How much money do you put aside for...

[bright sparks]

I just spent the last 8 months as a full time student with no income and living off of my husbands wage only. He works 55-60 hours a week on average and earns a good income. That being said, we struggled, a lot! Kids are getting more expensive as they get older and home maintenance is a big drainer. It was a huge eye opener for me, hence why I've started daycare again and will be continuing my degree online and in the evenings for the time being. There was also an unexpected death in the family in November and we had to foot the bill to fly my husbands mum over from Portugal as she has no money. This sucked up our emergency fund in it's entirety when all was said and done, and was a great example of how life can just change in a second.

We have life insurance....most people are under insured, we are well covered with private term life policies and my husband has good life insurance through work which includes spouse and dependants. Costs less than $100 a month. We had mortgage and long term disability insurance a few years ago and after reading the policy in great detail, realized it was a massive con. We now use that premium money by adding it to our mutual funds. My husband has a great RRSP and DRSP plan through work. He pays 4% and his company pay 6% which was initially a hard deduction to manage as it could have been used day to day, but we have gotten used to it and it will pay off a lot in the future. I don't pay EI. I came to Canada in 2005 and didn't get landed status until 2012 so wouldn't have been entitled to claim anything had I paid. My husband being employed had to pay and wasn't able to opt out although he wasn't entitled to claim EI during that time period. Seems like EI really doesn't pay much either and I'd be better off just putting a bit away each month if I'm able to.

Going to school made us adjust the way we spend, eliminate unnecessary things, even if we were convinced we needed them and we really cut back. Lots of research resulted in cheaper television and internet options, cheap bulk meat purchasing ($2.41 for 1lb of ground turkey), free or almost free entertainment options that could include the kids. I even traded hair services for wine lol I trained as a hairdresser straight out of school. Now it is our goal this next year or two to figure out how to be able to live entirely on one wage, with enough money left over which is key, so I can go back to school on campus, or in case something should happen. I should also mention that I am paying for me degree entirely out of pocket which is a huge burden on the family.....many times I saw that idea as unnecessary but my family pushed me to go for it as I have put it off for years.

Monthly payments to CRA should be something I do to cover the following years tax bill but unfortunately I am still paying off the last.