Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Long Weekend Random Thoughts

I note the gas prices in Ottawa have inched there way back up by about 11 cents in the past few days, in preparation for the long weekend. Am I saying this is a conspiracy? If it isn’t all contrived, then this is the most amazing coincidence I have seen. Our van continues to sit in the driveway, because it is just too expensive to use on long journeys.

The coming weekend brings a great deal of turmoil and excitement. My eldest daughter is off to University out of town, my middle daughters are preparing for High School and my son prepares for nursery school. September is always an expensive month for my family due to many activities and school ask for money and then there are the inherent expenses of returning to school (clothing, school supplies, bus passes, etc.,).

Is it time to turn off the Air Conditioning? I think it is, but we shall see how bad allergies and such are, since opening the house up, inevitably means me sneezing my head off (and thus buying antihistemenes and such). Which is more expensive, running my A/C or buying Claritin in bulk?

Today is the day I return my equipment and a set of forms outlining what to do with my severance package as well, which is a bit of a milestone as well. I will outline how this works, once I am sure how things will work, but the opportunity is if I can find a new job quickly and thus use my severance as a significant financial “hammer”.

Enjoy your long weekend, drive carefully wherever you may be going, careful of gas prices and speed traps and relax.

I figured I’d move my lazy post for the week to Saturday, for those that might wander by and wonder what has been going on, and to reward Friday readers with an actual post and not just me rehashing.

An interesting week, where I got fixated on the high prices of Cell Phones, but a few other bloggers had other interesting posts as well:

• In I am Paying How Much for My Phones and Cell Phones Again , I discuss the relatively large amount of cash I put out for the privilege of being connected in this world. Some very good comments from my readers on these posts, well worth a read.
• In Understanding the BCE Mess, Michael James attempts to decipher the twists and turns in the largest leverage buy out ever. As a shareholder, I hope it settles down some time soon.
• Larry MacDonald had a posting about 7 Good Blog Posts this week including my story about Bar B Q disposal.
• I lamented about the High Cost of Flying and am getting sick of dieing by 1000 service charges.
• The Canadian Capitalist asked the question Is A Costco Membership Worth it? It never made sense for me, but he, as usual, has a good angle on the charges.
• My wife managed to get a credit card so I asked again, My Wife is Worth How Much?
• Over at Free at 45 an interesting article about how to Appeal Your Taxes .

All in all an interesting week.

The Friday after a long weekend always feels good because you know it wasn’t a full week of work, and this week was no exception. Many interesting posts from the talented Financial Blogosphere and here are but a few of my favorites from my reading list:

• Michael James wrote about a Credit Card Arbitrage scheme run where the author has floated her debt on zero interest credit cards and has managed to play the balancing act to make sure she never gets dinged with an interest charge, and has banked her mortgage payments instead. I do not recommend this in any way shape or form, however it is an interesting read.
• Our old friend Inflation returned this week with Inflation Jumping 1.7% for April year over year, thanks to higher gasoline prices. What is interesting is there is still a prediction of interest rates being lowered again next week? That seems a little odd, but we shall see.
• Gail Vaz Oxlade wrote about how You Measure Up Financially and the areas you might want to look at to make sure you are measuring the right thing. Remember the old carpenter’s adage, measure twice and cut once.
• Debt Reduction is like Teenage Sex was my attempt at telling folks that you need to discuss more with your family and trusted friends about Debt Reduction if you have a problem.
• Any entry title, Porn, Wealth and Burning Through $60M has got to be an interesting read, and it is an interesting read over at Everybody Loves Your Money.
• If Debt Reduction is Like Teenage Sex then Debt itself is like Fat , where I outline my personal fight against obesity and how it is very much like my fight against debt.
• The Canadian Capitalist answered a reader’s question about Reinvesting Dividend Income, which is a subject near and dear to my heart.
• Anybody looking for a humorous stories about Bar B Qs, my post on Flames and Bar B Qs fits the bill nicely.
• Larry MacDonald chimes in on the BCE Takeover SNAFU and whether BCE can win it’s appeal (as a shareholder, I hope they do).

Have a great weekend.

My Blog Reading List

In case you wonder what financial sites I read and haven’t looked at my right side bar lately.

• Canadian Capitalist
• Canadian Money Blog Reviews
• Dividends Matter
• Investment Jungle
• Larry McDonald’s Investment Ideas
• Michael James on Money
• Ellen Roseman on Money
• Free Money Finance
• Loonies and Sense
• Cdn Money Advisor
• It’s Just Money
• Million Dollar Journey
• Free at 45? Dreamer!
• All Things Financial
• Your Money
• Quest for Four Pillars
• Investor Geeks
• Dividend Guy
• Gail Vaz-Oxlade

Finally a long weekend, it has been months since Easter (ok it feels like that), and we finally get our long weekend in, whoo hoo! It has been an interesting week (read tomorrow’s humorous story about why I am buying a new Bar B Q for more fun).

Lots of great posts across the board from my regular readings and some of my postings, let us recap:

• I resurrected one of my favorite humorous posting about The High Price of Daycare and Alternatives, which makes me laugh every time I watch it (thanks the Onion).
• On Sunday we found out that if I had to pay my wife, I’d have to get a second job, because as a Mother I cannot Afford her.
• The Canadian Capitalist wrote about The High Price of Eating Out, but more importantly how more people are eating out. I remember when my parents took us out to dinner it was a special occasion, not to my kids.
• Should I join a Credit Union just to avoid service charges, read the comments, it’s pretty entertaining.
• Michael James wrote about MER the Gift that Keeps on Giving for your mutual funds. You must read this just to understand how much you are spending to “save”.
• What does a Shredder have to do with Personal Finance? Read the article and see.
• I added Gail Vaz Oxlade to my Financial Bloggers list, this is the lady from ’til Debt Do Us Part (with the mason jar budgeting system), very interesting reads.
• I started to get up on my soapbox espousing my views in Computers: Another Great Financial Tool , and then topped it off with Security the Most Important Financial Concept where I went off the deep end talking about computer security. Sorry folks, when I get on my home turf (i.e. High Tech) I get a little wacky.
• Ellen Roseman answered a lot of questions this week, well worth a read to see what folks are asking her.
• Larry MacDonald started the warning bells about Inflation and how it may have a global impact, especially in China. Given how supercharged their economy is right now, I am not really surprised to see that possibility on the horizon.
• Our Amigo Average Joe resurfaced over at Dividends Matter and did a post on Saputo the Cheese Maker (they also sponsor soccer stadiums in Montreal I hear).
• Loonies and Sense resurfaced as well with an Apologetic Post this week as well.

All in all a good week of reading and research. Enjoy your long weekend, buy a hammock and lie out in the sunshine (with SPF 50 on).