Debt Free Kid

One morning last week, I woke up with a little giddy feeling, sort of like it might be my birthday*, or christmas morning, but it wasn't. It was Friday the 13th I think, but that had nothing to do with the feeling. I was excited because the night before I received an email from Tangerine** telling me that I'm pre-approved for their new cash-back credit card. As soon as I saw the email on my phone, I went over to the laptop and logged in to accept my acceptance. I was pre-approved for $14 000 but I was able to change it to $7500. I chose this amount because when the new card arrives I will cancel two other credit cards worth $10 000 combined. We are sometimes told to keep our oldest credit card opened for good credit history, but now that I have a mortgage and car loan in place, I'm not too worried about what my credit rating looks like. I hopefully will not be opening too many more credit products after this. I'm excited for this card to show up. Not only will i...

I get paid on the 28th of each month, and sometimes, like this past January, it feels like weeks between payday and the beginning of the next month. I have about three months worth of pay saved up so I'm never quite short on funds, but I do try to make each current pay last till the end of the month (the 30th or 31st, rather than the 28th), Since February has only 28 days (normally) it is a nice feeling to head right into March with a full paycheque. This month, to make it even sweeter, I have declared it "no spend month." This means that all non-essential spending (groceries and gas excluded of course) is to be delayed for four short weeks. And I am not allowing myself to cheat by using a credit card and paying it off next month. Half of my January pay went towards a hefty credit card bill from December spending, even though I had a christmas savings account set up. Still, it is nice to check my credit card statements and see that zero balance. Since I am single agai...

My kid turned eight years old a couple of weeks ago. I booked him an amazing party at the local laser tag place for under $400. He invited eleven friends, and they all showed up! He got a lot of Lego, which he was thrilled with. I got him a new two-wheel bike, because his old one was getting too small. I also bought him new soccer cleats and shin guards, but I would have bought them regardless of his birthday. It was an expensive weekend! Spending on my kid now has its own category in my spreadsheet. I track all the expenses in their own categories (daycare/camps; sports; RESP; life insurance - something I would not purchase now but I bought the policy when I was less informed, and it is universal life, so I keep paying for it - only $24 a month; misc - includes birthday party and more frivolous expenses like tiny shopping sprees). I add up all the amounts and apply it against the amount of child support I get each month. If there are any funds leftover they go into his savings accou...

I was so pleased with my " I AM CREDIT CARD DEBT FREE " blog post that I couldn't bring myself to follow up with the next post: "Stupid Money Mistakes." Back in 2011, just a couple of weeks prior to my "DEBT FREE" post, we moved out of our two-bedroom rental and into a friend's house for a couple of months. He wanted someone to be there while he was away, to watch for basement leaks and look after the lawns. He did not want any rent money, and would not take a cent towards utilities. He said it would give me an opportunity to save some money, and I corrected him and said it would help me pay off my credit card debt. And it did. Which was fantastic. But I made a couple of really stupid spending mistakes and I could not bear to come back on here to blog about them. The first one I made on the day we moved out (I just realized that was exactly two years ago today. Bean's birthday!) The property manager had given me a year's free cable, and...

Last week was a crazy one. It was a quiet week at work after crazy the week prior, but my home life turned upside down. Literally. We had to be out of the apartment by Saturday, which was the same day of Bean's fifth birthday party, his first big birthday party ever. Up until this year I did not have the nerve or the cash to pay for a party for twelve kids, but this year I took a deep breath and went for it. The week started at the mechanics, where I forked over yet another $200 to have the alternater replaced. This was necessary, since I had already started loading up the car and taking loads to second-hand stores, the consignment shop, and the free market. I had a car-load of toys packed in, to go to Bean's dad's in the big city, when the car decided to die in an intersection not far from home. By mid-week the car was repaired, and I was shuttling loads of mostly toys to the house at which we are staying until end of July. By Friday the movers came and took all the bi...