Monday, March 23, 2009

Monday

The weekend went by really fast. We got a big pile of magazines out of the house as well as a pile of books ready to go for donation. Didn't get as much cleaning as I had hoped for but it is a work in progress. The nice bright sunshine lured us out.

Turned out that a client's dad of a friend owns a maple sugar farm so I managed to get (OK don't laugh) 2 litres of maple syrup for $20! We usually buy small bottles for $9 so now have enough to feed several families.

Continuing on the house front, we are re-jigging the layout of a couple of rooms to make it more functional. I have exercise equipment I want to move upstairs as I do not wish to work out in the same room as the kitty litter.

The tomato (2 types), basil, bean, cucumber, chive and pepper seeds got planted. We invested in some grow lights to help them on their way.

When I checked the gov. site to see if they had done anything with my tax return, I was surprised to find that it had been assessed and they are planning to send my cheque this Thursday. I am very pleased about it and cannot believe how little time it took (1 week!). I was hoping to have the money in hand in time for my Nfld trip as it will pay for my accommodations.

The spreadsheet has been changed again to reflect some more savings. This time I will be reducing slightly my dream account. I won't be investing until I know for sure there will not be another major purchase.

With D taking a hard line on wanting to pay "his" portion of the mortgage sans help from me, I brought up my concern for the time when the mortgage comes up for renewal in the next 3 1/2 - 4 yrs. We would likely not be able to get the same type of mortgage as we have now, therefore be subjected to what the world will be like at the time.

To me, that's risky. I know there are legions of people renewing all the time but personally, I cannot wait until the time when I no longer play in that arena. I am hoping that all the savings I will be doing in the next few years will grow at least more than our mortgage is costing so that should I need to cash it in to pay out the mortgage, we come out ahead.

Just got a message from D that my front brakes will need to be replaced. So with the 4 new all season tires, my bill today will be around $820. Ouch! But considering it is an 11 yr old vehicle and only the 2nd time I've had to buy regular tires and brakes, with 285000 km under its belt, I cannot complain. My rear brakes, which has never been replaced still has 40% life.

2 comments:

  1. Mortgages are very different in canada! I take it all loans are adjustable rates? It would be interesting to compare typical mortgages from one country to the next.

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  2. Hi Miss M!

    I am only one of 2 of my friends who have a variable. Most of the people I know have a fixed rate mortgage.

    In Canada, we can have up to a 35yr amortization but we cannot get a fixed rate for the entire time. Most of us have terms of 5 yrs and under so have to renew it a number of times over the life of a mortgage.

    Our current amortization is 9 yrs and our current terms will expire in another 3 1/2 - 4 yrs so we will likely have one more 5 yr stint before it is all over.

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