Income: One full time government job $66,564 Take home approx. $1,680 bi-weekly =$45,360 year take home.
My husband currently doing some paintin jobs for friends and family as well he is a wonderful house husband and loves to take care of everything there (which I love and am being spoiled rotten) and when the baby comes the plan is that he will stay home – which will save us 1000’s on child care. Will also continue to do some furniture refurbishing for extra income.
With contract changes new salary: $70,119.70
Retro pay to be paid out within 6 months: $4,763.67 (after taxes) --- will go to finish off paying VISA (if any left) then Mastercard (or should go to LOC??? - advice?) LOC has higher interest rate.
Severance + Bonus to be paid out within 6 months: $11,553.78 --- will go to either Mastercard or LOC
Overtime: Have been feeling much better now that I am in my 5th month ... Update: I have worked one full shift Jan 29 and two half shifts Jan 26 & Feb 2&Feb 9 = $750 or thereabouts …
As of today I have:
$500 in my chequing account - update Feb 10 $672.42
$25.17 savings
$9.83 in a separate chequing account (where overtime pay and holiday pay goes) Update Feb 10 $5.52
$142.19 in a separate savings account Update Feb 10 $256.23 (need $2300 for month of July before maternity kicks in for bills)$1,371.89 RRSP Update Feb 10 $1428.69
All of my bills come out automatically and any extra money I have after everything comes out goes to (right now) paying off highest interest rate (VISA) credit card.
I have had no late payments on any of my outstanding bills and have an excellent credit rating. (Normally when there is a 0 balance on my credit cards I overpay my bills to ensure NEVER EVER getting late fees (gives me hives just thinking of that!). This month rather than pre-paying anything I am concentrating all excess cash on paying down that VISA card.
Current expenses:
Mortgage – weekly accelerated payments of $216.24 (they also pay land taxes on this which work out to $2700 a year) I was thinking of taking this on myself so that all of the payments I make to mortgage go to mortgage and not taxes … advice? $864.96 monthly. Had upped this payment to $233 weekly but I think I should pay off LOC first ... advice??? My mortgage is 10 years at $3.89% LOC is 5%
RRSP – Took out RRSP’s ($4200) on first time home buyer plan need to pay back in 15 years on track to have paid much faster at $50 bi-weekly (currently have $1371.89) -- Update: as of Feb 10 have $1,428.69 looking to put payments down to $50 a month and put rest towards bills for now as I have 15years to pay
Home/car insurance $215.76 monthly … have tried to get reduced with no luck!!!Still looking into this!!!
Life insurance for hubby $71.73 mine covered through work, but will need to pay 8$ a month for $50,000 more.
Home Gas bill $81 month (I pre-paid when we moved in and we have a running credit) central heating/AC (AC barely gets turned on in the summer however being pregnant and frozen this winter the heat has been higher than normal <- working on this ) Have started wearing more clothes but still can't get temperature lower than 21degrees :(
Electricity and Water (UGH) $193.11 month (includes Electric $134.85, Water $30.19, Waste water $41.55, Credit adjustment of $13.48) – water tank is 16 years old and needs to be replaced … have been putting this off however now that we need to get the pipes done in the basement this will need to be addressed as well…
Virgin Cell phone $80 per month ($40 bi-weekly) total for 2 phones Update have not been using any data so my bill is getting lower :) should be able to switch to cheaper plan by next month!!!
Internet $70 month (cheapest we could get excellent service)
Gas $140 month or less (my husband rarely goes out and when he does he does multiple jobs at once gym/groceries/pick up wife one trip)
Food $200 month or less (we garden in the summer my hubby and I can tomatoes, pickles, beans, variety of jams and anything else) he is an excellent cook so we do not go out but eat at home and I bring my lunch to work every day.
House repairs $60 month (just had pipe burst in basement due to faulty ex-owners contractor work … put water pipe on the outside of insulation between insulation barrier and the concrete porch duh … it wasn’t something we could see and therefore a big surprise … not much damage thankfully but still
We have an upcoming bill for plumbing issues in the basement now that this happened … luckily I believe my brother said he would do it (thankfully) need to replace all the outdated metal pipes with copper and get rid of the “dog’s breakfast” that the previous owner left … so no bill for labor but still need to buy the materials … this is a “must-do” rather than a cosmetic issue.
