Savings pot and car/house insurance

The savings pot squares are being crossed off slowly but surely.  I will say we are ahead of the game, and are ahead with the weeks.  As I said when I started this, I have a plan of what to do with the money.

Our car insurance was up for renewal in the middle of May.  We got the papers just as I was starting to feel unwell in April, so did nothing about it until the beginning of this month, when I was starting to feel better.  

It turned out the insurance had increased by $35 per month, which is over $400 a year.  So I called them up (PC Financial) and said that this was unacceptable and what could they do to remedy the matter?  We both have clean driving records.  No claims, nothing that would make our rates jump $400 a year.

Now I will say I called CAA Insurance up first to see what they would quote us, just to make sure that all insurance rates were not that expensive, and they were quoting around $1,300 a year.  PC Financial was $1,700 a year.

The PC Financial guy got back to me with three more quotes from the people they deal with.  The first one was for around $1,300, but the catch with that one was, they review your policy on a monthly basis and your payment can go up or down, just like it does if you have a variable mortgage.  

As I said to the guy it's more likely to go up, rather than go down, so no thank you.

The other two options were no better.

We ended up going with CAA Insurance, and also we moved our house insurance as well.  The price of the house insurance was similar to what we paid already, just a little cheaper.  The car insurance came in at $1200 and something per year after all said and done.  We joined CAA as well, which was another $140(?) but that will come in handy when we travel, so that gave us a discount as well.

Supposedly, insurance rates have jumped up all over the country/world.  I am glad I questioned our renewal, as at the end of the day, $400 is better in my pocket than in the insurance companies pockets.

Have your insurance rates increased for your house and car?

Check List......

(image credit)

Snow tires installed - check

Insurance company called to get 5% discount for installing snow tires - check

Information input into computer for a rebate on buying snow tires - check

Only going to get around $60 discount on insurance and $60 prepaid Visa card for the rebate.  However it's better that money in our pocket than in the companies pocket, right!!

Not an ear infection............

only (!!) a virus/sinus thing going on {SIGH}  He gave me a prescription and told me to fill it if it didn't clear up in a few days.  Otherwise pull up my big girls pants and get on with it, another {{SIGH}}

Spent a delightful couple of hours trying to get quotes on our house and car insurance.  They range in price from less than $1,500 for both to nearly $2,500 for both {{{SIGH}}}  For those of you who live in Ontario, Presidents Choice Financial Insurance is the cheapest so far and seems to have great coverage.  Thinking we may go with them.  Mind you as my mam always says, an Insurance Company is only as good as how it performs when you do your first claim.

Major crisis, well it is to my mind.  My laptop is away for repair.  The fan stopped working on it.  Took out the extended warranty thank goodness, through Staples.  I have very little faith in those guys after I sent in my Dell laptop for a new power cord and they changed the bloody hard drive..........there was NOTHING wrong with it {{{{SIGH}}}}

Told them this time under no circumstances do they touch my hard drive and to only change the fan.  Called yesterday for an update and was ready to pull my hair out within seconds.  He was rattling on about how they couldn't test the computer because of the security settings I had on it.  Took me a minute to click he was talking about someone else's computer!!  Finally got him talking about my computer and they have sent away to Toshiba for a new fan.  Fingers crossed I get it back before the end of the year............I'm telling you I have no faith in them.

As you know we sold our lawn tractor back in April.  Has anyone ever tried cutting five acres with a regular push lawn mower?  Neither have I, BUT I am getting in plenty of practice in cutting around the house with a push lawn mower.  Suffice to say I am NOT IMPRESSED!!

Got some more things sorted out.  Cost $92.60 to get Canada Post to redirect our mail for a year.  It's actually money well spent in my opinion as you always forget to tell someone you have moved.

Got some more packing done also today; still have a ways to go though.  Who knew there was so much "stuff" in this house!!!

If you're reading this I thank you.

Gill

Another update..............

Well my mam and step-father have gone back home.  The three weeks went by really fast and a good time was had by all.  They got to spend a lot of time with their great-grandchild and our little munchkin left them with many firsts.

Her first two teeth appeared while they were here.  They got to watch her swimming and finally clicking that when the instructor said one, two, three to close her eyes as she was going to be dunked under water.  They saw her roll over and even make a start on crawling.  Mind you it's more of a dragging motion than crawling at the moment, but she'll soon be moving faster no doubt.

I just wanted to clarify that is isn't our daughter that is expecting but Our Little Princess' mum that is expecting.  Although not true blood relatives I class them as one.

I need to start packing in earnest and get everything sorted out.  The house seems to be coming along, and unless told differently, three weeks today we will be moving.  Must say I will be glad when it all happens as it seems to have dragged on. 

I have got another ear infection, and it doesn't seem to want to go away, so I am going to have to bite the bullet and go to the doctors.  I have better things to do than trail down to Brampton to the doctors, but needs must I guess.

The weather has finally changed and it is now hot.  Had hoped to not put the a/c on, but we'll see.

One job I have to do today is to ring around looking for insurance for the car and the house, as ours seems to have gone up AGAIN.  Again I have better things to do than spend half the morning on the phone!!!

Hope all is well is you all and will try and post more.

Gill

Thank you Canada Post........

I was whining on the other week about Canada Post changing our mailing address, which included us having a new postal code.  Called the insurance on Tuesday and we now have to pay an extra $229 a year on our car insurance.  Luckily for everyone I am sick so neither have the energy or the motivation to yell at anyone about this.  It bloody well sucks though.

