Friday, January 24, 2014

End Of The Week Blues

The title of this post may be a bit misleading. I don't feel sad, in fact just the opposite as I have slowly but surely been getting used to the new ministry and have a few more bookings for subbing at the schools.

What I am a bit sad about is this.....

Our falling Canadian dollar.

While a less than stellar exchange rate will help our exports, it does nothing for the cost of everyday living. Since Harvey is now retired and we live on our pension plus our retirement savings and any extra money I bring in, this could cause a problem in a few months.

News casts are already warning us about increased costs from food to heating and fuel down the road. This could make what we thought of as being a relatively good retirement a bit of a struggle. Actually we are probably much better off than the majority of Canadians as we socked as much as we could into RRSP's and GIC's. I worry about others who were unable to do this.

Over the past couple of years I have watched food prices rise as well as basic heating costs and electrical costs. I think it may be time to go over the budget once more and see where we can cut even more.

Thank heavens we already garden, thus saving on frozen veggies over the winter as well as potatoes and onions.

Once this ministry is done at the church at the end of May, I will not be driving as much and so will be back to saving on fuel as well as mileage on the SUV which means fewer oil changes and less maintenance costs.

Holidays could be curtailed or a bit less spent.

Gift cards and coupons will be used even more.

Life will carry on, and all will be just the way it was meant to be.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

2 comments:

  1. Know you've been talking about moving ... would the cost of living be any lower in the areas you're thinking about?

    ReplyDelete
  2. We would be closer to stores and such that we don't have here and the competition between them would probably lower our grocery costs at the least.

    Saskatchewan has a relatively low cost of living in comparison to other provinces, but not much competition for energy, medical, and insurance costs. Taxes are pretty much the same all over as they standardized the process a few years ago.

    ReplyDelete