tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782918345354647922024-03-05T02:06:42.228-05:00Fecunditynoun
1. the intellectual productivity of a creative imagination
2. the state of being fertile; capable of producing offspring
3. the quality of something that causes or assists healthy growthFecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-58823707750468812742008-01-01T16:09:00.000-05:002008-01-01T16:13:51.291-05:00This month’s net worth<p align="left">Ah, the first of the month. Also know as Spreadsheet Day in the Fecundity household. You can see the results on my <a href="http://www.networthiq.com/people/Fecundity/2008/01">January NetworthIQ entry</a>.<br /><br />We were supposed to be having a party with all of my mom’s relatives today in celebration of my Gran’s 90th birthday; however the foot of snow we’ve been socked with put a damper on said family’s travelling plans. Downside: I’ll only get to see my almost 3-year-old Australian niece briefly for lunch tomorrow instead of for an entire evening and morning. Upside: We’ll save the $300+ that dinner, a hotel and a fancy brunch was going to cost. I’ll subtract what lunch tomorrow costs us from $300, and send it to the student loan.<br /><br />The highlights...<br /><br /><em>Assets:<br /></em></p><ul><li>The Emergency Fund is up significantly. We should be able to get this to $5000 by June without problems.</li><li>Cash is up due to generous Christmas cheques from our families. </li><li>Retirement funds are up slightly, mostly due to contributions rather than growth.</li><li>Stocks slipped a bit further.<br /> </li></ul><p><em>Debts: </em></p><ul><em><li><div align="left"></em>The credit card is up due to pre-Christmas spending. As always, the balance will be paid in full before the due date.</div></li><li><div align="left">Hubby’s remaining student loan is down significantly. We’re well on our way to paying it down by $5000 by Baby Day.</div></li></ul><p align="left">Current Net Worth:</p><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;">$10,084.30</span></div><div align="left"><br />So, we made the goal of $10,000 by January 1st. Just. Yay!<br /><br />Clearly the flaw in calculating net worth for short-term goals is that you can’t account for market fluctuations. But, since short-term goals are merely surrogates for desired long-term outcomes, and were're definitely moving in the right direction, I’ll live with it.<br /><br />Happy New Year everyone. All the best for all of your goals of 2008!</div>Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-59786971211832562262007-12-29T12:35:00.000-05:002007-12-29T12:47:04.415-05:00How (not) to deal with pregnant people at Christmas...or really at any time.<em>A few things that were appreciated and not while we were away at Christmas. All of these things applied to our trip. The do’s were done well. The don’ts, well, weren’t. Most of them were amusing in retrospect, but irritating at the time.</em><br /><br /><strong>Do</strong> try to have something appetizing for her to eat and drink. Most pregnant women will be avoiding alcohol, and many will also be avoiding caffeine, at least in high doses. Some may be avoiding other foods they previously enjoyed, either to reduce risks to her health and that of her baby, or because they currently can’t stomach them. Others will have decided that the risks are ridiculously low, and be eating everything they always have.<br /><br /><strong>Don’t</strong> try to dictate what she’s eating. If she wants a Pepsi, some shrimp or some tuna salad, just accept it. It’s her body, and her decision. If you feel there’s a risk she’s unaware of, mention it once in a non-confrontational way, and then let it go.<br /><br /><strong>Do</strong> ask questions if you’re curious about things she’s doing or how she’s feeling. Just try not to get overly personal if you don’t know her well, and accept that she won’t want to discuss certain things. You are not her doctor.<br /><br /><strong>Don’t</strong> assume that what your doctor told you when you were pregnant 50 years ago still applies. Medical knowledge and guidelines change over time. She doesn’t want to hear your rant on why she’s an idiot for worrying about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. After all, your kids were fine...<br /><br /><strong>Do</strong> talk about your experiences while pregnant or while your partner was pregnant. She’ll be happy to know she is neither alone nor going insane. Cute stories of silly things you did, or minor issues you had will probably be amusing and relieving to her.<br /><br /><strong>Don’t</strong> talk about your late-term miscarriage. If it happened recently and you’re still actively grieving, she’ll likely be willing to sympathize and help you get through it. But if it happened decades ago, it’s a story that can wait until after she’s given birth. This also applies to stories about 47-hour labours and 14-pound babies.<br /><br /><strong>Do</strong> offer her a chair. She may not accept, but she’ll be grateful you thought of it. She may also pounce on the offer. Or just collapse into the chair.<br /><br /><strong>Don’t</strong> just light up in front of her. Many pregnant women will be avoiding cigarette smoke, or at least trying to cut back if they’re smokers themselves. She will not appreciate your intentionally throwing toxins into the air around her. Unless you see her lighting up her own cigarette, assume she’s going to want you to go outside to have one yourself. This applies to anything illegal you might light as well.<br /><br /><strong>Do</strong> tell her you won’t be offended if she wants to go have a nap. She may not feel comfortable abandoning you all mid-day, but she may wish she could.<br /><br /><strong>Don’t</strong> make continuous comments about how much she’s eating, or how much weight she’s gained. If it’s not tactful to say to a non-pregnant person, assume a pregnant one doesn’t need to hear it either. No one will find it funny to be asked ‘What? Are you eating for four now?’ when they reach for a second helping of stuffing.<br /><br />Above all, <strong>do</strong> remember that she’s still the same person you knew before. Apart a bit less emotional control, a few more idiosyncracies, and (hopefully) temporarily being a bit wider, of course.Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-32554888208820692212007-12-28T12:04:00.000-05:002007-12-28T12:06:20.172-05:00And we’re backSurvived Christmas with the families, and all the chaos that ensues. Came home yesterday and promptly slept for 16 hours. Guess I overdid it a bit.<br /><br />Christmas was a success. We managed to get everything and were only $15 over budget. Everyone seemed very pleased with their gifts, so either we did well, or the whole family has tremendous acting skills.<br /><br /> The bad news is the $75 we saved by not buying gifts for our friends was spent instead on our parents, but the good news is we didn’t spend any money we couldn’t afford to. The MasterCard will easily be paid in full in January. We also had some exceedingly generous family this year, so we actually came out ahead.<br /><br />We were repeatedly congratulated, hugged and grinned at by everyone we hadn’t seen since we broke our pregnancy news. It was a fun an enjoyable experience. Also, it was no doubt our last chance to be the centre of attention. Junior will be taking on that role next Christmas.<br /><br />I’ll be posting some dos and don’ts on dealing with pregnant people over the holidays in a day or two. Trust me when I say all of them directly applied to what we experienced.Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-21004367226612757732007-12-22T08:23:00.000-05:002007-12-22T08:34:27.800-05:00Heading out for the holidaysI'll be taking a few days off of posting to head to my old home town to visit our families. I'd hoped to be able to squeak in a post or two while I was there, but it looks like Hubby may be spending some time getting my parents' computer working again, which doesn't bode well for me getting online.<br /><br />So, Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate it. To others, Happy Winter Solstice (that's today this year) or Kwanzaa. To still others, Happy Belated Hannukah, Diwali or Eid. And if you don't celebrate anything this time of year, happy few extra days off work, or at least happy stat holiday pay.Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-58084258998526055022007-12-20T13:31:00.000-05:002007-12-20T13:35:18.562-05:00The joys of unexpected expenses<em>Hubby lifted his left foot as he stood beside the snow-covered car, bracing his calf on his opposite knee. He peered down at his sole. “Huh,” he said. “I think I need a new pair of boots.”<br /><br />Fecundity followed his gaze and snorted aloud. “I’d say you’re right.” She poked at the crack clearly visible across the ball of his foot, easily touching sock with the end of her finger. “Why didn’t you say something earlier?”<br /><br />“I hadn’t noticed.”</em><br /><br />As tempting as it is for me to get into a diatribe on how it shouldn’t be possible to miss a three inch hole in your shoe when there’s literally four feet of snow on the ground, I’ll skip it and instead talk about unexpected expenses in general.<br /><br />Sometimes, as in this case, we should have seen it coming. Sometimes bad luck just falls on you from the sky, or, more likely, rear-ends you on the way to work.<br /><br />The boot incident isn’t bad luck. Hubby bought cheap boots last winter. They wore out earlier than expected, but still should have been foreseen. I figure if I drag him into a decent shoe store this time, it’ll set us back $150-$200 and he’ll have boots which should last at least two full seasons, preferably five.