Comments on: Where Does Our Money Go?

By: Catherine

Catherine — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 16:57:45 +0000

@Jennifer – enjoyed all your posts on this beautiful sunny, Sunday. Thanks for the memories!
Our son had a hollow leg too as a teen. And, as a younger child when his tummy was full, his dessert compartment was always empty. His friends were bottomless pits as well. One BBQ party he had one of his friends who had just done several hours of chores in the barn ate 8 hamburgers with all the fixings (and my homemade burgers are HUGE), as well as lots of potato salad, coleslaw, crudites, and dessert. It’s a story we haul out and laugh about at least once a year.
Your descriptions sound like our house. Always homemade everything and lots of it. Your son will slow down in his early 20’s. He’s a growing boy and is lucky to have you and your hubby. My only advice is to enjoy him…before he journey’s off on his own.
Your sister’s wedding sounded beautiful and I’m sure it’s something you all will remember forever. Well done!
@Mary – I’ll check out more of my recipes. Right now I’m trying to do sourdough bread starter – I’ll let you know if it works!

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 03:22:23 +0000

To all those with teenaged boys – do they return to normal eating at some point? Our son just turned 15 and I swear if I step on his foot his mouth opens like a garbage can and we just scrape the food in. I’m not sure he even chews at this point. To keep the groceries somewhat under control we prepare all our meals, we all pack lunches, we meal plan and shop the sales. We bulk cook and freeze. I’ve never been a big user of coupons as they usually seem to be for drugstore products or prepared things we don’t use.

On the savings side, on top of all the other prunning of our spending we’d put in place over several years, I began working from home this past winter. My husband’s 1997 vehicle finally decided to retired itself so he began driving mine and I worked from home. He carefully researched and shopped around and in May he finally replace his truck with a new(er) 2004 model. I decided to continue working from home. I save $40/wk on gas and have cut out the twice a day trip down to the lobby of my building for a Timmies coffee. Those two things alone save us over $200/month. I also find if I’m not commuting to work I don’t stop to do errands on the way home and give myself the temptation to make impulse purchases. My husband and I set off early every Saturday morning to gas up the truck, get our 1 Timmies of the week, do the groceries and take the scenic route home. It’s not a romantic date for sure, but we look forward to some quiet time together without the kids.
We’ve haven’t had cable since 1993 when we built our house beyond the reach of cable. We could never justify the cost of satelite so we make do with what comes in off the airwaves, which still keeps us on the couch too much.
We both make good salaries so to some people our frugal living is completely unecessary. Our kids are still using a Nintendo 64 (remember the 90’s?) I forget Gails word for it, but we are constantly skipping things we could buy, but choose not to because it’s unecessary or we’d just rather do something else. By paring down everything we can we live on 50% of our take home pay, and the rest is allocated to travel, saving(retirement), knocking down the mortgage and the things we don’t budget specifically for because they are small and unscheduled (haircuts, 1 meal out every month or so). By really examining our expenses this past year we’ve freed up that 50% which we can aim at whatever needs attention (maxing out the RRSPs before the deadline, saving up for 6 months for that replacement truck). This year we had the truck purchase so our summer vacation was camping for 10 days. The summer of 2008 we spent a month in Europe with the kids and plan to take another long trip next summer if all goes according to plan. We are now in a good place where we feel we’ve got all the bases covered, we’re saving and taking care of retirement but still enjoying the present. It’s taken a while, and we’ve certainly made mistakes along the way. I can’t believe the dumb things we spent money on in our 20s. I try not to beat myself up over it but when think of where we’d be now if we’d put even half that wasted money into our RRSPs 20 years ago, it just gives me a headache.

A year ago we got a new Aeroplan VISA and cancelled our old VISA. I do carry a $20 bill in my wallet just in case I have to make a cash purchase, but rarely have any occasion to spend it. Sorry Gail, we don’t do the cash thing. Instead I micromanage every penny on my Excel spreadsheet, but absolutely everything goes on the VISA which gets us Aeroplan miles. We’ll all be flying to Europe again next summer on points. I pay off the balance every WEEK and have never paid a cent of interest. It’s not really a credit card to us, just a convenience card with a points benefit.

