Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Everyday Stuff

Our neighbourhood is starting a community gardening plot. We got our papers yesterday and for our $35 fee, we will get group lectures on planting and cultivating prized produce.

D is super excited about this. We haven't started any seedlings over the winter so that will mean we may be buying some if we want tomatoes etc. on time. We are hoping this year's growing campaign will exceed last year's.

I braved up and called my insurer about the increase in our home insurance rates with this year's renewal (I dread being on hold...). We got the notice early March and with all the excitement around D's job, I hadn't got around calling yet.

Didn't really get a clear explanation about the rate increase other than the usual cost of living adjustment and cost of home rebuilds going up -- replacement value of our home has gone up to 705K.

Turns out we have a couple of optional coverages that can be dropped. I'm going sleep overnight on it and decide tomorrow. Dropping them will mean around a $15 decrease per month.

I had read somewhere you get a pretty significant discount on home insurance if you are mortgage free -- anywhere from 15 - 20%. We own the cottage outright so I asked. The discount only applies to your primary home. Something to remember when the time comes.

I know a few bloggers who will be eligible for this discount in the not too distant near future... :)

D is going to scout out day parking rates around his work today. As he is going to need to be at a particular office once a week, it won't make sense to keep paying for a monthly parking pass.

Is it my imagination or have you found food companies actually making more individually package products than ever? How is that environmentally friendly? Is it so hard to offer even larger packages so that one can divide it up using reusable containers to save on garbage?

My laptop has been finally sent off to get looked at. D helped me off load all my stuff and it has been sitting in its shipping box since last week. I was (not so) patiently waiting for the UPS shipping label to come.

Turns out the system had changed and I was suppose to contact UPS and they email the label now. I had to call HP back to find that out -- not impressed. Someone forgot to give me the number. Anyways, it is off now and with any luck, should get it back in 1 1/2 weeks or so. It's amazing how quickly you get used to your machine.

2 comments:

  1. A community garden sounds exciting. I believe there's one in our town. Perhaps I'll check it out. Right now I just have some herbs growing outside. With the warm spring weather, they're doing quite well. My pear tree is blooming; hopefully we'll get to eat some before deer eats all of it.

    I do see smaller packages inside a large bag or box. I don't know why they do that... Is there a demand for it?

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  2. Hi Sandra!

    We aren't the world's greatest gardeners so this will be a good thing for us. Plus we'll get to meet some more neighbours.

    Pretty cool to have fruit trees! You could always consider making preserves if you cannot eat the fruit directly.

    I think the smaller packaging is to help parents with kids' lunches and adults to manage portion sizes better...all that 100 calorie stuff...

    If we managed our self control better, then it would make it un-necessary!

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