<br /><br />Our last round of actual bad luck (or, rather, bad luck leading to an emotional response which lead to stupidity) happened about two years ago. We were still living in an apartment, and we didn’t own a car. We were borrowing my parents second vehicle (which they’ve since sold to us, as they no longer need two after retirement). We came down to the parking lot and discovered that some of the delightful kids of the neighbourhood (did I mention the cheap rent?) had egged the car overnight for something to do. Cheaper and healthier than doing drugs, I suppose.<br /><br />After much scraping (and swearing) to make it possible to drive said car, we were late, and Hubby was Angry with a capital A. We made a quick stop at a local deli to get some bagels I needed to bring to work, which made us even later. Hubby fumed a bit more, put the car into reverse, and promptly backed into another vehicle. Crunch.<br /><br />Not wanting to up my parents’ insurance premiums, we didn’t claim the expense of having the victim’s vehicle’s bumper replaced, we paid for it ourselves, to the tune of $797.43 (the faxed receipt is still on my hard drive). Delightful.<br /><br />How did we pay for it? Back then, we weren’t doing so well financially. I was making significantly less, and Hubby was still in school. We didn’t have an savings to speak of. We put it on the MasterCard, then paid the MasterCard (18%) off with our line of credit (7%). It probably took us three months to get rid of it entirely.<br /><br />How would we deal with it now? Well, the boots are a relatively minor expense and shouldn’t cause more than a ripple in the chequing account. Another bumper cruncher would set us back a bit, but no use of the line of credit would be necessary, as I could suck any needed amount out of our emergency fund. Since our standard of living has increased significantly in the past two years, we’d have some room to save a bit of money by dropping back down a glutton level for a couple of weeks, which would allow us to build the fund back up quickly.<br /><br />It’s my plan to build our emergency fund up further in the future. Right now we’re concentrating on getting it to $5000. I hope to have that done by the time I go on mat leave. Once Hubby’s student loan is gone and I’ve returned to work (the latter will almost certainly happen before the former), we’ll start slowly building the fund up to three month’s net income, which right now would be about $17,000. That’ll prepare us for bigger emergencies than a bruised bumper or a dead pair of boots.Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-52013485814193509142007-12-18T15:07:00.000-05:002007-12-18T15:09:24.560-05:00My student loan is officially paid offOriginally scheduled to be complete in December of 2011, my student loan has officially sucked its last payment out of my bank account. With a final withdrawal of $27.36, I can kiss it goodbye forever. Hah!<br /><br />I’m supposed to receive a Notice of Balance Paid in Full in about 10 days. I may frame it and hang it on the wall next to the degree it paid for. Tacky? Perhaps. Satisfying? You betcha.<br /><br /><em>A note to </em><a href="http://fecundity1.blogspot.com/2007/11/student-loan-status-update-continuing.html"><em>Chickie at Scotiabank</em></a>: I called Christine at the National Student Loan Service Centre (NSLSC) yesterday. After giving her my account number and enough info to prove I was me, she graciously answered all of my questions about how to close out my loan, rather than acting as though she was doing me a favour by deigning to speak to me. She then gave me the option of waiting until the scheduled payment date of December 31st, or having her withdraw it immediately. Despite my not having a chequing account with them, she was still able to access my funds through a little technology some people call the Internet. Lo and behold, this morning my bank account was minus the exact amount she told me it would be, and when I checked the NSLSC website (which I can access all by myself), my account read a gratifying ‘Balance remaining = $0”. No need to wait for them to get around to acknowledging my payment. Christine also did not hang up on me, nor did she say anything rude. In fact, she congratulated me on paying off my loan, and wished me all the best in my future endeavours. You might consider learning a thing or two from Christine, but I have a feeling she’d have nothing to do with you.<br /><br /> Oh yeah. That was satisfying too. Though I should probably do something about this bitchy streak I seem to have before becoming a mother...Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-53112397875397605422007-12-18T11:31:00.001-05:002007-12-18T11:33:18.471-05:00Christmas shopping finally underway<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq9Qs6zwYCaD_I0yPyJISHGQRlmMmpBbJlcJVwJD6Q5zJG_nYF0I2Mk1iUJok9L9vUR3vKYbNgKfDWVLMJwpL2DSbnox-TyE2pWsCbbfHpU3n3Vj99LaVSR40dkCmydOdWvDdylBR5Tx39/s1600-h/gifts.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5145351577925203682" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq9Qs6zwYCaD_I0yPyJISHGQRlmMmpBbJlcJVwJD6Q5zJG_nYF0I2Mk1iUJok9L9vUR3vKYbNgKfDWVLMJwpL2DSbnox-TyE2pWsCbbfHpU3n3Vj99LaVSR40dkCmydOdWvDdylBR5Tx39/s320/gifts.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Whew. Finally getting on the ball and getting the shopping going. We bought a few children’s books for my niece and friend’s son while in Watertown on Saturday, as well as some cookies for Hubby’s grandfather which aren’t available in Canada.<br /><br />Hubby also bought a Wii game for his Dad while I wasn’t looking. Apparently, despite his looking at the spreadsheet and repeatedly nodding approval of the budgeted amounts, I was the only one paying attention to the numbers:<br /><br />“Oh, I got a video game for one of the presents in Mom and Dad’s basket. Dad will love it.”<br />“Great! How much was it?”<br />“$50.”<br /><awkward>[awkward silence]<br />“What?”<br />“The budget for their whole gift was $60.”<br />“You should have told me that before.”<br />“I did tell you that before! You agreed!”<br />“I don’t remember that.”<br />“Of course you don’t.”<br /><br />Last night we went to Chapters and got a few crosswords for my grandmother, some Hercule Poirot short stories on CD for Hubby’s Gran (who is blind), and some codebreaker puzzles for my Dad’s birthday. Hubby’s Gran’s present was significantly over budget, but the others were under and it worked out about even.<br /><br />Tonight, we’ll be heading out to get the rest of the stuff for our parents’ baskets, including the baskets themselves. We won’t be able to completely recover from the Wii overspending, but we might be able to come close. If all else fails, we still have the $75 from the gifts we’re no longer buying our friends.<br /><br />Tonight, I also get to go to the post office and pay some exorbitant amounts to get the kiddie books I bought to Toronto and Wisconsin on time because I was too tired and cranky to get my butt into gear a month ago. This is where the procrastination, which has <a href="http://fecundity1.blogspot.com/2007/12/procrastination-pays-off-for-once.html">occasionally served me well</a>, comes back and bites me. Good thing my niece is in Toronto for Christmas. She actually lives in Australia, and I’d be totally S.O.L. getting it there on time.</div>Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-41629993060882051022007-12-17T11:06:00.000-05:002007-12-17T11:16:55.354-05:00Shopping report and a couple of notations to the people in chargeThe shopping expedition to Watertown was a partial success: I found a couple of good deals on maternity clothes, but I was disappointed with the lack of selection. Books were much cheaper, which is obvious from the US prices stamped tauntingly on the covers up here. Large appliances were also less expensive. One of the couples we went with needs a new set for the house they’re buying in January. They took photos of the American fridge and stove prices for negotiating power up here later. “Well, I have a friend with a cargo van, so if you can’t do better than what you’re currently offering...”<br /><br /><em>Note to Canadian retailers:</em> Learn something from your American counterparts. It is not necessary to have 87 people in line when you can open another cash.<br /><br />Surprisingly, electronics, music and software were the same or more expensive than they are at home. And the fast food joint we stopped at was also pricier. <br /><br /><em>Note to American soft drink distributers:</em> Try to get more variety in your non-caffeinated pop, er, soda. You have this substance called Sierra Mist, which was my only option, and quite repellent, though to be fair it may have been a faulty drink fountain. Also, Mountain Dew should not contain caffeine. I have spoken. ;)<br /><br />It was a fun road trip, and gave us something different to do on a Saturday. We had a great time chattering in the car on the way down and back, including what seems to be a standard cell phone exchange for our group:<br /><br />“Where are you guys?”<br />“About to cross the border.” <br />“Ack! You got ahead of us. We’ve stopped at Timmies.”<br />“Amateurs.”<br />“Wait for us once you’ve gone through customs.”<br />“What, you want us to pull off the road beside the border guards? That won’t look suspicious at all. Why don’t we just yell ‘Death to America!’ while we’re at it?”<br />“Finish crossing the river and then pull over.”<br />“I gave you a map. I’m pretty sure Watertown isn’t going to up and move while you buy a doughnut. Just meet us there.”<br />“We lost the map.”