Miscellaneous

How we are spending that extra cash

Last month Richard received another $15,000 bonus from work, which came out to just over $9,400 after taxes (damn you, Tax Man!). After a bit of extra money left over from last month we ended up with $9997.71 which we plan to spend like so:

Car = $5,988.48 – This is what is left owing on Richard’s car, so we will write the final cheque and then we are officially DEBT FREE!!!!

Florida = $1,000.00 – Our stupid flights ended up costing us twice what we thought we were going to have to pay so we needed a bit more money for our Florida trip in October.

Camera = $1,000.00 – My lovely camera is slowly dying what I imagine to be a very painful death. I have had this camera for almost 6 years and have taken tens of thousands of photos on it, however, now my photos all look like junk. It’s time to upgrade! I’m not sure if I need a new lens as well, I will have to take my current one in and get it checked out (it should be fine). The replacement for the Nikon D90 should be coming out in the next few weeks so I’m waiting to see how good that one will be. If I don’t end up liking it, or the price is outrageous, I will be getting the D90.

Clothing = $710.61 – We had a budget of $850 for clothing last month but spend under $200 so I carried forward what was left. I’m just waiting for some crazy clearance deals on summer clothing so I can stock up. Richard and I also need some essentials like shoes, sweaters and Richard & Elliott also need winter jackets.

House Stuff = $500.00 – There are a few things that we need right now like a new coffee table (the one we have now is way too big and has sharp edges – not good when Elliott is running around), new bed linens and a new crib (Elliott’s is falling apart already, WTF?!).

Dinner = $80.00 – With every bonus Richard gets, we go out to eat one fancy meal where we are able to indulge in appetizers, desserts and drinks (we usually just order water).

House Fund = $715.00 – HOUSE FUND!!!! It’s still unreal that we actually have a house fund now. It felt like we were going to be in debt forever!

So, that’s how we are going to spend our money! I’m so thankful that Richard is able to get these quarterly bonuses, we have been able to do so much with them. Is it bad that I’m already planning how to spend the next bonus in my head? Probably. I try to forget about the bonuses and then just get caught by surprise when the money shows up in our bank account. It’s a bad idea to count on that money since it is not guaranteed. I need to remember that. 🙂

Comments

  1. Andrea

    Florida – fun! Where are you going in Florida? I’m guessing you already know this tip but you may want to consider flying out of Buffalo. My husband and I are also going down in October and we got our flights on southwest for $268 USD – both of us, roundtrip and including all taxes/fees.

  2. Cassie Howard

    we are going to orlando, kissimmee to be exact.

    i already know about buffalo, we were going to do that, but thats an extra 2 hour drive for us, there and back. the pearson airport in toronto is like 10 minutes from our house. if it was just the 2 of us,id probably do that, but we’ll have elliott so i dont want to. maybe next time though!

  3. Andrea

    Yeah, even once he gets older you can’t beat the air canada entertainment options for distracting the kids. Are you taking elliott to disney?

  4. bb

    same thing happened with my sons crib so i just put his matress on the floor for a month to help him get use to not using a crib and then bought a toddler bed. (but i made sure his room was baby proofed and put a baby gate up in the door way of his room so he didnt get out of his room and put himself in danger.

  5. Cassie Howard

    i was thinking of just doing the toddler bed thing, but we are gonna need a crib when we have another baby anyway!

  6. Cassie Howard

    oh and yes we are taking him to disney… i think! still have confirm that one 😛

  7. Andrea

    We go to the kissimmee/orlando once or twice every year so if you need any money-saving tips feel free to email me. Not sure if you’ve been before or not – there are also lots of good websites out there like mousesavers.com and orlandocoupons.com

  8. Cassie Howard

    thanks andrea! we have been there before, but it was quite awhile ago and i know they have some changed some things in the area we will be staying to we’re really trying to do our research before we go to so we can stretch our money as far ass possible. thanks for those 2 websites, i will check them out!

  9. kanika

    Hey cassie I have a question, I see you take a lot of great pictures so maybe you know a thing or two about camera’s. We’re looking to buy a camera about 900 max. I was thinking Canon, this is usually my choice for camera’s but I was told Nikon is good too what camera are you getting?

  10. kanika

    oops sorry i see your getting the nikon =)

  11. Cassie Howard

    yup, nikon is my fave 😉

    i have a small canon powershot for my purse though, for times that i dont want to bring my big gal with me. its a great camera.

  12. kanika

    Do you know if there is a good deal right now on the nikon d90?

  13. Cassie Howard

    personally, i havent looked because we are waiting for the D90 replacement to come out in the next few weeks. i do know that cameras are on sale at pretty deep discounts right now though! you should definetely be able to get the D90 around $900 (without a lens though).

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