Survivor's Guilt

Mr. Minder informs me that it looks like he will be receiving his semi-annual bonus next month. It will probably be less than it has been previously, but he will be getting something nonetheless. We weren't expecting anything so this came as a surprise.

I have mixed feelings about this bonus. It was only a few months ago that I watched my husband struggle through laying off part of his workforce in response to the economic mess the investment banking industry was in. I can't help but wonder, could some of those jobs have been saved if bonuses were reduced/axed instead?

Don't get me wrong, I am grateful for the bonus, and Mr. Minder has worked very hard (too hard, I think) in the last 6-8 months (partly because of the corporate restructuring), and suffered more stress than usual. I have been worried about his health more in the past few months than I ever have before. He deserves the recognition - in my opinion. But is it at the expense of jobs that have been lost?

Should bonuses/incentives/pay raises be given a moratorium during tough economic times to save jobs, or should it be survival of the fittest, where those that keep their jobs get to continue to reap the rewards? What do you think?

Motivation vs. Committment

What I lack in motivation I make up for with commitment. Conversely, what I lack in commitment I make up for with motivation.

For example, I am motivated to redo my kitchen (It is ugly, old and melamine) but I am committed to saving for a new furnace and a replacement car that we will need in a few years - no new kitchen for me.

I have committed to run a charity race this weekend, I am not motivated to run it (especially since I have been feeling like crap lately and I am concerned that I won't be able to do it), but the commitment that I made keeps me lacing up my shoes and running around my neighbourhood in preparation.

Ultimately, if you're trying to make a positive change in your life, like getting out of debt, getting into the savings habit, or whatever it is you need to do, whether you do it because of motivation, commitment or both doesn't matter as long as you do it - the feeling of success usually makes it worthwhile.

What drives you, motivation or commitment?

I'm Still Here

Thank you for all the emails, I am touched by your concern, but I am fine. I have been super busy lately and have had NO TIME to blog. It started a couple of weeks ago when both kidlets, then Mr. Minder, then finally myself came down with an awful cold and we each suffered various secondary infections along with it (of course!). But no worries, it wasn't swine flu - just your garden variety respiratory virus.

Then about 10 days ago there was a gruesome murder four doors away from our investment property. We had to do some tenant management as one of the tenants was quite upset and shaken by the event. It was not drug or gang related, but, unfortunately one of the residents of the crime-scene-house suffers from mental illness and went off her meds. She killed her roommate (stabbed in the head) and no one discovered the crime scene for three days when friends of the victim came by the house looking for her. Very sad! Imagine our shock when we were watching the local news at 6:30am and saw our duplex on TV!

Our previously low-maintenance tenants seem to have gotten together and conspired to become high maintenance, high-drama tenants. Could it be a full-moon? Spring fever, maybe? They have had various dramas in their lives and weird requests that have kept us busy, but the rent is still coming in and on-time so we're trying to focus on the annual return instead of the pain in our ass.

I have been feeling really guilty about not posting regularly. At one point I felt so overwhelmed I contemplated deleting the blog altogether. We all seem to be healthy now (knock wood) so I am working on getting all my administrivia caught up and then catching up on my reading and blogging.

I've missed all my blogosphere friends! I'll post again by the end of the week :-)

Virtual Frugality

I have followed in the footsteps of my baby sister and liberated myself from Facebook. I never really understood the fascination with the social networking tool. I was tired of being 'poked' and 'nudged' ( I think that is the vernacular) by people I haven't seen in 20+ years.

Maybe I'm old school, but when I want to catch up with someone, I pick up the phone or send them an email. For the past several months, the only time I even logged in to Facebook was to respond to someone who contacted me through there.

I figure that if someone wants or needs to contact me badly enough, I am pretty easy to find. According to an article I recently read on-line, my Facebook liberation is environmentally responsible. This article made an argument that spam has an environmental impact and leaves a carbon footprint. Apparently, as a whole, we spend thousands of hours reading, deleting and dealing with our spam, thus using up valuable energy (and time).

Since I am all about efficiency in just about every other area of my life, I decided it's time to make frugality and sustainability a priority in my virtual life too and make sure the valuable time and energy that I spend on-line are spent on what is necessary and what matters to me.