<br />“Of course you did. You realize I’m getting picked up by a US cell tower right now, which means this call is costing both of us approximately $7000 a second? <br />“Just pull over once you hit the mainland.”<br />“Fine.”<br /><br />I also find it entertaining that people who live so close to each other and speak the same language can have such completely different accents. The entire pronunciation structure and speech pattern changes the second you step across the border. Coopon vs. Quepon. Hawkey vs. Ice Hackey. Fan-tas-tick vs. Faen-taes-tick.<br /><br /><em>Note to the Department of Transportation or whoever is in charge of the road planning in Watertown:</em> Rip it all up. Start again from scratch. I have never seen traffic so horrendous in such a small town. Luckily the local people seem resigned and relatively polite about the whole thing. Can’t even blame cross-border shoppers for increasing the volume, ‘cause I didn’t see another Canadian plate the entire time we were there.<br /><br />So, the summary of my vague and wandering report is: You can find good deals on a few things, but unless you’re only buying those things, and buying a lot of them, it’s better to just check the local flyers and shop at home.Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-55765420493245377332007-12-15T09:17:00.000-05:002007-12-15T09:21:04.995-05:00How do you feel about cross border shopping?We’re heading down to the States today with a few friends to do a little Christmas shopping. The timing seems ideal. The Loonie is still high, our local prices haven’t yet dropped, and the American ones haven’t yet risen in response to the sagging Greenback. I figure we can get a few good deals and have a bit of fun shopping in a new place. I’m also hoping the maternity wear selection will be better and cheaper.<br /><br />That being said, I won’t be telling my parents we went.<br /><br />Why? Mom and Dad have always been vehemently opposed to cross-border shopping. Well, opposed to Canadians shopping down South. They quite enjoy Americans bringing their money up here. Bit of a biased viewpoint, but understandable.<br /><br />They have a few solid points, which apply no matter what border and which direction we’re talking about. Spending your money locally helps keep that money in the community. If you buy a gift from a local business owner, it helps keep him in business, which helps keep tax dollars and employment in your town. This is even true, though to a lesser degree, of shopping at the local outlet of a big chain store.<br /><br />As an investment advisor in a small town, Dad was always very much aware of this. His clients were local. They were often local business people. If their profits were down, their available money for investing went down, and Dad’s paycheque went down. He was directly tied into the loop and he knew it.<br /><br />Many others were also directly involved in that loop and for the most part, they knew it too. It was the ones who were indirectly tied to it that didn’t. The teachers and other government employees tended (and I’m generalizing here) to be the most active border crossers. They’re paycheques weren’t directly tied into the amount of money currently circulating in town. They were paid by the federal, provincial and municipal governments.<br /><br />Ultimately, however, the prosperity of a town affects even them. If a business closes down, then those former employees have to look for work elsewhere. If enough of them leave, some of the schools will be closed due to the lack of kids, and government services will be cut back.<br /><br />But cross-border shopping moves in cycles. When I was young, everyone crossed to the States to get better deals on things. When I was older and the Loonie took a dive down to 60-odd cents US, it was the other way around. Good deals could be found in Canada for Americans and their powerful dollar. Now it’s turned around again. <br /><br />It might be said that it all evens out. It could also be argued that if we’re all equal, I shouldn’t matter where we spend our money.<br /><br />I don’t go often, it’s probably been ten years, though that’s more to do with the currency exchange situation than anything else. I usually buy locally when I can, and I visit local chain stores when I can’t. I figure I can take the occasional trip across the border without too much guilt. I’m one of those indirect loopers, after all.<br /><br />I still won’t be telling Dad.<br /><br />What do you think? Would you cross a local border to save money, or is it taboo?Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-30584688984608407302007-12-13T11:28:00.000-05:002007-12-13T11:47:06.150-05:00I have always relied on the kindness of strangers<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtgAqJqrkTmvhYSUApL80gj4UN4OTe0Ao99EArr0T7AxZ58EGYyl0WnaxsCdezoTofATDyvOEoOseSHk09D04Q2rlLumSvHLKmTp7hjrsKTBq07yDjYhXrW_qVvZM-fc-kmWr6JTl0uObT/s1600-h/via.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143496803540375730" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 122px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 105px" height="95" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtgAqJqrkTmvhYSUApL80gj4UN4OTe0Ao99EArr0T7AxZ58EGYyl0WnaxsCdezoTofATDyvOEoOseSHk09D04Q2rlLumSvHLKmTp7hjrsKTBq07yDjYhXrW_qVvZM-fc-kmWr6JTl0uObT/s320/via.jpg" width="106" border="0" /></a><br />Okay, that's a lie. I'm not <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blanche_DuBois">Blanche DuBois</a>. I don't rely on the kindness of strangers. I just really love it when it happens.<br /><br />Inspired by <a href="http://www.bloggingawaydebt.com/2007/12/the-generosity-of-a-stranger/">Lynnae's post about the kind stranger</a> who made her family’s Christmas when she was young, I thought I’d pass on another story of someone who went above and beyond. It’s not about buying gifts for less fortunate young ones, but it was sweet and much-appreciated.<br /><br />It was during my first year away at university. I’d spent four months away, and I was looking forward to coming home for Christmas. I’d loaded all of my stuff on a train, including all my presents for everyone, as well as what was no doubt several weeks worth of laundry so I could take advantage of the parental washing machine.<br /><br />I was exhausted. I’d been ‘studying’ for exams, I’d been shopping for gifts. I’d probably also been to a few too many holiday and end-of-term parties. I slept the whole way home on the train, waking just as it pulled into my home town’s station. I had to quickly gather up my things and dart off the train into the waiting arms of Mom and Dad.<br /><br />What I didn’t notice until the car pulled into our garage was that I didn’t have my purse. It was still sitting on the train.<br /><br />I called the local station to see what could be done, which at this point was nothing. The train had, of course, continued on its way. I’d have to call the lost and found in Toronto, which was its last stop, and hope for the best. I did so, and they told me they’d let me know if it turned up.<br /><br />I spent the next couple of hours on hold with my bank and credit card companies, cancelling everything. If you’ve ever had to do so, you know how delightful it is...especially late at night on December 22nd.<br /><br />Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me, an older man was examining my purse to determine where it came from. He was getting off in Toronto, and he dutifully took it in to the Lost and Found. They told him it would likely take at least a week to get the purse back to me, since it was such a rushed season, and that I’d have to pay for the expense of having it sent.<br /><br />This is where I got really lucky. This older man was A) incredibly kind-hearted, and B) a retired CN worker. As such, he was entitled to free train rides within Canada. Appalled that it would take so long to return the purse, and apparently thinking of the panic this young girl (my driver’s licence with my date of birth was naturally in there) must be in, he took the early morning train heading in my town’s direction the next day.<br /><br />It’s a pretty long trip from Toronto to the town where my parents live. He got off the train, turned my purse in, told the ticket teller that since his trip was free the least he could do was bring it to me, and then promptly hopped on the next train back to Toronto.<br /><br />He wouldn’t leave his name. To this day I have no idea who he is.<br /><br />The ticket agent called me. When Mom and I went to the station he told us the story as far as he knew it. I’d already cancelled my bank cards, but I no longer had to get a new driver’s licence, health card, birth certificate, etcetera, etcetera. Between not having to pay postage for the purse, and not having to pay to replace all my ID, he probably saved me a couple of hundred bucks. And all my cash was still in my wallet.<br /><br />Mom took out a space in the Toronto Star to try to thank him. It’s doubtful he saw it, but I hope maybe he did. It was about 12 years ago now, so I don’t even know if he’s still alive.<br /><br />I try to think about him every time I get cut off and given the finger in traffic, or hear about some nut somewhere who’s spouting hateful things. It helps me retain hope for humanity. <div></div><div><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Photo from </span></em><a href="http://www.guidepost-travel.com/rail"><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Guidepost Travel</span></em></a><em><span style="font-size:78%;">.</span></em></div>Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-18321872722500709732007-12-12T13:43:00.000-05:002007-12-12T14:53:41.732-05:00Link Roundup or What to do when writer’s block strikes.