My youngest turns six this month which means we have reached ineligibility for the $100 monthly universal child care benefit.
I will be hosting her birthday party on a budget, taking care to keep party costs under $50. A child's party can easily cost $500. It will take some creativity, planning, and a theme like flowers. We can plant seeds, colour pictures of flowers, and make floral crowns from paper, and decorate cupcakes with seeds and stuff to look like flowers. She wants earrings.
New idea: Mad Hatter Tea Party. Seems only fitting. I'll dress her sister up like Alice.
There are five Fridays this month which means we have five $200 daycare cheques going through the chequing account this month.
This might be the last month with an interest payment towards the line of credit debt. That's a good thing, and coincidentally well timed with the UCCB disappearing this month.
I do not have to absorb the diabetic pump start-up costs this month either. That's deferred until the next Visa statement. Whew.
I'd like to cancel the line of credit once it's paid out. My mortgage goes up for renewal in December 2011, and I'll use it as a negotiation point for a better interest rate on a future line of credit. I'll attach it to the same bank that provides my next mortgage.
My chequing account has $500 overdraft protection. I am currently using $485 of it to close up the month of March, and I owe $20 to a coworker for next weekend's concert tickets. I'll try not to think of my six-figure salary as I return wine bottles, and scavenge through desk drawers and coat pockets to make up the difference in change.
The car is due for some maintenance this month. I've got some minor home maintenance planned: redoing the eavestrough caulking and re-attaching trim on a set of double doors.
Bike commuting conserves fuel.
We've started a container garden with seeds and soil on hand. I'm not sure it will yield much if anything, but it's an interesting hobby to share with the girls. We'll add a few more containers to the mix before March is up.
In the absence of the tax refund, something else needs to give to keep the month of April cash flow positive. I'll look at dropping my RRSP contribution to the minimum amount I need to qualify for employer matching. My current contribution sits at 18%.
Until the value of the tax refund is confirmed, the following self-imposed restrictions from January must carry over:
- electronics
- services related to hair and foot care
- sporting goods
and events - clothing and shoes
- out-of-town travel will be limited to Easter dinner with my parents
- parking
- advance bookings for camp sites (a weekend at Bonnechere in late June and a weekend at Lac Philippe in late August)
- a single Bluesfest pass which is a bargain for this family, when you consider both my kids still get in free. (The concert line-up is announced in late April.)
- the annual Spring Fever impulse drive to Montreal for lunch with the girls