April Spending

I have updated the sidebars to reflect our current mortgage balance and the balance of my anemic snowflake jar.

I originally set a goal of 5 no drive days and 5 no spend days per month. I became frustrated by how difficult it is to not drive for a day (4 people + 1 dog + 1 family car = somebody having to be somewhere everday) and to not spend anything for a day. I am driving and spending consciously, I'm just not setting myself up for disappointment.

It's been a busy month, but I have finally gotten around to assessing the damage, and here it is:

• Car Maintenance $491.56 - tires and stone chips in the windshield
• Gas $76.28 - fewer trips to the duplex
• Transit Pass - $216 - up from $206 per month
• Clothing $457.88 - Shoes all around and spring gear for the kidlets (they just keep growing and growing and growing, it's incredible!)
• Vet $348.16 - for puppy's rotten teeth and tummy trouble
• Entertainment $478.13 - I also included hair cuts (not that I find them particularly entertaining, but they are a luxury, golf, itunes (my weakness), books, and hot school lunches
• Gifts $46.00 - Easter Bunny
• Groceries $857.39 - Ouch! This is because I did the May Costco run on April 30th - so I ended up Costco-ing twice in April
• House insurance $79.25 - a slight decrease! Yay!
• Property Taxes $994.25 - quarterly installment
• Household Maintenance - $37.50 - flowers for the garden, purchased through a fundraiser at my son's pre-school
• Extra Mortgage Payments $480.00 - slowly but surely slaying the mortgage beast!
• Cash Expenses $240 - includes spending/lunch money for Mr. Minder and other small cash outlays

Life is expensive. It's kind of overwhelming when I put all the figures on one spreadsheet.

Next month Mr. Minder will max out his CPP and EI contributions (Canadian payroll taxes) and I am planning to use the increase on his paycheque to beef up our savings. He is also not paying premiums on his group benefits at work right now (they were over paid or some such administrative error) so that will increase his pay slightly as well.

Waste Not Want Not

It's raining right now where I am. My neighbours have their sprinkler on, though. Yup! They put that stupid sprinkler on everyday, rain or shine for at least three hours. They are elderly and seem to have missed the whole be-environmentally-conscious-and-save-the-earth movement.

What a waste. It drives me nuts. It has been on since I got up this morning at 6am. I am tempted to sneak over there and turn it off. They would know it's me though. The other neighbours (except for them and myself) are at work. Maybe an anonymous letter explaining that water is a precious resource is in order?

Made in China

We recently purchased a new lawnmower. We needed a second lawnmower for the duplex. Our lawnmower is a 13 year old gas mower that Mr. Minder has a sentimental attachment to (it was his first mower). We decided to take that mower to the duplex and purchase a new lawn mower for our home. Our yard isn't very large, so I have been lobbying for a push mower or an electric mower (I would prefer the push one - less carbon and financial footprint for us).

Mr. Minder has been hesitant to go the electric/push mower route He tells me it's a manly-pride thing. I don't really understand but apparently size matters.

Two weeks ago we spent a morning shopping for mowers. We comparison shopped at three stores. To my delight, Mr. Minder narrowed down our options to two push mowers (not gas, not electric, just people power). The first one was at Walmart and was $99.99. The second one was at Canadian Tire and was $149.99. The mowers were made by different manufacturers, but were, essentially, exactly the same mower.

I don't usually like to shop at Walmart. They have well-publicized employee-relations issues and most of their merchandise is manufactured in China. Lets face it, there have been some pretty major quality control issues with some Chinese manufactured merchandise and don't get me started on the human rights issues...

Despite the $50 difference in price, I was prepared to purchase the more expensive mower from Canadian Tire (and give our business to a Canadian company) provided the mower was not manufactured in China. Mr. Minder went into shock, unable to believe that I would be willing to part with the extra money. We went back to Canadian Tire and sure enough that mower was made in China as well. So, we bought the cheaper $99.99 push mower from Walmart.

Do you shop at Walmart? Do you care where products you purchase are manufactured? Is saving money more important than where or how something is made? I'm curious. Sometimes it seems that a trip to Walmart is unavoidable - they seem to have made themselves indispensable.