My To Do List for the next 3 months includes: investigate car/house insurance quotes prior to our annual renewal in November; complete the last half of the Christmas shopping by Halloween (all cash, and under budget); investigate adding voice mail to cell package and dropping land line; review online “frugal recipe” sites for cost effective cooking ideas for winter soups and stews; research/save/buy new bedroom furniture for 6′ tall son still using the same bed and furniture since he was 2…

By: Risa

Risa — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:41:24 +0000

Our expenses have increased in ways many others have mentioned: groceries, cable/phone/internet, insurance (why, as our vehicles age, are our premiums creeping up?) Add in two growing boys, one with some health challenges (asthma, allergies, severe eczema) and a hubby who started his own business–meaning we were paying our own health care premiums and/or paying out of pocket–and the biggest change is what we spend on medical. Hubby and I both need glasses / contacts, the boys don’t yet but likely will, dental expenses for a 4 of us are nuts (and not fully covered by our insurance), and my youngest sons health challenges were largely uncovered. His allergies also required some changes in diet, which affected our grocery budget. Took the older to the orthodontist for the first time a couple months ago, and we are now putting a little aside each month to pay for future work he needs there too. I’d love to now how families on the show function with the low amounts allotted to the “Other jar”, which includes medical: when I did our budget, our “Other jar” was $195/week!

By: Liz

Liz — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 01:46:02 +0000

This past year has been a time of great change for our family. Last July we welcomed our first child. My husband left his job to be a stay at home dad upon my return to work and we made the much-needed move of moving into our own apartment having lived with my inlaws for the first few months of parenthood (Mat leave is helpful but certainly not sustaining!). Now on one income (and living in a rural-ish area where a second car would be essential should my hubby decide to return to work…add a second car,insurance, gas and DAYCARE costs) we have for the first time taken a real ‘eyes open’ look at our debt and goals. We’ve tallied up the figures in red and made a plan of attack but it seems our grocery store is working against our efforts as the staples have gone through the roof!!

Also, as a first time mom and unfortunately not breastfeeding I was SHOCKED at the price of infant formula…last summer when we started the wee one the cheapest brand we could find (but with Omegas) it was $24.99/12 can case. The same case of formula jumped to $27.99/case in February and then $30.99/case in May.

This year we have also seen an increase of car insurance ($8/mo) although this is certainly countered by the low interest rate on our floating rate car loan so that has helped with the overall balance of things.

Vet bills have been higher than ever before…but we were very lucky by finding a vet that focuses her practice on cattle and horses (cha ching) which allows for almost ’subsidized’ rates for her limited household pet clients (rounds out her bookings)…we pay almost half the prices of other vets in the area.

On an aside…I have to say thanks to you Gail for your comments and diehard support of the concept of an emergency fund…I’ve always been of the mindset that I must slap every dollar down on debt but feel so vulnerable not having a ’safety net’ or buffer and it never feels like I’m really making progress.

I’ve realized that with only a little tweaking to what we thought was a pretty tight budget (meaning more from-scratch lunches and fewer timmie’s coffees, cutting the cable we never watch and cutting back our entertainment fund a little) we should have our 3 months salary saved over the course of the next year and while still attacking our debts fairly aggressively (oh that pesky never-ending student loan!!). And as I’m due a raise next spring, perhaps we can accelerate that timeline!

Thanks again!

By: Michelle

Michelle — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:43:58 +0000

I won’t post about the grocery bills because, quite frankly, I’m embarrassed by how much I’ve been spending and honestly can’t seem to reduce it. Outside of throwing away a melon that sat at the back of the fridge cause I was too tired to slice it when I got home, our garbage has decreased because we’re trying to be more conscious of our intake-output.
What did increase this month was my insurance renewals though. Apparently I was lucky with my increases of $22 for car and $88 for home insurance. Some people are way above that. My broker says it’s because during the recession claims can go up, building costs are up, and the insurance co’s aren’t making money from investments now so we get to foot the bill. Nice. Ah well, learning to reign in my spending this year has been fun, frustrating, and always a lesson learned every month. So far 5 debtors are completed, only 4 to go and two of them will be done next month!

By: Freckles

Freckles — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 04:04:04 +0000

Ms. Dog

I have to concur with Maureen regarding why Canadians identify their nationality. As others have said, it’s not meant to be an insult against Americans, and not an overwhelmingly show of patriotism by us Canadians … but there is an undeniable shift in attitudes from other nationalities once they know someone is Canadian as opposed to American. Whether it’s warranted or not is probably an unanswerable question, one we probably don’t want to get into here.

My experience in the past 10 years of working and travelling internationally is that most people assume that I’m American because of the closeness of our accents (distinguishable to us but not so much to others abroad). Upon finding out I’m Canadian I can definitely feel people let their guards down, trust level increases, they open themselves up more. And then inevitably you start to receive questions about immigrating to Canada!

