Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Taxes, Retirement & Condo Living

I'm happy this week is almost over and I've managed to complete my tax returns for another year. I've  actually completed them just over a month early but can't file just yet. I have to wait for one final receipt and it will be at least another two weeks before I get it in the mail.  So I will just have to wait.

I dread tax filing every year.  I always want to have oodles of time to work on the taxes and just do it all in a leisurely way.  So I often put it off and in the meantime the task hovers over my conscience like a bad dream.

I  usually have to hunt around for receipts that come in during the year.  Though I do keep the paperwork in a bit of order, there always seems to at least once receipt that comes in much later than the others or doesn't arrive at all so it isn't only a question of when I want to work on the return. It is often a question on waiting on others.  I'm not so patient when it comes to these things.

Some receipts are only available on line, some are only receivable by mail and others are available on line and/or through the mail.  Each year there are also countless medical receipts that have to be kept, sorted and tallied to see if they can be used as a tax deduction.  Despite a lot of money being spent on prescriptions and dental work, it never seems to add up to enough to be useful on the tax return.  Likewise with charitable receipts.  Much of my giving is to grassroots charities in other countries.  Our government does not recognize these as charitable donations and only accepts donations from charities registered in Canada.

Then there are receipts for contributions to registered retirement savings plans. This is tricky because one has to have enough contributions to make sure you don't over contribute, or under contribute, such that you owe more taxes. I do save throughout the year for these contributions but it never seems to be enough.  So I have to try and find the funds in my budget to do a top up before the deadline.  Overall, as you can see, I get a lot of receipts.  Though it is time consuming to deal with all the receipts and keep on top of it all, it isn't actually that complicated to prepare the tax returns.  Especially if one has the right on-line tools for tax preparation..



In addition to these financial challenges, this is the time of year when our Strata has it's Annual General Meeting.  Like clock work, there is an inevitable increase in the overall budget of the Strata.  We usually have increases of up to 20% and it is a bit ridiculous.  These  increases to the Strata budget means increases to the personal budgets of each and every owner to cover the Strata's budget plan.  I have ever yet to receive a 20% increase in pay to compensate for these kinds of increases.  This is one thing I detest about living in a condo.  The complete inability to limit the expenses related to the overall condominium structure or limit the fees I have to pay every month.  On the other hand, I do not like the idea of living in a fully detached home (house) and all that that entails.

About 3 months ago a  long time neighbour who lives down the hall told me he was trying to sell his apartment.  He was going to take his condo unit off of the market because he was having difficulty selling.   Today he told me that he sold his unit and is moving in two weeks time back to the city where he grew up.  He also told me that 3 other owners on my floor have sold their properties and are moving!  Actually, it is more like two owners moving out because one of them simply sold his unit to move to a larger one on my floor.

Over the years I've heard many resident owners say they will not be able to retire and continue living in the suites in my building if the monthly condo fees keep going up.  This might explain the reason for so many owners moving now or they may have other reasons like retirement, job changes, growing families, etc.  Though I've thoroughly enjoyed living where I am,  I too have begun to consider the possibilities of moving on. Especially now that I know the Strata Council will be levying large fees next year to cover the cost of  re-piping the other half of the building.  Owners just paid multiple thousands each for re-piping the half of the building where I live the year before last. To be honest, I've lost track of the countless numbers of special assessments over the past decade. That is why I'm starting to think of the possibility of moving.  Also, my property taxes go up each and every year.  Even though property values went down in 2012 in my city, my property taxes still went up. That is what I call a fraud.  For now, I don't have definite plans of moving.  I will still enjoy the convenience of where I live and the beautiful mountains I get to see almost every day.


It wasn't my intention to write a complaint post but I'm being real. I'm saying just how much I find this time of year challenging, especially falling so closely on Christmas.  Dealing with financial matters and financial planning and trying to stay ahead of things is a never ending task for most of us.  Personally I find it a chore and it isn't my favourite thing but it must be done.

I'm just grateful that I have the capability to use my mind and skills to do what needs to be done.  The ability to use the computer and computer software for this purpose is another huge help and blessing. I know many who still are not able to take advantage of these helps like a few of my senior women friends.  When I started using an on line tax preparation program several years ago, my spending decreased from $130 Canadian a year (to get someone else to prepare my taxes), to $15.95 a year.  It sounds like a small thing.  But for all the increases in bills annually, one has to find savings somewhere.  These days, I also have the ability to minimize taxes by using the on line program to forecast taxes owing or refundable, based on the level of retirement savings contributions I make.  That is something I could not do when I went to an outside tax preparer.  I am more empowered now that I handle all these tasks myself.



 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 





How about your dear reader?  How do you cope with taxes and retirement planning? Do you enjoy the number crunching or not?



 I need to take some photos concerning my giveaway before I can post the details.  I hope you will all join in.  Stay tuned!

Sunday, February 24, 2013

A Blessing

Hello friends, soon I shall be announcing a giveaway but not just quite yet. This week is a busy week of appointments, tax filings and errands and then I can get to the giveaway details. In the meantime, I wanted to share with you this wonderful South African blessing I came across on line here


South African Blessing*

Walk tall, walk well, walk safe, walk free
And may harm never come to thee.

