I remember the cheesecake my best friend make for my birthday while we were in university. Talk about living on a tight budget. But do you know, it was the best cheesecake I’ve ever had. It was such a nice gesture and delicious too. I’ve since made a couple myself  and compared to buying them, it’s much, much cheaper. It doesn’t take very long to make a cake and you can’t put a value on the thought. It’s a special treat!

Tonight the girls and I made a chocolate cake for the birthday boy in the house. He’s turning 39 tomorrow and will be the lucky recipient of a delicious chocolate cake made from a recipe that I grew up with. It originally came from a neighbour who lived down the road. Topped with butter icing, it is YUMMY! 

The girls had so much fun making it, they could barely contain themselves as it was baking. There was a lot of ‘checking’ the cake and jumping around. So much for the element of surprise for Dad!

I could probably price out what it cost to make but know intuitively that it was a fraction of the cost of buying one never mind how much enjoyment it will give the birthday boy and the kids.

Fall is a great time of year to enjoy hearty meals that warm your belly and your home but not by breaking the food budget. I recently read in a book that the number of servings that a hotel restaurant plans for from an average size turkey is 15. Now, the book was written in the 50’s and it didn’t say what average is but you get the picture. In fact, only ever having cooked 1 turkey in my life, it crystallized my experience. The roasting went well, really well and we shared the meal with friends but after the 3rd serving of Turkey Enchiladas (what we used the leftovers to make), I was a little tired of it. The point is though, that the 30 pound turkey which we got ‘for free’ by spending $250 at a grocery store went a very long way.

My list of favourite fall meals that are relatively easy to prepare and go a long way:

• Roast Turkey with 2nd run as Turkey Enchiladas, sandwiches and soup (or at least stock which can be frozen and used later)
• Soups such as Butternut Squash Soup or Red Pepper Yam Soup are less than $5 to make a pot large enough for 8+ servings
• Crock Pot casseroles such as Chicken Hunter, Shredded Roast (you can use a more reasonably priced cut of meat but it tastes just as good with long cooking) or Chili (add some Tea Biscuits or Cornbread and dinner is substantial)
• Meat sauce for Spaghetti or as the base for Lasagna
• All the meat from roast chicken can be combined with black beans, vegetables, lime and cilantro to make the base for Chicken Taco Salad (just add rice, iceberg lettuce, taco chips, salsa, cheese and sour cream) and the bones can be used for soup or stock

A few ideas that can go a long way in terms of several servings and nutrition without putting you over budget.

Enjoy!

Our kids are at the age where there opinions are becoming more and more defined. Particularly when it comes to what they prefer for presents and while I think it’s great for family (grandparents, aunties and uncles) taking the kids to chose what they would like or giving an ‘experience’, I’m sure I’m not the only one who has found gifts from kids’ birthday parties unused several months or a year later. This bothers me and I’m not sure why. 

I also find it amazing how many birthday parties our kids are invited to. I simply don’t remember going to that many birthday parties as a child. What it means for the parents hosting is a lot of planning and organizing. The guests’ parents find themselves buying many presents and wrapping them. I hope they are enjoyed!

Recently a family sent a birthday invite on behalf of their son and I was very impressed. They simply requested that in lieu of gifts, each guest give $5 and their son was going to divide the total into 3 portions to donate, save and buy a gift of their choice. I don’t know what you think of the idea but I loved it! There are so many concepts that they touch on with this proposal – great education AND so easy on the parents!!! I wonder what he’ll choose. 

Common sense tells us that keeping in good health is the right thing to do but sometimes, you can’t control what happens. Last Friday I had knee surgery to reconstruct my ACL (due to a soccer injury) and I consider myself very lucky. Granted, going in for surgery provokes anxiety and the rehabilitation process is not going to be a cake walk but my health and mobility is extremely important to me and my lifestyle. Even though I’m on the other side of 40, I still play two sports competitively (well, as much as the Classics Division allows!), ski and enjoy a very active life. Not to mention the activities that we are involved in as a family with two young children.

These are the reasons I feel lucky:

• I got the surgery
• I live in Canada and the surgery is covered by MSP
• I work for an organization that has a good benefit plan which covers the post-surgery medication, a certain amount of physiotherapy and allows me to take sick leave for the first few days when you are to be immobile

Physio is not cheap but it is critical to rehabbing well. It is the care required so I can return to my pre-injury lifestyle and sports and if it wasn’t at least partially covered through work, I would be paying for it all myself. I’m not taking it for granted and am prepared to do the work and have the self-discipline to commit to the daily exercises. The reason I know how much work it is – is because this time, the ACL surgery is on my other knee! The other knee was reconstructed 9 years ago. 

It makes me think of the importance in having the right coverage to support you and your family during an illness or injury – at least partially. Illnesses or accidents can happen on a regular basis to any of us. We can do our part by living well through diet and exercise but the other responsibility is financial preparation. This may take the form of benefit coverage through your employer and/or privately and/or a contingency fund. The thing is, when you’re ‘off work’, there’s often less or no money coming in. How will you pay your bills?

We can calculate the cost of such an event after the fact however putting a value on your health in terms of the ability to live life the way you want is more difficult. Better to put measures in place now.