P.S. I even know some Americans who have sewed Canadian flags onto their own gear to benefit from this phenomenon. Try it next time you travel – you’ll see what we’re talking about!

By: Lana

Lana — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:31:02 +0000

My budget is the same. My grocery shopping is slightly different. For example, I no longer buy skinless/boneless chicken breasts and just remove the skin and bones myself since they are about 3 times more expensive than they were a year ago. I do more in-season shopping because I can’t fathom spending $6 on a tiny box of raspberries in the winter.

Next year when the harmonized tax comes in effect we’ll be effected for our oil bill in the winter so I’ll have to make adjustments then.

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:30:48 +0000

Babies are expensive! Thank goodness for hand me downs and second hand stores and generous friends and family. I breastfed my daughter for one year so I saved lots of money there instead of buying formula. Mostly, my husband and I spend money on diapers and wipes and day care for the wee one. We know that it’s better to spend time with our daughter than to just spend money on her.

So while our life costs went up with the baby, our income has also gone up (hubby finished his university degree and has a great job). A big cost that went down was our car and home insurance. Thanks to hubby for shopping around! We’re also saving more with the increased income for things like retirement and a down payment for a house.

We’re doing our best to plan ahead because we know there will be MORE expenses coming in the next 6-12 months! We’ve got a second baby on the way and we’re planning on moving out of our apartment to buy a house. Got to get our ducks in a row!

By: Katherine

Katherine — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:16:53 +0000

I find these figures interesting but they don’t tell me much about either Canadian or American society. These averages hide important social cleavages as well as resources to which it is more difficult to assign a dollar value such as access to education, permanent employment, equality/equity, etc.
While numbers don’t “lie” they also do not provide complete information and context.

By: Maureen

Maureen — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:33:01 +0000

dogatemyfinances: mandatory vacation time exists in many countries. In Canada employment standards demand that it starts with 2 weeks but increases in many provinces as your years of employment with a company increases. I do not know where you are from but we Canadians are a nation that loves to travel and with the speed of air travel you will find us all over the world. You can go a long way in 2 weeks. It is fantastic and I think of it as a great step in our evolution from beasts of burden.

As for our flags being all up in your grill – when I first traveled in Europe I was told by other Canadians that I absolutely had to put a Canadian flag onto my backpack. The reason – simply so as not to be mistaken for an American. This information in not intended as an insult – just stating a painful truth but a truth none the less. I instantly noticed a difference in the way I was treated. I started traveling 30 years ago but the young people I know who travel today in Europe and the East tell me that this is still very true.

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:29:44 +0000

I have noticed that milk has gone down 50 cents for 4L of skim milk in bags to $3.99. In the winter it was $4.99. Crazy! Bread is $2.79 at the grocery store, 2.39 or if I’m lucky $2 at walmart. I remember when good bread was 99 cents and that was only 5 yrs ago. I hear alot of people shop at Costco, but not everything there is cheaper than the same product at the grocery store or walmart or zellers.

By: Gail Says...

Gail Says... — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:57:34 +0000

Gail CC: the Canadian numbers include income taxes, the U.S. numbers don’t. The average Canadian pays just under $14,500 in personal taxes.

Jenna, the U.S. numbers report eating out, the Canadian numbers don’t. American’s eat about $2,700 a year in food away from home.

By: MadmommaP

MadmommaP — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:47:01 +0000

Like many others we have insatiable teen athletes so the food bill is steadily rising. Just last week we considered how a dairy cow in our suburban backyard would affect relations with our neighbours.
Hydro, gas, cell service and property taxes are all higher as are our income taxes…why does our tax bracket seem to get ALL the increases but NONE of the benefits???
Because of tighter budgeting on the non-essentials and a second part-time job we are ultimately in better shape than last year. In fact we will stay on par with 2008 even though my husband will be laid off for most of the third quarter.

By: Gail CC

Gail CC — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:02:06 +0000

Just wondering – were there any stats on income taxes ? Which of us pays more to their gov’t ? ( apart from the sales taxes on purchases ).

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:55:55 +0000

A lot more debt reduction and saving rather than spending. I got my 6mth return info on my one acct, ROI 8.4% for 6mths ending June 30th 2009. Nice given the state of economy. I put a big ding: payment yesterday. doubling up on my student loan payments. I have my budget planned til Feb 2010.