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi5UflL_kwuRknIG5S1r6xzRmjBpvn8mq6RJ0z7aY-VuvLPQ0i0VCF7i1O3i3OIUGq1Skzf3if7qitzigi8wBCbyvNCXjTOUaDHPTdsk_gUL6HPtopOvLzapgw_dZW-SxPNxtjYxw5J099/s1600-h/nausea.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143176978800679074" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi5UflL_kwuRknIG5S1r6xzRmjBpvn8mq6RJ0z7aY-VuvLPQ0i0VCF7i1O3i3OIUGq1Skzf3if7qitzigi8wBCbyvNCXjTOUaDHPTdsk_gUL6HPtopOvLzapgw_dZW-SxPNxtjYxw5J099/s320/nausea.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div>I haven’t been feeling particularly well the last couple of days. I’m hoping it’s morning sickness’s last hurrah before getting lost for good due to my newfound second trimesterness, but I may be the victim of wishful thinking.<br /><br />Anyway, the point is: I haven’t had much luck figuring out what on Earth to write about. I’ve been cruising the blogosphere in hopes of inspiration, and there have been some great posts recently...just none that have triggered a surge of creativity on my part.<br /><br />So, I figured I’d cop out and link a few of the interesting ones instead:<br /><br />Plonkee of <a href="http://plonkee.com/">Plonkee Money</a> wrote a <a href="http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/12/12/money-and-security-fear-of-the-future/">guest post on Get Rich Slowly</a> about her money fears. She wonders how healthy her belief that money is security really is. I imagine this is pretty common, most especially among those of us who think and/or write a lot about finances. My personal opinion is that it’s a healthier character trait than soothing your emotions through shopping, but it’s still something that may be holding you back from enjoying your life thoroughly.<br /><br /><a href="http://genxfinance.com/2007/12/10/santa-isnt-coming-this-christmas-because-there-isnt-any-home-equity-to-tap-into/">Generation X Finance posts about a CNN article</a> on a woman in Nevada who is in danger of losing her house, apparently due to repeatedly using her home equity whenever ‘times were tough’. From the looks of things, her idea of tough times differs significantly from those of Gen X’s readers. It’s a good reality check on what your home equity should really be about, and it looks like the lady may be suffering from a skewed set of priorities.<br /><br />Brip Blap has apparently done some calculating to <a href="http://www.bripblap.com/2007/is-college-worth-it-part-1/">figure out if college is worth it</a> financially. He’s only posted a teaser so far, but I’ll be checking out his spreadsheet when he publishes it. I’m interested in the variables he’ll use, what the conclusions will be and, let’s face it, I’m an Excel geek and just want to play. I don’t know how it’ll turn out, but I do know one thing for certain: a Bachelor’s degree gained in four years is more financially sound than <a href="http://fecundity1.blogspot.com/2007/11/my-big-money-mistake-and-how-to-avoid.html">the same one in eight</a>.<br /><br />Lynnae from <a href="http://beingfrugal.net/">Being Frugal.net</a> wrote a <a href="http://www.bloggingawaydebt.com/2007/12/the-generosity-of-a-stranger/">guest post on Blogging Away Debt</a> about the kindness a stranger did her family when she was a child. It’s a heart-warming story that perhaps reminds us of a kindness someone gave us in the past, and hopefully also reminds us to do likewise in the future for someone else.<br /><br />Ah ha! That’s what I can post about. Stay tuned tomorrow for my near-Christmas tale of a very kind stranger.<br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div><em><span style="font-size:78%;">Picture from MS Clipart.</span></em></div></div>Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-18597489749289540582007-12-10T11:05:00.000-05:002007-12-10T11:26:39.225-05:00Frugality SuccessHah! I've finally managed to convince the three couples we're closest friends with to not exchange Christmas gifts. We've all agreed that we'll just spend time with each other over the holidays and only buy for the kids, which in this group consists of only one so far, and she's only 16 months old, thus pretty easy to satisfy.<br /><br />It certainly helps that we all now have or are about to start mortgages, and the three sets of them either got married in the past year or are getting married this year. Nothing like excessive financial strain to get people on board with saving money.<br /><br />So that's $75 successfully knocked off our <a href="http://fecundity1.blogspot.com/2007/11/christmas-spending-gaining-control-and.html">Christmas budget</a>. I'll leave it as a buffer for now in case we overspend on a few people. If not, I'll ship it into Hubby's student loan in the New Year.<br /><br />Sweet.Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-82944010062870715982007-12-07T11:52:00.000-05:002007-12-07T11:59:43.171-05:00Top referring domains - NovemberI’ve noticed that quite a few bloggers out there take a moment to thank other bloggers who have been responsible for driving traffic to their sites. This seems like a nice idea, so I’m going to try instituting it (roughly) monthly on (or around) the day I post my net worth.<br /><br />My top five non-search engine referring domains for the last 30 days were:<br /><br />1. <a href="http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/">Canadian Capitalist</a> – Ran a very interesting <a href="http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/2007/12/03/and-the-winners-are">blog birthday contest</a>, and kindly linked to my (and others) entry. Happiness is a traceable spike in visitors. Happiness is also a well-rounded finance blog geared to your own country.<br /><br />2. <a href="http://www.bripblap.com/">Brip Blap</a> – Steve’s “Life, simply improved” blog is often such a good read it almost makes up for not being Canadian. ;) Lots of helpful stuff here: finance, parenting, career inspiration, weight loss, being a good partner...and a bunch of stuff I’m no doubt forgetting.<br /><br />3. <a href="http://www.four-pillars.ca/">Quest for Four Pillars</a> – to be fair, Mike and Mr. Cheap’s excellent Canadian personal finance blog (<a href="http://www.four-pillars.ca/category/baby-expenses/">The Baby Expenses</a> section alone is worth a look if you’re about to be or thinking of becoming a parent) might have ranked higher if I’d been bright enough to enter my link correctly when I started posting comments on it. Thanks for the heads up, Mike.<br /><br />4. <a href="http://blog.canadian-dream-free-at-45.com/">Canadian Dream: Free at 45</a> – Great stuff if you’re thinking of retiring early, or just want to be more in touch with your goals, true needs and finances. He's got me trying to figure out how early I could retire.<br /><br />5. <a href="http://clawingourway.blogspot.com/">Clawing our way to financial health</a> – Wooly Woman’s blog is about her and Mr. Wooly’s struggles to get out of a substantial amount of student and other debt. They’re chugging along farily well. Plus, she’s pregnant too, which makes her site that much more interesting for me.<br /><br />Thanks to all of the above for either directly posting a link to my blog, or for having posts interesting enough to inspire me to comment repeatedly.Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-72122610671067286832007-12-07T10:02:00.000-05:002007-12-07T10:06:20.688-05:00Procrastination pays off - for onceTwo years ago at Christmas, my mother gave me a very nice pair of pants. They were attractive, expensive, warm and suitable for work. The only problem with them was that they were fall-off-my-hips too big. <br /><br />I meant to exchange them, but I forgot until it was too late. I meant to sell them on eBay, but I was too lazy. I meant to donate them to the Salvation Army or Goodwill, but I was too cheap.<br /><br />So they sat in my closet. I even moved with them last year, again meaning to sell or donate them but never getting around to it.<br /><br />The upside of all this laziness and procrastination is that now that my waist is starting to thicken and my regular pants are getting too tight, these wool trousers are now not only staying on, they’re pretty comfortable. I figure I can probably get about two months wear out of them before I’m too big. Sweet! That’s one less set of maternity pants I have to buy in the near future.<br /><br />The only remaining downside is that a closer look at the label reveals them to be dry clean only. Well, that won’t be a problem as long as I don’t spill my decaf on -- Ah, crap.Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-85954466055916990132007-12-06T11:57:00.000-05:002007-12-06T12:05:23.437-05:00This month’s net worth<p>Okay. Time to crack out the statements and spreadsheets and figure out where all our money is. You can see all the numerical figures on my <a href="http://www.networthiq.com/people/Fecundity/2007/12">NetworthIQ profile</a> for December 2007.<br /><br />As for the highlights and excuses...<br /><br />Assets:</p><ul><li>The emergency fund is down, since I used much of it to get rid of Hubby’s <a href="http://fecundity1.blogspot.com/2007/11/how-much-is-it-worth-to-keep-giving.html">obnoxious PSL</a>.</li><li>Cash on hand is up a bit since a couple of our utility bills didn’t clear until after month end.</li><li>We contributed $300 to our RRSPs, though most of that was negated by the market downturn. It'll go back up eventually.</li><li>My stocks are also down a bit for the same reason.<br /> </li></ul><p>Debts:</p><ul><li>Hubby’s PSL is gone, finished, zip, nada, nothing. My student loan is down to $27.25. I still have to call them to see how to close it out properly. We sent $814 to Hubby’s CSL in November.