and work forever. It's time to get this body active!

I will post on my progress and I wish all of you a very wonderful, prosperous, and healthy 2012. Your ongoing support during 2011 was like a breath of fresh air.

Happy Spring!

Thanks to everyone for your support on my sister's new liver. It's working and she will be out of the hospital soon I hope. Special thanks to those of you who signed your organ donation cards after my posts.

On another note, has anyone used Turbo tax to file? I've been paying an accountant for the last several years and I'm thinking maybe I should do my taxes myself. Do these software packages make it easy if I have a) a dependent family member who gets a disability tax credit, and 2) a student with education deductions? Let me know your thoughts. I have last years forms from my accountant that I can follow as a secondary check to make sure I'm in line with previous returns.

hello everyone

We had a new liver implanted Monday morning at 6:30 am. By 11:00 am it was clear it was working. Her colour was much better. Today all the results show improvement and she is being moved out of ICU as soon as a bed is ready. This is a day early. Thank you all for your support. So, have an emergency fund, have a power of attorney, and sign your donor card. You guys are the best. Thanks for all of your support!

We got one!

Thank you all for your support in my quest for a liver for my sister. We're still waiting. She's been sent to ICU and is on life support. It's very strange waiting for someone to die so my sister can live. This is so bizarre. Sign your donor card today. And since some people were asking, we have full medical coverage in Canada so we don't have to pay for anything related to her hospital stay. When a liver is found somewhere in Canada a specialist and their team charter a plane and fly out to look at it. If it's a match it is harvested and flown back to my sister's hospital and then transplated. My sister's liver is "mush" according to here specialist so there is no way for it to recover. That's it for now. Hopefully my next post will be to say she's in recovery! Imagine, 56 years old and in perfect health until last Wednesday. Strange indeed.

Hello Folks. It's been a while. I'm blogging from a lounge at a hospital in the transplant unit. My very healthy sister who was out cross country skiing last Tuesday (10 days ago) is now waiting for a liver. Seems her liver has something wrong with it and it's been destroyed. So if anyone has a spare liver, type A blood, I'll buy it! After all, I do have an emergency fund thanks to everyone's support on this site :-)
But seriously, we've ruled out any likely disease (hep, aids, cancer, cirrosis) and they can't figure it out at all. Apparently this is not all that uncommon for a liver to shut down and no reason can be found. Hug your loved ones right now. And let me know about that spare liver you have hanging around.

An interesting year financially. The good news includes my DH paying down his line of credit by $11,000. I secured a temp job that I love but I am losing money commuting and paying for parking. But I have been told I'll be hired permanently in January. Woohoo - pension plan! I did build up an emergency fund of $2,000 but had to spend it on emergencies (new brakes/calipers and other stuff). But I've started to build it again.

And in other news, today I took delivery of a 2010 van - NEW. A few months ago I blogged that the van I had was sticking with me for another few years. But I found out about a few problems that would set me back $2,500. So once my loan equalled the trade-in value I took a look in the flyers for something used. The fact is that now that the dealers want their lots cleared for the 2011 inventory. The deals were amazing. I bought a 2010 Dodge Caravan, with my $1,500 trade in for $16,809.00. This is totally crazy. The retail on this puppy is $27,445. I received $11,100 on rebates. So rather than spend money on fixing my old van I took the leap.

In other news my credit score is 824 (Equifax). This thrills me!!! No wonder I keep getting credit card offers in the mail.

I think 2011 will be much more prosperous. I am looking forward to a real salary so I can pay off the Visa I have been relying on to supplement my crappy temp salary.

Thank you all for your support this year. I love this place! I wish all of you a healthy, happy, and prosperous 2011.

Hello Folks,

Homebody was asking about my absence and thought I'd fill you in. I was hired by a large company for a 6 month contract. Horrible pay - I'm actually losing money working there because of the commute and parking - but I absolutely love what I am doing. My contract has been renewed and I've been asked to join permanently in January at a more realistic salary. I can't get over what a difference a great job makes in my life. And I am totally opposed to defining my life happiness by my job so I have to work on balance. That being said, it's a sweet feeling getting up in the morning and wishing the commute was shorter because I just can't wait to get at it.

On the financial side it really cuts me deeply that I am going into debt working. The alternative is no income so I have to consider that whole issue. I continue to pay down the Visa, altho very slowly. I am optimistic that my financial life will change for the better in January.

I'm keeping it frugal for now. I decided to keep my 2002 van which I love. It's looking a little worn with rust. I've invested in new to me tires with lots of life left in them. Sorta like me. I'm approaching 50 and seeing a bit of wear but I've got lots of life left in me too!

Hope this note finds you all well. I lurk when I can. Miss you all and will try to update more frequently. I'll edit the sidebar sometime soon.

Well, I maxed out our emergency fund just as an emergency (sort of) came up. We were on vacation and the temperature was 45 degrees with the humidex - about 105 degrees farenheit. After three days of not sleeping I finally gave in and bought a $200 air conditioner which I purchased from the EF. There's a saying... if Momma ain't happy ain't nobody happy. So it really was a small emergency. In the last month I've paid off $600 on my credit card bringing it down below $4K. So should I now focus any extra cash on bring up the EF back to my target or should I keep pushing the extra cash onto the credit card? I've never had an emergency fund before and am not sure what to do. Help!

Finally, EF's are fully funded. Putting the new car fund and Christmas fund on hold and working on paying off the darned Visa card that continues to climb due to school trips that were booked in September of last year. Car will be paid off in June of 2011. Good thing since it's a 2002 Dodge Sports and is rusting badly. I'll need new tires soon. One blew out at midnight on Friday on a country road. Managed to have it replaced for $85 including the tow. Thank gawd for CAA (Canada's AAA). I wonder if I can pay off the Visa by the end of 2010? Now that's a great goal!

First day back tomorrow. I have my updated financial goals: paying off Visa and to max out my EF for the second property (see side bar for details). Ready, set, go!