#127 Parental Missed CommunicaShawn

Spoke to my parents for a couple of minutes on Monday and we agreed to a call tonight to discuss an Excel spreadsheet I made for the to manage expenses for the family cottage because, as I mentioned prior we will be contributing to them.

She was to have called by 7:30pm, I called at 8:15pm   one was watching cat videos on the web, the other was in bed (the one that agreed to the call) Mom was too tired to talk about it tonight.

I knew this would happen.  They are Cash Blocking us. At every turn they are trying to put the kibosh on letting us help. I've now mailed two checks and had to remind them that I can see whether or not they have cashed the checks.  I heard an audible groan from my Mom. 

So help me they are going to take our money, or else...

...or else I'll ground them and take away their TV and Internet privileges. So help me, I'll do it!

#082 VacaShawn PreparaShawn

A penny saved is a penny earned. 

Hmmm,  maybe that needs to be changed to a nickel saved is a nickel earned. 

Marcel and I do 4 little things to save money for our annual vacation to the Maritimes. They are so simple and easy, anybody can do it, practically in your sleep.

1- We put all out pocket change in a jar. 

You'd be really surprised how much and how fast it piles up. From Sept to Jan alone we had over $300.00! And as I have a TD Canada Trust bank account, they offer a FREE coin counting / cash in service. (As opposed to those coin machines in Grocery Stores etc that generally have a $0.10 - $0-12 on the dollar fee. At TD if you have an account there is no fee.  And even for those that do not have an account there it's still better at only $0.08 on the dollar.) You don't even have to count and roll the coin, you just dump the coin in their counter machine. Easy Peasy.

2- Bottle Deposit Returns. 

All the Pop Bottles, Beer Bottles and occasional Cans we collect week to week get taken to the Grocery store return machines. (Last year we had over $30)

3- Any monies won on Lotto Tickets. 

Granted this does not amount to very much, but there are the odd $2s and $5s.

4- We occasionally buy pre-paid gas cards. 

A $25 card here, or $50 card there and soon you have all your gas money for your trip account for in advance!

I just did a quick tally today to see how we're doing, and I'm pleased to say we are well on our way to surpassing last years' amount of $935.

Currently we have $675 and another $275 in Gas Cards. And there's still another 5 months to go.

All money goes toward our Car Rental, Gas and Hotel Room (for the drive down and back).

Our goal is to have, at a minimum the car, gas and hotel rentals paid in advance, leaving any other monies for mad money. And alleviating putting so much on credit card.

These are all rather simple and painless methods. Take really no fore-thought and doesn't affect our "day to day".

Let's face it , we all want to go on Vacation, but when the bills come in after, it's a little painful...  well not any more.

Cha-Ching!