</li><li>Because we pay our mortgage biweekly, it received 3 payments last month, and so decreased by $841. </li><li>The credit card spending is down. Note that we pay the full balance every month on this, so even though I’ve listed it as a debt (which it is), we’re not paying interest.</li></ul><p>Current net worth: </p><p align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;">$8,370.11</span></p><p>All in all it was a very productive month. Two student loans are (practically) gone. An extra payment went to the mortgage. We spent less. Not bad at all. Too bad I can’t get paid three time every month.</p><p>We're on track to reach my net worth goal of $10,000 by year-end.</p>Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-23948524900585371012007-12-04T18:03:00.000-05:002007-12-04T18:04:43.266-05:00The world at large is awareI had my first ultrasound this morning. It was cool to finally see the little being that all this fuss is about. S/he graciously gave a well-timed full-body wiggle during the ultrasound, which was very exciting. It moves! It’s alive! I’m actually pregnant and not just ill!<br /><br />So, now that I’ve reached the 12 week mark I’ve bitten the bullet and told everyone at work. My boss knew a few weeks ago when my symptoms and doctors’ appointments were starting to interfere with my job, but now it’s general knowledge. It’s a bit surreal. I’ve already started to get parenting advice; one person has informed me that I’m having a boy based on the angle the legs seem to be at in (side view) the ultrasound. Yeah. Sure. I’m guessing she’s got, oh, about a 50% chance of being right.<br /><br />Next step: Scan ultrasound photo and send to grandparents-to-be.Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-65176907891960072282007-12-03T11:21:00.000-05:002007-12-03T11:23:18.759-05:00Weekend report - The family has been informedThis weekend was fairly productive in one way, and quite unproductive in another.<br /><br />I spent Saturday morning cooking up a nice lunch for all four of our parents. I winged together a Shepherd’s Pie using beef and Portobello mushrooms in a red wine gravy (alcohol carefully boiled off, extra wine fed to the guests so I wasn’t stuck with an open bottle I can’t drink). It turned out very well and I’ll have to write it down so I can do it again.<br /><br />I ended up taking the <a href="http://fecundity1.blogspot.com/2007/11/sharing-news-help-required.html">advice</a> of Steve (<a href="http://www.bripblap.com/">Brip Blap</a>) and Mike (<a href="http://www.four-pillars.ca/">Four Pillars</a>) and just blurting out that we were pregnant the second they were all together in the living room. I had wanted to have something special prepared for them, but this worked just as well and was a heck of a lot easier.<br /><br />Everyone was very excited and they had a nice chat reminiscing about Hubby and I when we were babies and what it was like to be about-to-be parents. Let’s just say pre-natal and newborn parenting guidelines have changed significantly since the 70s.<br /><br />After lunch we phoned our grandmothers. Mine was ecstatic and we spent a good long time chatting about it. Hubby’s said ‘that’s nice, congrats’ and then told him to tell his parents she’d received the parcel she’d been expecting. She’s never been one for letting the little things get in the way of what’s important to her. I found it hilarious (and predictable). Mom-in-law was quite embarrassed, poor thing.<br /><br />We were then taken out for a very nice steak dinner, where I discovered that 90% of the appetizers are on the ‘no-eat’ list. Pass that bread and water, would you, Steve? The French onion soup seemed safe enough (and was delicious), and I had a very nice (medium, instead of my preferred rare) steak. I had a deep, hearty sniff of Dad-in-law’s after-dinner Port in recompense.<br /><br />Sunday I’d planned to go and get started on the much-procrastinated Christmas shopping, but I decided to sleep through it instead...oops. Guess that’ll have to be next weekend.Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-23107786354529708752007-11-30T10:56:00.000-05:002007-11-30T11:21:23.267-05:002008 financial resolution<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic6GYAQQ8UKA7nc6vt_RSIgepTkUrzvdaI9Zr56CK0kCwXc-DWSZ7EdkvSL5kVu9xtmwY3RtfAEK4CVK9UZe3TsCzbcWArjdTh9sQDmfVrveksiH-BXZCvLFQWGk1YqC3KX1EpqoaojlsG/s1600-r/champagne.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138664836192614402" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNAfIU7SCiJDX48wT-cb8V__9pCV7sytQDQtzcNpwMkXWLfCckMQcR4MHUI6xt7FmDOlrg3dbTpe7Xvr7zNq1SuFXUYSFNfFNJebR0UWi_3gM3a56MOX5BygV5-v8ycKZpkGL76j8dgrKy/s320/champagne.jpg" border="0" /></a> I saw over at <a href="http://www.bripblap.com/">Brip Blap</a> that <a href="http://cashmoneylife.com/">Cash Money Life</a> is holding a <a href="http://cashmoneylife.com/2007/11/25/share-your-2008-financial-resolution-for-a-chance-to-win-an-ipod/">contest on establishing 2008 financial goals</a> in order to promote the new <a href="http://cashmoneylife.com/2007/11/24/announcing-the-carnival-of-financial-goals/">Carnival of Financial Goals</a>. The challenge is to write a SMART (see acronym spelled out below) financial resolution for yourself for 2008. If you choose to participate, you’ll be helping to set yourself up for financial success in the New Year, and you could win an iPod Nano or one of three finance books. Whether you choose to participate in the contest or not, I highly recommend you do the goal setting exercise.<br /><br />Okay. My SMART financial resolution for 2008 is:<br /><br /><strong>Specific:</strong><br />To pay down at least $5000 worth of Hubby’s Canada Student Loan by the time our baby is born (current due date June 19th). We’ll start this resolution on December 1st rather than January to jumpstart the New Year.<br /><br /><strong>Measurable:<br /></strong>Once I’m back on my feet, I’ll calculate how much money we’ve contributed from December 1st to Junior’s birthday. If it’s over five grand, we’ve been successful. This is yet another reason not to be premature, kid. You hear me down there?<br /><br /><strong>Actionable:</strong><br />We’ll submit a large percentage of our Christmas cheques (unless they’re specifically intended for baby by the giver, in which case they’ll go to savings) and bonuses to the loan, and buy used baby gear for items we deem to be safe to do so (e.g. not the car seat). We’ll also start doling out a set allowance every two weeks for each of us to spend as we please rather than spending whatever we like when we like. This should cut down our spending quite dramatically and allow us to reach our goal.<br /><br /><strong>Realistic:</strong><br />We’ll have to send an average of $834 a month to the loan in order to reach $5000 by June 1st. This should be well within our abilities given our current income and necessary expenses.<br /><br /><strong>Timely:</strong><br />We’ll be able to tell monthly whether we’ve been reaching our average payment goal. If we’re ahead, great. If we’re behind we can step up the effort. The uncertainty of the end date will give us incentive to make larger payments early, which will help our overall debt reduction by chewing through more principal and thus reducing interest. Once we’re parents our expenses and income will change dramatically and I’ll have to set a new goal once I’ve become accustomed to the changes. This is why I’m ending the resolution at that point.<br /><br />I’ll post our progress in a trackbar on my side panel.<br /><br />Thanks to Cash Money Life for the great idea and best of luck to the Carnival.Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-46044052713489071692007-11-29T12:11:00.000-05:002007-12-18T15:11:21.965-05:00Student Loan Status Update – the Continuing SagaI’ve so far sent $1500 towards my student loan. $500 more will be sent tomorrow when I get paid. That will leave about $75. The lender will automatically remove $50 from my account on Monday as per our original consolidation agreement. Once that goes through I’ll be calling them to determine how to finish it off and close out the account. Woo hoo!<br /><br />Next.<br /><br />I’ve <a href="http://fecundity1.blogspot.com/2007/11/how-much-is-it-worth-to-keep-giving.html">discussed previously</a> how much I loathe Private Bank (pseudonym), which holds Hubby’s student loans. It’s reached a new level. I’m naming names.<br /><br />Private Bank is Scotiabank.<br /><br />I’m aware that some of the Canadians reading this probably love Scotiabank and hate TD. Or BMO, or Royal or CIBC. Everyone in Canada seems to have one of the Big Five that they refuse to deal with.<br /><br />Scotiabank is mine. Here’s the latest reason.<br /><br />We decided that we would use part of our emergency fund to get rid of the Provincial Loan (PSL) that is so irritating. Hubby called them to find out how to do so. After confirming his information and identity by putting him on hold after ever question (Last name? Please hold. Date of Birth? Please hold. Social Insurance Number? Please hold.) Chickie (who refused to give her actual first name, and so receives my arbitrary derogatory nickname) announces that it’s not possible to transfer funds directly to the PSL since those accounts are not online. Hubby points out that the consolidation forms state that they can automatically withdraw monthly payments from his account, therefore they should be able to withdraw the full amount from his account given his written permission. Hubby is informed that monthly payments can only be automatic if the chequing account is from Scotiabank.