This is a great time of year to start saving because summer is over and it’s ahead of the holiday season. How much is enough? That is the question. For many of us, we assume we are limited by what’s left over at the end of the month. How about approaching it a different way?

1. Decide what you want to save for (retirement, big purchase, holiday)
2. Determine the amount you will need
3. Estimate how long you have to save
4. Divide the amount by the number of months to determine the monthly amount to save
5. Do you have enough after your expenses are paid to save this amount each month? 

If not, are you prepared to cut down on something else to make sure you save each month?  If your budget is simply too tight right now, then start with what you can save and increase it when either you earn more money or reduce expenses. 

To make it easy on yourself, set up an automatic savings transfer from your regular bank account to a savings account on a monthly date (mid month?) that works for you. It won’t take long for it to add up!

The squirrels are busy, busy this time of year. The chestnuts hardly hit the ground and they’re gathering them up and stashing them away. How about you? Are you setting aside for your future?

It’s not easy to do with all the competing demands on our pay checks but if we don’t save for our future, what is the alternative? The government may provide some income assistance or pension but not enough to live on. Family and friends will have their own financial responsibilities. The best plan is to be able to rely on ourselves.

The future may not even be very far away. Stories of bumps in the road that disrupt regular pay checks are not uncommon. The best way to weather a storm is to be prepared. For some this may be making a plan and setting aside enough each month or year to meet the plan but for others it will be finding funds, scrimping, saving and balancing money needed tomorrow with future financial needs. 

The bright side is that it’s amazing how quickly money set aside can grow and accumulate.  A little here, extra hours or overtime paid there – if it’s tucked away with a ‘do not touch’ sign on it, you will have some savings in no time.

It’s been a little over a week since we returned home after a fabulous summer vacation and the return to regular life is a bit of a shock.

Did you take holidays over the summer? Did you do something fun? A trip, travel or staycation? How much did it cost compared to your budget or are you waiting for the bills to roll in to find out? Or perhaps you are hoping to avoid doing the tally 🙂

By the time the credit card bills come in the mail or online, we’ve moved on to the start of school and back to work and it’s easy to avoid comparing what we spent to our budget. It’s also easy to get carried away while enjoying oneself on holidays. 

The good news is that we set a budget at the beginning of the year and planned our summer vacation accordingly. Two weeks camping is not everyone’s idea of a great time but we live in a beautiful province and we saw some amazing places and did a lot of fun things. It was a great holiday. We budgeted about $1,500 for 2 weeks camping and including our food/drinks, activities, gas, camping and 2 nights in a great cabin in Nakusp we came in at just over $1,500. Our expenses were slightly higher than budget because we bought some clothing items and spent a couple days at the IPE (Interior Provincial Exhibition in Armstrong BC) and enjoyed the rides, food and stampede. One could argue that money spent on food, gas and even clothing are part of our regular monthly budget. Either way, we had fun and the slight overage will not break our bank account.

I think we did 2 things right:

1. Set a budget and made our plan based on the budget 

2. Took a minute to tally up the expenses to understand whether we met our plan or not

Good information for next year! A trip to Ontario is in the plan.

It can be easy to lose track of what you’re spending on Back to School stuff. Supplies, books, clothes, courses, sports, lunches and getting set up in a new place. Here are a few very simple tips to spend a little less and save some money and they are keeping in theme with Reduce, Reuse and Recycle:

1. Reuse – What do you already have that you don’t need to buy? Do you know anyone who did the program/course last year and doesn’t need the supplies this year?
2. Recycle – Can you sell, trade with friends or donate items you don’t need?
3. Reduce – Wait before you buy to know whether it’s essential to buy everything on the list.

And of course, the savvy shopper tips stand such as buying on sale, buy used, buy from consignment stores or thrift stores.

Whether it’s your first day at Kindergarten or the first day of your last year at college, starting out the year with an A+ in Back to School Budgeting will lead to an A+ in Managing Your Money!

Whether it’s flying the nest to college or sending your little chicks off to school for the first time, it’s a good idea to set a school budget. Knowing what expenses to expect and what money you have to pay for them will allow you to make wise choices.

Here’s a quick and simple budget process:

1. List the expenses you must pay relating to school (supplies, tuition, books)
2. List any living expenses (rent, utilities, clothing, transportation, grooming)
3. List any discretionary expenses (recreation, entertainment)
4. Compare the total to the money you have allocated and if there’s not enough, figure out how you will cover the difference

Starting with the things you must pay for and finishing with the things that you can choose what you spend is a good way to determine how much you want to spend on ‘extras’ or wants compared to needs.

It all adds up quickly but this is a great way to start the school year with a starting ‘A’ in budgeting !

Well, I did it! Made my own Peach Rosemary Jam. Made from fresh Okanagan peaches (4 lbs for $5), some sugar, lemons and rosemary. It made about 10 jars and it tastes yummy. I would say it took about 2 hours hands on time and 4 hours marinading time.

It didn’t turn out quite as well as my friend’s but delicious none the less.

I think the effort is worth it and obviously the dollars and cents add up. Do you have any suggestions and favourite recipes?