Get rid of 0.01% interest accounts. Unless inside a TFSA. - Got a promotional interest rate hike, but it went back to crap interest rates afterwards.
Watch our banker and how heās investing our money. Track it myself. - I have not been doing thisā¦and need to.
Research regular GICs vs. Market Linked GICs.
Talk to doctor about going for DTC backpay. - I talked with her, but the effort failed. She insisted she did everything the government wanted, and the government insisted she didnāt. Iāve had my disability since 1998. I lost thousands of dollars through someoneās incompetence or laziness. I donāt like thinking about it. It raises my blood pressure.
Top up smaller GICs to $5000 each. - One done, one more to go!
Thatās the end of the financial review for 2025 so far.
I am adding a new budget category for sales supplies. I had to spend another $35 yesterday on more storage and labels at Dollarama. Hopefully that covers everything I need!
Since itās still week 1, can I revise my goals based on my new information and save my magic recast for later in the month if I need it?
The new information is:
I forgot about Halloween
We found bedbugs in LBās room. As his upholstery-and-wood bed frame was infested, we threw it out and are accelerating the plan to buy him the loft bed heās been begging for.
So this chart is showing revised spending goals and what we have spent so far.
ETA: I had to come back in again because I forgot I still owe a thousand dollars on the solar panels. This is gonna be real ugly.
I hesitated to ālikeā this. Bedbugs and outstanding debt are bad news! But Iām impressed with how you laid things out and that you are setting priorities. You go!
To be clear, they have not yet finished billing me for the solar panels! I get the last bill when the system goes on the grid, which should be any day now. I mean, not that it matters really. That money probably has to come out of the HSA (using unreimbursed medical expenses from 2020), which was always the plan when we decided not to finance the panels.
Good thing to not finance them because we have solar panels stuck in our yard despite being paid off because weāre still under contract with tesla for another year.
Sleep Budget: I met or exceeded the sleep budget 3 days, 1 day was just shy by 6 minutes, and one day I guess I did not wear my watch to bed because I have no data (). Not including the no data day (because I legit have no idea), Iām going to say Iām on track. Especially if you average over all the days.
Meals Budget: I managed to eat 3 āmealsā every day so far. I say āmealsā because once lunch was mozzarella cheese and olives, and once dinner was a grilled cheese sandwich. Nevertheless, I have been getting close to target nutrition each day (at least, more consistently) every day, probably because of this effort. I almost always have a āsnackā meal, and that helps too (sometimes it is a protein shake, though this week it has been only 2 times. I have been setting alarms at 10am, 2pm, and 6pm that ask me āhave you eaten?ā and honestly, I think this is helping.
Craft Supply Budget: I have not bought anything yet, so, success so far.
Quick check in as I figure out how this month is going to go.
Food, $46/$250āThis was mostly for a fridge/perishables stock-up since I cleaned things out in preparation for being goneā¦onions/potatoes/peppers/apples/bananas/eggs/cheese/yogurt+bag of unplanned cuties since they were there. The plan for this month is to spend a lot of time eating out of the pantry/freezer though.
Sports/health/hobbies, $0/$100āDid a quick flip back through, and most of the overage has been some extra scuba classes in preparation for the trip, which should be done. But Iāll keep watching because a couple extra shows have crept in too.
Trip refund/reimbursement, 39%/80%āThis was the easy part, the international flight, especially since when I called the airline they were very clear that they wanted me to take the full refund rather than try to reschedule (no surprise since they still havenāt landed anything there since it all started). If I get refunds on everything Iāve requested that number should go to 73%, and then depending on what travel insurance covers in a force majeure situation I might get back another 5-10%. There is a chunk of stuff Iām just writing off (everything I reserved in-country, travel meds, some specific clothes Iāve picked up over the last year), although Iām still trying to decide what to do about the camera since even used it was by far the most expensive of the new supplies.
Gifts, $0/no specific budgetāNeed to start planning for this since I was originally planning to deal with this traveling, but now I need to plan on end-of-year stuff. One nephling will be getting the big magnatiles dino set since I grabbed that out of clearance (suspect it shouldnāt have been there, but I sure as heck wasnāt going to leave it behind) for their birthday next year, but it can be Christmas instead. But that still leaves another nephling and other family/friends/local charities.