<br /><br />Hubby is irritated but says that he will write a cheque, can he please be given the total amount of the loan including interest for the next three days? Chickie states that it’s not possible for her to determine what future interest will be. Hubby points out that they’re a bank and since their profits are tied to interest coming in it seems odd they’d be incapable of future projection. He asks what the daily interest was from yesterday, and says he’ll add that amount times five to the cheque.<br /><br />He dropped the cheque off at a branch yesterday. The people at the branch had no access to his provincial loan accounts (since apparently they keep them securely locked in the Stone Age), so couldn’t process it themselves, but were kind enough to put his cheque, loan document and letter directing that the cheque be used to pay off the full amount into their interdepartmental mail. I have no quarrel with the people at that particular branch.<br /><br />First issue solved, though with no help from Chickie.<br /><br />Hubby then tries to set up payments on the much larger Canada Student Loan. This one sends out statements and is reportedly available to other banks. However Hubby had already tried to set up bill payments through our PC Financial account. Scotiabank CSLs were not one of the available bills. He called PC and was helped by Shaila, who said she’d be happy to set it up for us but Scotiabank had not supplied them with a merchant number for that type of account. If Hubby could have Scotiabank contact PC or get the merchant number from them himself, Shaila would arrange it.<br /><br />Fast forward to Chickie. She laughed when Hubby asked why PC Financial didn’t have access to those accounts. Her response was that they only dealt with the other ‘old banks’ for these types of accounts. Apparently in her mind the old banks consist of Scotiabank, TD, and Royal.<br /><br />I looked it up. The Bank of Montreal is older than any of those three, and all five of them (CIBC being the fifth) are over 140 years old if you don’t count name changes. Nice argument. Quite the snob for someone working phone support. Here’s a hint: If you’re going to be condescending, do try to at least have a clue what you’re talking about. It’ll make you appear merely rude instead of rude and stupid. Still, she’s right in saying that PC is a new bank. But since its services are run through CIBC, it should have access.<br /><br />Hubby requested a merchant number for the account type and Chickie had no idea what he was talking about. She suggested that he open a Scotiabank chequing account and deal with the payments through it. Hubby valiantly refrained from telling her hell would freeze over first, and instead asked to speak to her manager since she couldn’t help him.<br /><br />Chickie hung up on him at that point. I could understand if she hung up on me, because by that point I would have been rude, vulgar and belligerent. Hubby has infinitely more patience than I do, both through natural gifts and years of working IT phone support.<br /><br />Anyway, what are we going to do?<br /><br />We have a currently unused line of credit through TD, one of the two banks deemed worthy for Scotiabank CSLs to deal with. I’ll be sending payments to it from PC, and three days later sending payments from TD to Scotiabank. We won’t pay any interest on the line of credit, though we’ll lose out on the three days of interest from PC.<br /><br />I’ll probably also draft a letter to their complaints department and cc Rick Waugh, the President and CEO. He deserves to know why we will never, ever get another service through his bank.<br /><br />Good thing he’s 'richer than you think’, because I bet he won’t care in the slightest.Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-12684517141130400172007-11-28T11:48:00.000-05:002007-12-07T10:07:04.045-05:00My big money mistake and how to avoid itThe Canadian Capitalist is <a href="http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/2007/11/22/three-years-and-counting">running a contest</a> in celebration of his third year blogoversary. He’s offering some truly snazzy prizes. Go check it out and recall your own biggest mistake for him. We’ll all learn from it.<br /><br />My biggest monetary mistake was taking eight years to graduate from university. Yep. Eight. Impressive, no?<br /><br />Why did it take me eight years? A combo of reasons, the first of which is going to sound arrogant as hell. Apologies in advance.<br /><br />I’m an intelligent person. It doesn’t always show (this being a case in point), but I score highly on IQ and other aptitude-type tests and breezed through most of my school years with no trouble at all. I never learned how to study because I never needed to. My parents never noticed the deficit. I was getting As, clearly I was doing all right.<br /><br />My grades started to fall in my upper high school years as the work got harder. Sadly, this corresponded time-wise with my highest levels of teenage insensitivity and angst, so I didn’t even try to figure out what was going wrong. Consequently I still got into the university of my choice, but I didn’t get the scholarships my earlier marks would have assured me. <strong>Financial mistake #1: Not realizing the potential savings four years of free schooling would have provided.</strong> Luckily for me, my parents were prepared to pay for my first two years, and I had enough saved up to cover the other two.<br /><br />Enter first year. Become overwhelmed with entirely new level of expectations and knowledge. Still fail to learn to study. Ergo, fail first year.<br /><br />I made a substantial effort to learn more (and drink less) and scraped through my second year, earning the credits needed to pass the first year and ending the suspension the university had placed on me for failure. But I still had no study habits or methods that I could apply regularly. <strong>Financial mistake #2: Not taking full advantage of half a free education.<br /></strong><br />Then I got married. Hubby and I moved into our first apartment. We both went to school that year and scraped a few credits out between us. Seemed Hubby had the same problems I did, for similar reasons, only he wasn’t draining his savings, he was chewing through student loans. <strong>Financial mistake #3: Wasting my own money on an education I wasn’t paying enough attention to, and allowing us to become saddled with more debt than was necessary.<br /></strong><br />I spent the next two years going to school part-time and working full time in an effort to keep us above water before taking a year off to 'rest' (from school, not work). Hubby went to school and advanced slowly, graduating in computers just in time for the dot.com crash. Suddenly the streets were filled with out-of-work programmers who had way more experience and knowledge than he did. He ended up working at <a href="http://www.timhortons.com/">Timmies</a>...not the most lucrative of positions.<br /><br />I finally went back to school full time where I was fortunate enough to meet two important people. Erica was gregarious and naturally brilliant, and spent every spare moment sucking up spare knowledge and learning everything she could from everyone around her, be they biophysics professor or homeless man, because to do otherwise was a waste of time to her. Penny was not as quick at picking things up and not as brave, but she worked like a pack mule until she understood everything she needed. I learned to love learning for the sake of it from Erica, and I finally learned how to study from Penny. Together they were unstoppable, and after three years I finally graduated with an excellent upper year average.<br /><br />Hubby went on to take a three year college diploma in computer engineering, which he worked very hard at. Guess he learned to study somewhere along the way too. I eventually landed a research position at a non-profit, and he recently started working for a now-recovered software company.<br /><br /><strong>Financial mistake summary:</strong> In total I wasted four years of my life and ended up with a $4000 student loan and an $11,000 line of credit. We also had $22,000 in Hubby’s student loans to pay.<br /><br />Couple of geniuses, that’s for sure.<br /><br /><strong>Things you could learn:<br /></strong>1) If you’re good at something, you can always become better.<br />2) Don’t under-appreciate other people’s generosity, be it institutional or familial.<br />3) Make sure your children value and nurture their gifts as much as is possible, be they academic, artistic, athletic or otherwise. Ensure they’re not bored or coasting through life without effort. It’ll bite them in the end.<br />4) Watch the spending, particularly when your income is slim to none.<br /><br />Any lessons in there that I missed?Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-65578334915062118632007-11-27T09:19:00.000-05:002007-11-27T11:56:51.259-05:00Sharing the news - Help requiredSo, this Saturday will be a big day in babyland for us.<br /><br /><br />No, no. I still have more than six months to go on this whole pregnancy train, as my morning sickness reminds me every day. I'm sure my general level of crankiness is what reminds Hubby.<br /><br />On Saturday we're having both sets of parents over for lunch at our place. Ostensibly it's an apology meal for being so busy lately that we haven't had time to socialize with them (and by busy I mean sick and tired, though not of them). In reality it's the day we've chosen to tell them to expect their first grandchild.