Hi,
I have kinda slid under the rug for a long time now. I would love to say that I am rolling in money since my $850 every 2 weeks could go elsewhere...
Well here's the deal:
I'm working half time. No overtime, no marathon stretches. That equals no extra money!
I stopped my monthly contributions to RRSP's and TFSA's in June. I will be able to max out the rrsp's this year again with my savings. The TFSA's will take a back seat for a bit.
We went on a fabulous vacation last June for a week. We went on a fabulous vacation for a week last month. We are going away for 4 days now, and have 2 other long weekends booked.
My kids 1 and 2 are doing their own thing. Not cool to travel with us! Kid 2 did a 6 week tropical "volunteer work" placement. Kid 1 prefers sporting event weekends.
As it turns out I prefer to lay under a big umbrella beside the ocean, reading a great book and drinking tequila's! The DH likes to golf and kid 3 likes to snorkel!
Winners all around!!
That is where the mortgage money is going... Self / family investment. We already know that the hot holiday next January will be TWO weeks instead of 1.
Our bills are the same as 4 years ago, except for groceries! Our monthly is about $700-800 and that is nothing fancy and almost always only 3 of us eating!
We did buy a new vehicle, but I don't make the payments, so I don't count it as debt. The income remains separate for the dh and I and with the help of Gail Vaz Oxlade's blog we do a percentage payment of bills. (And I pay for any costs for my older 2 kids. Which is not too bad as they both work and go to school.)
The peace and freedom from not having $1700+ a month payments is as good as I hoped. The money is not in abundance, but I'm not working like a madwoman either. It's a great trade off!
The Good Things:
Great new boss
Part time hours
Vacations
Things that Suck:
I really need a diet and exercise program
Lack of health and energy for above