Now the punch in the face comes ….
Gym $30.52 month (I know … but it is my outdoor activity for winter as I hate hate hate the cold … especially this year being pregnant I am frozen) but I realize a luxury I should cancel Update cancelling this - luxury can't afford
Line of Credit $52,988.33 bunch of stuff I should not have bought… I pay $300 a month to it, the interest rate is 5% Update paying $280/month - currently at $52,388.33
VISA: $4,098 (paying $300 a month) interest rate a whopping 19.99% this card was a zero normally but crept up with a recent flight purchase (death in husband’s family in Portugal), car maintenance – tires –could not put off any longer ($1000) alignment and some tie rod they had to replace… Any extra money coming in will go to this immediately – Jan 30 should be paid for my xmas holidays - $600. The only reason I keep this card is that it gives me rewards for every dollar I spend … we book our flights on this and it gives hundreds of dollars off even if I keep no balance. As a gold card also gives me excellent trip medical insurance/rental cars (we rarely rent) etc… I do not like having a balance on this Update Feb 10 Visa at $3289.14 throwing any extra cash that comes in on it
Master card: $9,603.84 (paying $180 month) interest rate 4.5% Update at $9487.32
$225 a month to Madeira, Portugal (we have a house there and a car) Husband has made enough to pay this for next 5 months money sent already :)
GRAND TOTAL OF $ 3057.08 EXPENSES OUT PER MONTH
GRAND TOTAL OF INCOME: $3360.00
Expected ER expenses: Travel to/from Portugal once a year or once every 2 years.
Assets: House built in 1923 (gorgeous all hardwood love love love it) close to work allows me to bike in summer – since pregnant no biking but still very close to drive. Paid $120,000 – Taxes are about $2200 but rolled into our mortgage.
Jeep Liberty 2002, 4x4 sport limited edition, bought in 2008 (during divorce), put it as well as half of my ex-husband’s debts on a Line of credit ( I know, I know, I know punch in face coming) but at the time – I didn’t know a mustashian from a bad toupee . I have since learned the error of my ways … at least in buying vehicles … it currently has over 200 000 kms on it and
I am worried it will conk out on us . Still keeping fingers crossed as do not want to purchase anything right now (and have no cash reserve for this).
Liabilities: lots of debt above
Specific Question(s):
Our first baby is on the way … after being told 0% chance of conceiving two years ago … we are excited and terrified at 43 and 44… especially being so high risk (not bed rest as yet but light work and lots of rest)…
How do we get out of this mess the fastest and with the least stress?
At this point I can’t imagine retiring early – my work offers excellent retirement package but you need either 30 years or 65 yrs old or some 85 factor that I do not understand otherwise every year I leave before 65 I lose 2%
We already eat at home (we love it … and are both good in the kitchen)
We don’t watch TV (ever) occasional movie (but even that has been curbed since the pipe burst our TV went).
I have cut out manicures/pedicures/even getting my hair done!
Just not sure where to go from here … ANY advice (even punches in the face) is appreciated… my husband is a prime mustashian even though he doesn’t know anything about it … he rarely spends money and when he does it is on food. His clothes are mostly from Europe and are incredibly well made and last forever… plus he takes meticulous care of them! So he doesn’t buy clothes… we switched to a free cell app “TANGO” to call/video overseas to his family (slashing a previous $60 a month bill for calling cards).
Permanently moving to Portugal at this time is not an option I don't want to lose my job ... the income is excellent and there is nothing comparable there. BONUS though while there and while I am still earning salary my HUSBAND will be working !!! At least earning enough to pay the bills there and some of our food/baby needs while there. Yes we could stay with family but for 6-8 months I think I would rather ... well let's just say we like our privacy sometimes lol... ;)
Sorry for the book … but now that I have made the decision to get at this I tried to give as much of our picture as possible.