<br /><br />I'm eleven weeks pregnant today, and close enough to the three-month mark to feel fairly confident that all is going well. I'd hoped to have undergone my first ultrasound so that I'd have a visual aid, however my parents are unavailable every weekend after this until Christmas, and the ultrasound isn't until next Tuesday. I'm sure they'd make themselves available if they knew such big news was in store, however that'd spoil the surprise.<br /><br />Reasons I want to tell them before Christmas:<br /><br />1) It's going to be increasingly difficult to hide the belly bulge that is beginning to make itself known. My pants are starting to get a bit tight, and for the first time in my life this is not a sign to lay off the crap food because I haven't been eating (much of) it.<br /><br />2) Apparently I'm such an alcoholic and cola addict that the tip-off sign to everyone who has figured it out so far is that I'm not drinking booze or Diet Pepsi. There is no way I'll be able to find a non-tip-off way out of the wine that accompanies every meal leading up to the holidays at both families' houses. Since we want both sets of parents to find out simultaneously, I can't let them figure it out on their own.<br /><br />3) I don't want to receive a bottle of my favourite expensive port from my generous in-laws for Christmas. I won't be able to touch it for at least a year (assuming breastfeeding goes well), and having it sit in my wine fridge completely untouchable will just make me cry given my overly-hormonal state these days.<br /><br />4) I don't want either set of parents to waste money buying brie and blue cheeses just for me to eat over the holidays. You're supposed to <a href="http://bodyandhealth.canada.com/channel_health_features_details.asp?health_feature_id=97&article_id=260&channel_id=2024&relation_id=18027">stay away from unpasteurized cheese while pregnant</a>, and to have it sitting in front of me...Well, see the statement about the port. Drinking 20-year-old Taylor Fladgate while eating a nice piece of blue cheese is my idea of nirvana. Hmm. Maybe I'll just have that cry right now.<br /><br />5) I want to tell my far flung relatives about the pregnancy in their Christmas cards. It'll be nice to have a piece of interesting news to share for once, and it'll save on overseas postage and phone calls if I do it all together. However, I can't tell Uncle Mort if I haven't told Dad yet, can I?<br /><br />6) Some of the friends who know we're expecting have family in the same small town as our parents live. They've been very good about keeping the secret so far, but it's bound to come out over the holidays. And in a small town, once someone knows, everyone knows.<br /><br />7) This is where I get selfish. I'd like to receive some baby-oriented gifts for Christmas. A gift card from Toys"R"Us will be more useful than one from Best Buy. Sorry Hubby.<br /><br />So, all four of the parents will be told this weekend. The question remaining is how. This is where I need your help. <br /><br />If you've had kids, how did you tell your families, especially about the first one? If you haven't but are planning to, how have you dreamed of doing it? Feel free to share your stories in the comments. I need all the ideas I can get.Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-53544234739330381332007-11-26T09:16:00.000-05:002007-11-26T09:35:06.142-05:00Christmas Spending: Gaining control and keeping it'Tis the season for spending money. Since everyone is probably well into the mindset of the holidays, I thought I might share how I try to keep control of my spending as I gear up for Christmas.<br /><br />Christmas is the big buying holiday that my family celebrates, but it can work for any of the other religious or cultural annual events as well. If you celebrate Diwali, Eid, Hanukkah, Kwansaa, Winter Solstice or anything else I've left out, adjust accordingly for your traditions, be they gift-giving, wearing new clothing, giving charitable donations, holding a feast, or otherwise.<br /><br /><strong>Step 0: Start doing everything that follows in January so you can save up for it and take your time.<br /></strong>I’ll assume that you haven’t done so this year (usually I have, but this year I stupidly didn’t), but that you’ll think about doing it next.<br /><br /><strong>Step 1: Figure out who you have to buy for.<br /></strong>My list consists of my parents, my grandmother, Hubby’s parents, brother and two surviving grandparents, my niece, our eight closest friends, two children of friends, and whoever’s name I pull out of the office Secret Santa hat. Don’t forget that you’ll probably send Christmas cards to people you don’t send gifts to, which naturally involves postage.<br /><br /><strong>Step 2: Figure out how much you can afford to spend.<br /></strong>This may be a very different amount from what you wish to spend, or what you spent last year. I’m hoping to spend around $500. I’d been planning on $1000, but since I became pregnant my financial priorities have changed significantly. Sorry to my family for the cheaper gifts, but you’ll have the grandchild you’ve been harping about for eons sometime next June.<br /><br /><strong>Step 3: Divide your total spending budget among your recipients.</strong><br />Keep a reserve of extra money for those ‘great deals’ or ‘oh, it’s perfects’ that’ll otherwise blow the budget. I’m planning on breaking up the bucks along these lines:<br /><br />Mom & Dad: $70<br />Granny: $25<br />In-laws: $70<br />Granny-in-law: $25<br />Grandpa-in-law: $25<br />Brother-in-law: $15<br />Couple friends 1: $25<br />Couple friends 2: $25<br />Couple friends 3: $25<br />Single friend 1: $20<br />Single friend 2: $20<br />Niece: $25<br />Friends’ kid 1: $15<br />Friends’ kid 2: $15<br />Secret Santa gifts: $15<br />Christmas cards: $10<br />Stamps for cards: $30<br />Wrapping paper: $15<br /><br />Total: $470; $30 worth of breathing room.<br /><br /><strong>Step 4: Start coming up with ideas.</strong><br />Brainstorm with your partner if you have one. Check catalogues and flyers. Browse online. Ponder your recipients personalities, hobbies and upcoming life events. Think about your beliefs and values. Try to put off strolling the mall until absolutely necessary, unless you have the willpower of a saint and a lock worthy of Fort Knox on your wallet.<br /><br /><strong>Step 5: Take advantage of your skills.<br /></strong>Can you bake? Sew? Knit? Paint? Are you an amateur photographer? Good with wood? Like scrap booking? $10 worth of ingredients can be turned into a fortune in cookies if you have the know-how and a recipient with a sweet tooth. Same goes for yarn and blankets or scarves. Lumber and furniture or frames. Creativity and time can make an inexpensive idea really mean something to someone. But keep it appropriate. No fudge for a diabetic, no mittens for a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowbird_(people)">snowbird</a>.<br /><br />I’ve made pies in the past. I’ve found cheap photo frames and filled them with a montage of old family photos I dug up from the basement. I’ve decoupaged <a href="http://www.glad.com/containers/">Gladware</a> (hint sandpaper the outside first) into holiday cookie containers and filled it with yummies. All of these take time and effort, but save money.<br /><br /><strong>Step 6: Use child labour if it’s available.</strong><br />No. I don’t condone sweat shops. Trent at <a href="http://www.thesimpledollar.com/">The Simple Dollar</a> mentioned picking up <a href="http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/11/20/kids-christmas-and-frugality-eight-tips/">end rolls from your local newspaper</a> for a couple of bucks and letting your kids loose with the holiday crayons or markers as a way to make cheap and personal giftwrap. I think it’s a brilliant idea, though I of course haven’t tried it yet. You can probably do the same with thick cardstock to make your Christmas cards.<br /><br />If you’re artistic yourself (which I most certainly am not), you could make cards and/or wrapping paper in a similar (if more elegant) way and have them be much lovelier than what you’ll find in stores.<br /><br /><strong>Step 6: Hit the stores, either online or in real life, with your budget and idea list in hand.<br /></strong>Obviously the earlier you start this, the more time you’ll have to find the perfect gift at the perfect price. Try to be firm. That $85 sweater may be perfect for your sister, but if you’ve only budgeted $50, it’s going to cause a problem. Keep the sweater in mind. You can probably find something similar for cheaper somewhere else. And if you’re lucky it’ll be even more perfect.<br /><br /><strong>Step 7: Don’t resign yourself to it if you’ve blown it.<br /></strong>In a moment of weakness you’ve spent three times what you were supposed to on a massive snow globe for Uncle Mort. You have three choices.<br /><br />Option 1: Suffer through it, cursing yourself when the Visa bill comes in January.<br />Option 2: Head back to the store and return it.<br />Option 3: Futz with the budget and spend less on everyone else.<br /><br />Obviously I recommend option 2, and suggest option 3 only if the store won’t take it back. Which reminds me: make sure you know the exchange and return policies. You can get great deals on Final Sale purchases, but you better be sure you really want them.<br /><br /><strong>Step 8: Enjoy the conclusion.</strong><br />Okay. You’ve finally purchased everything you need. You’ve wrapped it all, sent off the cards and the distance gifts, had the big day, stuffed yourself with turkey and/or ham, given out some of your gifts in person, received some in return.<br /><br />Whew. Glad that’s all over and done.<br /><br /><strong>It’s time to analyse a few things:<br /></strong>How’d it go overall?<br />Did your recipients like your gifts? If not, why not?<br />Did you stay on or near budget? If not, why not?