I have some sort of ear, nose and throat thing going on.  Mainly ears and throat, and I feel as though someone has sucked the energy right out of me.  Which is a shame as Tuesday afternoon turned out to be nice and I wanted to go outside.

Things are starting to change outside and the trees are starting to come alive:

Now to hope I return to the land of the living soon!!!

I have posted another book review here if you are interested.

Update on insurance and my speech at the wedding and the menu from the wedding........

Got word yesterday that everything is going to be covered for step-father's medical expenses while in hospital.  So a big worry lifted off of our shoulders.

I thought you may be interested in seeing my speech from the wedding.  People at the wedding said it was okay:

Hello and welcome everyone. I hope you are enjoying your meal so far?


A couple of months ago we were having dinner here with B parents, C and L; along with C and B. The subject of giving speeches came up and I said I was giving the speech from our side of the family, but wasn’t sure what to say. C (B dad) said the speech was to welcome B into our family.
As I pointed out B has been around for the past 11 years now, so if he doesn’t feel like part of the family by now he never will do? However, in keeping with tradition, B, I officially welcome you into the T side of the family.

R my husband is a man of few words, but he always stressed to B that if he were to marry C he had to ask his permission. So imagine our surprise when we got a telephone call a week before Christmas telling us he was popping over and NOT to tell C. When you came over and asked our permission to ask C to marry you, we were thrilled. Though the look on R face hid that fact well.

I can’t remember what R said, but it must have been yes, but my answer was, “Well it’s about flipping time.” I will add that was also the longest week of my life, as I couldn’t tell anyone what was going to happen on Christmas morning. R being the man of few words didn’t have a problem!!!!
I know many of you are parents here and a lot of you have children who are married. So you will be able to relate to what I am going to say next. C, it doesn’t seem like five minutes since we brought you home from the hospital and now here you are all grown up and married. Where did all the time go in between hands? You’ll always be our little girl, but we are handing over some of the responsibilities of looking after you to B now, as we know he loves and he cares for you as much as we do.

B, look after C she is very precious to us, but you already know how special she is?


Okay, before it all gets too soppy and I run past my allocated two minutes. Would you all raise your glasses and wish C and B all the best of luck and love in the world.

I took out people's full names just to protect their privacy.

Our menu for the wedding was as follows:
Country Bread Basket with Creamry Butter

Four Cheese Cauliflower Soup

Organic Greens topped with Crumbled Goat Cheese, Toasted Pine Nuts and Cherry Tomatoes with Maple Dressing. 

Grilled Chicken Supreme, with Crispy Honey Mustard Crust, Mashed Potatoes and a selection of Vegetables or Baked Globe Artichoke in a Crispy Pastry Lattice, filled with Woodland Mushrooms, Goat Cheese and Baby Spinach.

Warm Tarte Tartin, with French Vanilla Ice cream

Tea and Coffee

There were appetizers before the meal during the cocktail hour.

At night there were the wedding cakes, an assortment of french pastries and a Homemade Slider Station; which was Angus Beef Sliders (mini burgers) on buns with an assortment of toppings. Along with tea and coffee.  Also there was a bowl of mini Cadbury chocolate bars, which my mam had brought over with her.

The bar was open for an hour before the reception and for four hours after the reception.  It was a free bar which my brother thought was great!!!!  As did many of the guests!!!!  With dinner there was a choice of red or white wine, and a glass of champagne with the toast.

Whiplash Harry.......

Whiplash Harry is ds and why I am even talking about this is that we got the car insurance annual renewal form in and they have upped our insurance rate by $50 a month {SIGH}  Why, because people are making more claims and larger claims.  The average claim used to be $20,000 and now it is $60,000, so we have to pay for that despite us not having any accidents........

Actually that statement is not exactly true, as we got my car in around June of 2002 by August ds had smashed in the front end of the car and we had to have an insurance claim as there was quite a bit  a lot of damage.

Ds was one of those teenage boys that didn't understand the meaning of a speed limit or other safety issues when driving a car {{SIGH}}  However I do have a bit of a funny story with ds and me and my car.  When he was in university he used to work at dh's work in the summer holidays, which happened to be on the way to my work.  So I would drop him off on the way to my work.

Most of the time I would let him drive to give me a break from driving, oh and it gave me a chance to @itch and complain about his driving.....LOL  We went down this road which was quite twisty and turny and every morning when we got to his work I would be green, I never ever had car sickness until that year.  He used to fly around these twists and turns I swear on two wheels......I know that is a slight exaggeration but that is how it felt.

One thing that was also very interesting was that he used to listen to a particular radio station that was geared up to the younger crowd.  That summer and every summer after that I learned more about sex, drugs and strange music that I ever needed to know.  I had to on more than one occasion ask the guys at work what certain things meant that they were talking about, as I was totally clueless.  Now by the look of the smirk on ds face, he knew exactly what they were on about!!!

One summer we had to take one of the apprentices with us from dh's work as his car broke down.  I saw him at the Christmas party, he is now a fully qualified electrician and we were just reminiscing about those good old days and the look on my face when I actually clicked what those radio dj's were actually talking about.  I will say I felt everyone of my years plus a lot more during those summers!!!

Pleased to say ds driving has got better with age and even better when he bought his own car......he is now driving a Lexus, so he has to drive better as that is an expensive car to smash up!!