Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Archive for July, 2005

Taking a few days off to enjoy my family and such, new financial stories and tirades coming starting the week of August 8th. Stay tuned.

–C8j

I asked Mrs. C8j for a topic, and she gave me this one. Well, no we are not complaining about the cost of baby C8j, but the expenses are there, let’s look at a few of them.

Formula: Well that’s about $11 for a 10 oz can of baby formula in powder form (it gets more expensive when you buy concentrate, and pre-made stuff is even more expensive). Right now the can lasts about 3 days, so let’s say $25.00 a week

Diapers: We buy them in a BOX (this is new, 10 years ago when we had our last child they only came in large bags). In Ottawa at the Loblaws the size baby uses is $43.00 for about 150 diapers, given baby uses 6 a day, that’s not too bad really.

Car Seat: First car seat cost us $129.00, but it is also a carrying seat, but he also hasn’t lasted too long in this, we plan on trying to sell it second hand to get some money back.

Car Seat (again): He now has a new one that he will be in for about 6 or 7 more years, this one cost $250.00, but again, amortized over 6 or 7 years, not too bad, I guess.

Crib: Got that second hand $100.00, but baby C8j is going to be the last (I promise, I have gone for my second vasectomy, first one didn’t work).

Stroller: You buy a Perago and that is about $350.00 at least. Some folks pay a lot more for these things that are SUV’s for babies.

Clothing: That can add up, unless you have a lot of rich friends who buy clothes or a big family with LOTS of hand me downs.

High Chairs: That might cost about $200 that will get used for about 2-3 years.

Swing: That is about $179.00 or so, and swings are great to help baby get to sleep!

Exer-saucer: $75.00 or so, pretty cool though

Vibrating Chair: $65.00 he can sit in that, but was a gift.

Mobile: About $30.00

University fund: Better start thinking, $1000 a year is a good idea!

First year total : Around $5000 or so, if you include clothing, and the University fund, and that is just the beginning folks!

Is it worth it? Every single penny! –C8j

I was trying to figure out what the family could do while on vacation next week and I looked around at a few places to see how much this might cost, and saw the following:

• At La Ronde (a Six Flags associated amusement park in Montreal), if I and my 3 daughters went for the day, this would cost around $140 with parking included (3 adults one kid under 12). If my wife comes kick another $35 (not including food and such). So about $175.00 for a day (I am not ragging on La Ronde, we have been there and the kids like going there, I am just using them as an example).
  • If I buy a season pass I can then go to Darian Lake’s six flags park, and that would cost about: $400, I figure, but I could be wrong. The family passport doesn’t fit my family any more, oh well.
  • There are also discounts available if you buy your tickets earlier, but not much.
• Paramount Canada’s Wonderland would cost you around $290 for the day (not including food, parking, etc.,).
  • A set of season passes would cost around $390.00
• Marineland in Niagara is going to cost us somewhere around $220.00 (parking is free, but food is not).
  • The one nice thing about Marineland is for an extra $25.00, you now have season passes (which is nice).

What does this really mean? Man it’s expensive to go to a theme park these days, holy cow!!! Now that I have this information, I need to confab with the family and see whether this is the choice, or whether we look for a nice beach and spend the day there, or go to a movie, or many other family things that are a little cheaper.

Why is it I end up spending so much on vacations, that I start out thinking are frugal? –C8j

So my insurance company says they cover 50% of my crown installation, which means I now owe $450 out of my own pocket (holy cow). Why? Remember, we don’t really know why, I guess if dental stuff like crowns or braces were covered, it would put company’s out of business (or make us all far too good looking and we’d all be vain?).

Is it worth $450 to have a replacement tooth that works and I can chew with? That is a good question to ask about the surgery. My answer is YES, if you amortize it over my hopeful life of another 40 odd years (at least!) then it is $10 a year, which is a small price to pay to be able to chew properly.

I’d much rather have my insurance company cover this cost, but I’ll live with it if it gives me quality of life. If you can justify (not rationalize, JUSTIFY) a purchase in your head and you can live with it, then spend the money (unless you are buying drugs or lottery tickets, then just send the money to me or your favorite charity).

I guess my only question now is the remainder of this deductable on my taxes? Better go look that one up. My guess is I need a few more LARGE medical bills before that.

Money is to be spent, but WISELY and FRUGALLY –C8j

Our friends over at the Canadian Capitalist had a great posting yesterday (click here) about price protection, and making sure you don’t spend too much money (one of my many laws of living, be cheap!). He saved himself $135, and if you think that is “chicken feed” or you can’t be bothered, please click on my PayPal donation button and send me some money, will ya?

I ran into the exact same thing on the weekend. My wife went out to buy diapers for our son and they were $43 at Loblaws, but then we looked at the flyer from Loblaws the next day, and the exact same diapers were on sale for $38. Did I go down to get my money? HELL YES! Five bucks is five bucks to me (oh and my wife also used a coupon on the purchase, bless her cheap heart).

There is penny wise and pound foolish, but heck, if you take care of the pennies, the dollars will fall in line too!

If you buy a big ticket item, make sure you have price protection (mind you, don’t pay extra for that either, buy from someone who offers it as a courtesy).

It’s your money, keep it in YOUR wallet!