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| Total came to $29.07, as I asked for $20 cash. I will count it as $29 however, because the $20 will be used in all likelihood for the purchase of household items. I will break it down in my records as food or non-food when I spend it. The 2 lbs of carrots cost $1.47. I paid 88 cents each for two tins of flaked tuna, $1.44 each for two boxes of Breton crackers and $1.48 for each of two loaves of w.w. bread. |
I have been working on my new budget but I still don't have all the information I need; so I will continue to keep track of every penny. I am still not receiving a survivor's benefit from the Federal government. It seems that every day I am still dealing with the stress of frustrating and irritating bureaucracy since my husband's passing. Yesterday I finally received the money from his bank account into mine. Also yesterday, I was able to talk to someone from the Canada Revenue Agency about my husband's account, and now that is finally looked after. Today I am waiting for a trustee to call me back, although I would love to be outside on this beautiful Spring day. I am still waiting for a document from the mortgage company showing me as the sole mortgage holder for my home insurance. I have requested it twice now.
Tuesday: I vacuumed through the downstairs and baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies. It was a no-spend, no-drive day. Dinner was mashed turnip, baked potato with sour cream and ham.
Wednesday: A drive to a Doctor's appointment, some grocery shopping, signed some papers at the bank to create the Estate account and move funds from there into my own bank account. Dinner was roasted potatoes and carrots with chicken fingers.
Thursday: Another trip to the bank to sign a paper that was missed yesterday; otherwise, a no spend day.
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| The mauve flowers are called "Glory in the Snow" The white flowers in the foreground are crocuses. |
You seem to have done well with the grocery spending. As for the non-grocery spending, yes, it is helpful to stay away from the shops! I forget how much your monthly household budget is, but $270 spent to date doesn't seem that much.
ReplyDeleteI have been trying to keep household expenses down to only $300 a month, so you can see where I may be going over budget this month. It doesn't give me much wiggle room, but household expenses covers pet supplies, toiletries and paper products. It is manageable IF I don't go out and spend money on clothes or hobbies or "I wanna" items, which I seemed to do a lot of this past month. I need to rein myself in.
DeleteI'm sorry you are getting so much stress from all of those people. Don't they realize how already stressed you are from your husband's passing?! I wish someone would look at all those processes and ways to make it easier on the survivors! Hopefully everything will be resolved soon and you will get the answers you need to be able to manage your budget moving forward. So much paperwork sounds pointless. Like removing your husband's name from titles and accounts... if the person is no longer alive, why would it matter if their name is still on the mortgage or the bank account? Well, that's my view anyway and it's not helping you any. I'm just commiserating.
ReplyDeleteI hope your doctor visits are helping.
I love the Glory in the Snow! So pretty. I'm just amazed that those just come up in your garden by themselves. I only get weeds that do that. Well, and those vincas that reseeded themselves in between the pavers. I love them! Greg and I almost had an argument because he wanted to pull them (and pulled one, he just didn't throw it away so I found the evidence and confronted him with it!) saying that they'll disturb the pavers. I don't care, I love the flowers and their resilient nature, lol. Anything that grows and survives without my help has my respect. I'd let the whole yard stay overgrown with flowering weeds if it were just me :)
I hope you have a good weekend, Susan, at home with your doggie :) Lots of ((HUGS)).
It appears that most of my angst over the past few weeks has been self inflicted. I learned some valuable lessons this morning when I got a call from a trustee to guide me through the processes of being an executor.
DeleteI am very grateful for this man's phone call and subsequent advice. I had assumed since my husband died and left everything to me and made me his executor, things would be easy. Not so much. As the executor to his will, my responsibilities are to ensure that the value of his sole property cover any of his debts. His car was in his name only, as well as his chequing account. Joint ownership of property or investments does not apply. The reason I needed to create a separate account for the estate was because he had a bank account in his name only. So before I could access any of the funds, I had to set up the estate account. His van has a book value of say $3,000. Any monies made out to the estate must be used to pay down any debts that he may have had, including his funeral costs. When the money is gone, it is gone. There may be money left for me, or not. On the other hand, if there isn't enough to cover all of his debts, they cannot come after me to make up the rest. So with this new knowledge, I can proceed. I suppose that had my husband and I used a lawyer, we would have known in advance what to expect. But we didn't feel like we could afford a lawyer at the time. Fortunately, he did not have a large estate. So going forward, it is pretty much cut and dried.
My weekend went well enough. It was my first "holiday" without my Sweetie, so it was hard at times. I had my son and his GF over for dinner on Saturday. I did not make my traditional Easter meal but instead made a lasagna with garlic bread and caesar salad with ice-cream for dessert. I did not put up decorations or buy Easter gifts. I kept it very low key, like any other Saturday night dinner. Then yesterday the three of us went out to our friend's house at Charleston Lake to celebrate Easter dinner with them. I also got to talk on the phone with my other son and my daughter to hear about my grandkids' offerings from the bunny. So all in all, a pretty good weekend.