This is where your finance takes place

On that day, my wife picked-up the mail but left the “blue envelope” on the counter. She usually don’t open these, they are addressed to the family banker…

When I got home, I opened the said envelope and look at the first page of the document. They want you to know that you are richer than you think first. They want to scare you in the first place. I looked briefly and I fold the paper as fast as I would have read “I know what you did last summer”.

I put the blue sheet on the counter and stared at my wife. She looked at be with a glance of panic in her eyes. That was it; she knew what it was about. She knew that it was ugly and that we had to pay the price of what we did. What we did last fall…

- 231 I whistled. I can’t believe it. 231!

- They didn’t even come to see us. Ask us questions, nothing! My wife replied, discouraged.

This is when I gather all my courage and pick up the blue envelope again. I will get to the bottom of this now, I told myself. I went rapidly to the second page of the document to actually acknowledge what could be one of our financial day ever… Huh? That’s it? I looked back at my wife and start laughing.

- The city increased our municipal evaluation by 25% but they didn’t care charging us a penny more! They simply dropped down the tax rate in order to bill the same thing as usual. That’s neat!

As you now realized, every year we receive our tax bill through a blue envelope. Since our house was built in 2002 and no new assessment was made since then, I was expecting a big raise this year. The raise of my property value was there, but fortunately, our city is making enough money that they can let their resident breath a little.

While the property tax assessment is showing a higher amount, it is still underestimating the value of our property. I think the city will never be able to keep up with such strong market. However, I will not complain as the tax bill remain the same!

If you liked this article, you might want to sign up for my FULL RSS FEED. Then, you would get my daily post in your email and can read it at any time. To subscribe, please click HERE.

  While I thought I would not be able to keep up writing every day during the Holidays, I realized that I feel guilty of not posting anything on a weekday. On top of that, it is a pretty boring day at work! I checked my email this morning. I deleted three emails notification of transactions that went through my bank account without even taking a look at them. Why? Because I totally lost the count! I don’t know what came through and what is coming in the following days. I lost the balance on my credit cards and I have no clue what my Christmas budget look like.

 I always use MS Money in order to keep track of all my accounts; banking account, lines of credit, credit cards, personal loans, investments, etc. However, Christmas is such a hectic part of the year that I had a hard time pilling up all my bills so I can key them in at one point in time. Since Dec 20^th, it has been out of control! 

What can I do? 

The answer is simple; wait! I’ll wait until Jan 7^th and I will log into all my accounts and put them up-to-date in MS Money. Right now, there is no point of trying to go back in time and find out where my money went. It is just too much time consuming. Thanks to Internet, I will be able to get everything on track within a few minutes once the Holidays are over. In the meantime, I will concentrate on spending less, stop eating out and get back to my normal habits. I am sure that once everything is updated, I will find out that I busted in several budget categories! Oh well, I am receiving my bonus in a few weeks so it will compensate at that point! 

If you liked this article, you might want to sign up for my FULL RSS FEED. Then, you would get my daily post in your email and can read it at any time. To subscribe, please click HERE.

Canadians are known to be weird human beings; they selected July 1^st (Canada’s Day) to be the “Official Day for Moving”. It is a fact that most people tend to move on Canada’s Day… go figure out why! But we have another weird habit; the best deal you can find in town is once your Christmas shopping is over… on December 26^th, we have the Boxing Day.

Did you know…

• Boxing Day originated in England in the middle of the nineteenth century under Queen Victoria. December 26th became a holiday as boxes were filled with gifts and money for servants and tradespeople.
• Also, poor people carried empty boxes from door to door, and the boxes were soon filled with food, Christmas sweets, and money. Parents gave their children small gifts such as, oranges, handkerchiefs, and socks. People also placed old clothing that they did not need anymore in boxes, and they were given to those in need.
• Today, Boxing Day is a holiday in the United Kingdom, Canada, and many other Commonwealth nations. It is spent with family and friends at open gatherings with lots of food, fun, and the sharing of friendship and love.
• While government buildings and small businesses are closed, the malls are filled with people either exchanging gifts or buying reduced priced Christmas gifts, cards, and decorations.
• Throughout the Christmas season, many organizations follow the original tradition of Boxing Day by donating their time, energy, and money to fill the Food Bank, provide gifts for children who live in poverty, or to help an individual family who is in great need at the time.

Source: Netglimse.com

• In Canada, Boxing Day is also observed as a public holiday, and is a day when stores, especially electronics stores, sell their excess Christmas inventory at radically reduced prices. Boxing Day has become so important for retailers that they often extend it into a Boxing Week.

Source: Irelandinformationguide.com

• A Visa Canada gift-giving survey suggests Boxing Day shoppers plan to spend 29 per cent less this year — $233 on average, versus last year’s $328, for a total of $1.2 billion.

Source: CBC.ca

Beware: I will leave you with that note: Please take into consideration that many stores (especially electronic stores) have “Boxing Day Marchandise” that they are not selling during the rest of the season. They cut the price off the cheap stuff to make you think you are making a good deal. Shop carefully

If you liked this article, you might want to sign up for my FULL RSS FEED. Then, you would get my daily post in your email and can read it at any time. To subscribe, please click HERE.