<br />What went well and what went badly?<br /><br />Once you have the answers to those, you’ll be able to start getting a handle on next year. Christmas stuff is usually on sale and some great bargains can often be found during Boxing Week and early January. Just don’t forget to plan all the steps that come before the buying stage, or you’ll still end up with the brutal Visa bill.<br /><br />What? You just finished Christmas? You’re far too tired and emotionally wrung out to start preparing for next year right now?<br /><br />Fair enough. Solution? Take a month off and start in February. $10 saved a week starting in February will give about $470 (plus interest) by December 25th. That’s my whole budget for this year. If you can save more, great. If you can save less, great. Knowing way ahead of time what your budget will be gives you more time to find gifts at the prices you want.<br /><br />Hopefully next year I listen to my own advice.<br /><br />Best of luck!Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-77507945985960517182007-11-23T10:04:00.000-05:002007-11-23T15:01:47.040-05:00Investing adventures<p><a href="http://www.moolanomy.com/">Moolanomy</a> is hosting a <a href="http://www.moolanomy.com/294/giveaway-share-your-investing-story-for-a-chance-to-win-a-book/">contest</a> on investing stories. I’m not interested in entering the contest, since I just <a href="http://blog.canadian-dream-free-at-45.com/?p=277">won another one</a>, but I thought it might be a good story to post about anyway.<br /><br /><a href="http://plonkee.com/">Plonkee</a> has <a href="http://plonkee.com/2007/11/23/an-investing-story/">recommended that all investing stories be boring</a>, which is very good advice. My current <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RRSP">RRSP</a> investing strategy is somewhat boring, and will get more so as time goes by:<br /><br /></p><ul><li>I invested first in a Canadian equity fund. It’s doing very well.</li><li>I then invested in a Canadian monthly income fund which <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dividend_reinvestment_program">DRIP</a>s with satisfying drabbles back into itself every month. It’s not particularly high yielding, but it balances my otherwise heavy equity (higher risk) funds.</li><li>Next I bought a global equity fund. It grew so fast that it’s now frozen to new purchases while its managers figure out what to do with all the spare cash lying around in it. High risk, but high profit so far.</li><li>Since I couldn’t put more money into that fund, I spent another couple of weeks finding a second global fund to invest in, which I then did. I’ve only had it for a month. It’s up a bit, but that’s meaningless over so short a timeframe.</li><li>My next set of cash will go into a low-cost S&P/TSX composite index fund. I’m just waiting until I have the minimum investment required for the one I want.</li><li>I’ve been starting to check out bond funds for more diversification, but since I believe interest rates will rise over the next few years (and therefore bond prices will fall), I’m not sure it’s the best time for it. Correct me if I’m wrong on the logic of that sentiment; I’m certainly not a market expert, and I’m more ignorant of bonds and bond funds than I am of pretty much anything else out there.</li></ul><p>I’m still fairly young. I’ll slowly move into safer investments as I age, but right now I want growth since I still have time to make up for losses.<br /><br />I do have one interesting investing experience, however. One that thankfully was no risk to me, but cost my father quite a few bucks. He was an investment advisor before he retired, which he did quite comfortably I might add. I have the postcards from around the world to prove it.<br /><br />When I was about 20, Dad had a look through my incredibly boring portfolio (about $10,000 in a single mutual fund, not tax-protected) and said “If I guarantee your initial investment, would you let me play the market a bit with this?”<br /><br /><em>Um, so if you lose money you’ll give me back my $10,000, but if you gain money it’s mine?<br /><br />Duh. Go for it.</em><br /><br />So he did. He sold my boring and low-yielding fund, and bought some shares in a software company. They did great. He sold at the right time for a tidy profit. Sadly, the next investment was not so well timed. The company in question was due to come out with this great new product. It tanked, as did their share prices before Dad could get back out of it, and my portfolio was down to a measly $1700.<br /><br />Happily for me, Dad gave me roughly $10,000 in nice solid <a href="http://www.stockhouse.ca/comp_info.asp?drawChart=1&originalSymbol=RY&economy=0&originalTable=list&advanced=1&chart_symbol=T.RY&priceDisplay=1&duration=72&moveavg1=&moveavg2=&movecolor1=ff3300&movecolor2=66cc66&addchart=0&Submit.x=41&Submit.y=16">Royal Bank of Canada</a> shares from his own portfolio. Since I received them, they’ve split twice. I paid for two years of university with them, and I still have about $11,000 worth, give or take a grand depending on the month. Nice.<br /><br />Lessons learned: </p><ul><li>The market is tough, even if you’re a professional.</li><li>I don’t have the stomach for buying and selling stocks. I prefer a buy and hold strategy of a solid stock from a solid company.</li><li>I like the diversification inherent in mutual funds.</li><li>Dad keeps his promises, even when they hurt.</li></ul><p>Luckily, those lessons didn’t cost me a thing. Dad sucked up an $8300 loss, but it didn’t harm him too badly or for very long, and I think he had a bit of fun trying to make me rich.<br /><br />Win some, lose some. Learn from it. Move on.<br /><br />Now I just have to convince Hubby that just because his US equity fund is currently tanking it doesn’t mean the market is out to get him. It just means the American market is having a rough time, compounded by the change in exchange rates between our dollars. Two issues which I’m sure some of you have suffered as well. </p>Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-59996553785144921902007-11-22T11:18:00.000-05:002007-11-22T11:56:32.875-05:00How much am I expected to help?My friend is starting her own business...sort of.<br /><br />She’s joined up with one of the retail groups that does ‘parties’. Some sell cosmetics, some candles, some knick knacks, some cookware. The company she’s joined sells spices. Which I must admit are pretty good. I bought a few last night.<br /><br />I like to go to these things occasionally. I’ve bought cookware at one, and a couple of candles from another. They’re sometimes a nice night out where I can spend time with other women and look at girly things. I’m not a particularly girly girl, but I do like to pretend every once in a while.<br /><br />I’m happy for her that she’s started to do something she thinks she’ll enjoy, which has the potential to bring in some extra cash. She just got married and they bought a house, which means they’re a bit strapped at the moment.<br /><br />The problem is my friend is pushing me to host a sales party for her.<br /><br />I really don’t want to.<br /><br />I have few female friends, and the ones I do have were at the party she ran last night. My coworkers tend to be male. My mother loathes sales parties with a passion, and although my mother-in-law loves them, I don’t want to invite her to something where she’ll feel obligated to buy things she can’t afford and isn’t supposed to eat for health reasons.<br /><br />Even if I did have a large group of women to call upon, I don’t really want to be the hostess. I’m tired, and large groups of people in my home aren’t my thing on a good day, especially if I don’t know them well.<br /><br />So, am I being selfish by not helping my friend out as she begins selling and networking? Or can I bow out of this gracefully without looking like a bitch?Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378291834535464792.post-9623203543073402282007-11-21T09:59:00.000-05:002007-11-21T10:04:43.012-05:00Welcome to a Winter WonderlandWoke up this morning to see about 8 centimetres of snow outside my windows. Apparently winter has arrived wholeheartedly. I’m fairly certain I didn’t place that order.<br /><br />I did some early morning shovelling with Hubby to clear the driveway. Looks like we’ll have to do it again tonight too. Exercise is good for us, right?<br /><br />Also reminded Hubby not to get used to the help. He’ll be on his own in a couple of months on the shovelling front. Just when it’ll get truly unpleasant, too. Maybe pregnancy side-effects aren’t <em>all</em> bad.<br /><br />Hopefully the snow will melt by the weekend, which is when we’ll be putting up the Christmas lights. Have to buy a couple more LED strings for the giant evergreen we have in the front yard. We only had two strings on it last year, and the poor thing looked more like a DNA strand than a Christmas tree.<br /><br />Hmm, also better pick up some salt/sand for the driveway too. Wouldn’t want the mailman maiming himself. Not so sure if I care about the guy who reads the utility meters.<br /><br />I’m kidding! Mostly...<br /><br />What the snow has really reinforced for me is that unlike most years, I haven’t even started Christmas shopping yet. This is a profound lack of planning on my part. It’s not like I didn’t know it was coming; I’m pretty sure it arrives on December 25th every year.<br /><br />So, I guess I’ll have to get myself to a mall this weekend as well. It’ll be just me, Hubby, and the 453,867 other procrastinators in town.<br /><br />Fun times.Fecundityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07357725319777178709noreply@blogger.com3