Lol well no spend weekend didnāt happen. Itās been really hard to do Costco trips lately, and my back felt good enough to go today after hiking, so I jumped on it while I could. I was out of several things, and a couple of my staple quick snacks/foods are on sale this month, so I got multiples of a few (heavenly hunks, soup dumplings and nurri protein drinks). I think I spent $160 on groceries, which was more than I planned. Itās hard when sales donāt align with budgets, especially on items that you use all the time and want to stock up on at the cheaper price. I also got the $30 shelf and $10 set of bins I budgeted for in my goals for the month. I also realized I was out of laundry detergent and it was on sale so I got that while I was there, making me $5 over my $50 home budget.
I also placed a $50 grocery delivery order (I use my parents free delivery) for produce items that I donāt get at Costco. Between Costco and this produce, I am set for at least 2 weeks, which will keep me on track for my grocery budget goal
I forgot to update on Saturday
My budget for October is pretty much āno extraneous spendingā so that I can pay down some credit card debt.
Iām trying to keep my groceries under $600, pet spending under $50, and āmiscā spending under $100 (there were some surprise vet appointments last month, hence the credit card debt. Everyone is fine, just not my budget).
Another budget-adjacent goal is to spend october figuring out how to bring in some extra income, and figuring out a few more places to cut spending.
Forgot to update on the weekend, so Iām going to now for week one of October on the assumption no dollars will move tomorrow. So far this month:
$1030 is accounted for, estimating from utilities from last month.
$815 has already left accounts, another $35 is guaranteed.
I expect another $100-150 in groceries or miscellanea for a total closer to $1200.
Hi there! My week one update is that I was off the grid at a farm house with some friends for a couple days reading and doing crafts. I did not have time to set up YNAB before I left, but Iām doing that today! I did think about my budget while I was there and almost handwrote it out, but decided to wait til I got back.
All my goals were medical (pay the med bills I owe and donāt pay the ones I donāt owe), but we have open enrollment coming up and so I did some of that.
I put the new rates and reduced benefits and shit into my spreadsheet to see what our best options are for the coming year. I always calculate best case scenario, worst case scenario, and meet the deductible. Once again, the high deductible plan is the lowest overall cost in all three categories. I did double check today what the cost of our various prescriptions would be before meeting the deductible, because one of the more expensive plans has a much smaller out of pocket max for prescriptions only. But it doesnāt look like thereās any way we could hit that even with all my new heart medicines. So Iām thinking high deductible plan it is.
I am in! Forgot to post to say so, but I am definitely in.
Try very hard to not spend on anything for as many days this month as I can. I log it in an app. Going for all spending, and then will roll that back to frivolous spending either as the month progresses, or next month.
Dropping Ā£1000 on the second motorbike last month had me really scraping along the bottom for a while. That was my total savings basically. But I needed wheels. Soā¦
The blue moped AND this new-to-me motorbike both fell over in the recent storm, which was very unfortunate, but so far, fingers crossed, there seems to be no damage, except some scrapes to the centre stand of the moped. Am now charging the battery of this moped because I need to sell it to pay for my big bike test laster this month.
A friend of someone I met at a local bike nite has offered me Ā£700 for it. Someone else lowballed me with an offer of Ā£500. First person runs a small bike shop in a city where it would be good for delivery riders. I could sell it privately, but am not sure I have the oomph. Paid Ā£850 for it back in June. Would have loved to make that back, but itās not starting reliably atm, so I think itās best just offloaded. The convenience, and the fact that heāll pay me cash, certainly appeals. Money goes towards convenience I guess.
My close friend really wants me to get a car for the winter. In some ways Iād much rather get some heated clothing for the bike. But a car or a van also appeals. Found one today for Ā£550, which needs some work I think I could do (new radiator and so on), but itās a bit far away. Getting it brought here would cost around 250-300. The radiator would be Ā£70. Orā¦ you know, I could just save up and get something that works.
Earned ~$150 this morning selling crafting supplies. Less than half as much as last month. Thankfully it covered the sales bin costs. They were about $80. But my! It doesnāt begin to cover the amount of work I put into it.
People did comment favourably on the bins though. And they were much easier and quicker to set up and put away.
I did take orders, and thereās a few more stragglers picking up supplies. So hopefully my income will go up for this month.
Got a promotional interest rate hike, but it went back to crap interest rates afterwards.
). Not including the no data day (because I legit have no idea), Iām going to say Iām on track. Especially if you average over all the days.
I forgot to update on Saturday 
Thankfully it covered the sales bin costs. They were about $80. But my! It doesnāt begin to cover the amount of work I put into it.