Walk wise, walk good, walk proud, walk true
And may the sun always smile on you.

Walk prayer, walk hope, walk faith, walk light
And may peace always guide you right.

Walk joy, walk brave, walk love, walk strong
And may life always give you song.




*Author, Patricia Schonstein.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

February Sky


I've felt that we've had a lot of gray skies and too much rain this winter. It might be a poor memory but that is how it seems to me. Once in a blue moon we got some clear skies and bit of sun.

Early in February I captured these photos. I hope you enjoy the photos. I hope to see you again soon as I am hosting a giveaway and will be posting all the details here on  my blog. Enjoy your weekend.










Please join others from around the globe who share their sky photos with us every week. Thanks to Sandy who hosted this meme for many years and to Yogi our new host and Sylvia, his co-host.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Busy Hands

 If I could tell the world just one thing it would be we're all okay, and not to worry cause worry is wasteful and useless in times like these. I won't be made useless, won't be idle with despair, I will gather myself around my faith.  Light does the darkness most fear.

Jewel, American singer/songwriter

Hi friends,

While I've been house bound, I've been working on a few things besides my decluttering  project.

For example, I've been knitting lots of dishcloths for my Etsy shop.  All proceeds from my shop go to Kenyan missions.  I find the knitting allows me to relax and think and pray about things on my mind.  It also helps me feel like I am doing something useful and something that may yet be helpful to the missions in the country I hold dear.

I made my rug out of old pajamas which you can see here.

Another project that I've started is a Wizard of Oz quilt that I was originally planning to make for a Christmas gift.  I ran out of time so now I am making it for a summer birthday gift.

It is a simple quilt and the quilt layers are being secured by hand with yarn ties instead of machine stitching.  I'll also add a few rows of machine stitching just to make the blanket extra secure.


I still need to cut off the edges and make a binding to sew around the edges.


There are a few birthdays in February and early March so I've been working on some small gift packages.   One for a local friend and and one for an aunt who lives out of town.

My friend turned 69 years of age on February 11th.  Since she has become a senior citizen we don't get together as often as we used to and her health has been fragile for some time.  This year we were going to celebrate her birthday by going out to high tea.  But she came down with pneumonia a few days before her birthday and quarantined herself while on a course of strong antibiotics. I told her to take it easy and not push herself at this time so she can get better and I was relieved to hear her sounding much better over the phone a few days later.

This is part of the gift for my friend, Rose. I've made her two red dishcloths and thought this lovely china cup would be a nice cup from which to drink her tea.

Next month my aunt will celebrate her 67th birthday.   I made her two dishcloths in shades of green and blue and included some note paper, a nice pen with floral designs on it and some funds so she could treat herself to a meal out in a restaurant.

I hope my aunt likes her small gift.

Now and then  it is lovely to be remembered by someone else.  Do you agree? I don't think your remembrance has to be anything huge or expensive. I think my friend and my aunt will both feel remembered when they receive their gift packages.

(My apologies for the poor photos. It was late at night when I took them.)


I hope you will come back soon.  I am planning a giveaway which I haven't done for awhile. I will post all the details right here.
Enjoy your week.

Monday, February 18, 2013

A Fun Project

She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.

Proverbs 31:13


Old night clothes after washing.

Cutting up the clothing for trope or tarn.


Trope/tarn turned into this....

The finished product after a bit of steaming. It looks wider on the bottom but that is an illusion.

It measures approx. 19 inches from top to bottom and 21 and a half inches from side to side. I could have added more trope/tarn but didn't feel like making more trope/tarn.

I think the rug is ample enough for my two feet. I'm thinking I will put it by my bedside or give it to someone. (Pardon my see through sock, he he).


I am quite happy with how the rug turned out. I didn't follow a pattern, instead making one up as I went along and adding stitches to the corners as needed to try and keep a more or less, even shape. To make the trope/tarn needed for this project I used 4 pajama tops and 1 leg off of one bottom. Ideally, you should use t-shirts and in particular,  those without side seams. This will make your trope or yarn much stronger. My trope has a lot of joined sections which I can see peeking out in different stitches and it may not be quite as secure as it could be. That is quite okay with me.  I don't mind the more rustic look and this rug is likely going to be for my own use.  I decided against using green or orange coloured pajamas so I could make my rug in shades of pink, purple and  light blue. That means I will probably make another rug but first have to cut up the rest of my green coloured nighties.
 
Jessie, a missionary to the deaf in Kenya, is the one who inspired me to make tarn and the rug.  I followed her example here for attaching the strands of tarn.

If you want to learn more about how this kind of project is done, there are several youtube videos that teach you how to cut t-shirts (or in my case, pajamas) for trope or tarn. I'm posting the video I followed but there are others out there with different methods. Choose one that works best for you!  I will be posting soon about some other creative projects so come back and visit again sometime. I like hearing from crafters and would be crafters.


I'd love to know if you decide to make your own project after making your own trope/tarn.
Enjoy.

If you missed my last post, please read here. I'd love to read your comments especially if you already help on the mission field or are a missionary. It might encourage someone else to step forward ;)

The Last Weekend

Hello friends and fellow bloggers, I hope you are all doing well.   We've had a few beautiful days of sunshine. Now we are in the very l...