Our financial situation's looking pretty good.

[MomToTwoBoys]

When we bought this house, I decided to include $100 per month into savings for an emergency fund. Once it's capped at $1k, I will be opening three TFSAs. One will be in my name. One will be in the name of DS7. The third will be in the name of DS12.

Why?

The TFSA in my name will be in case anything happens to me. The TFSA for DS7 will be to help teach him about money. Finally, the TFSA for DS12 is for his needs once he gets old enough to be on his own.

In talking with the social worker yesterday, I found out that the DTC that DS12 is able to apply for will back-date ten years. It is paid out once a month over the course of the year to cover expenses for things like therapy, medication, medical supplies, etc.

This is the income table that dictates how much each child receives based on the parental income:

Child Disability Benefit Guideline Table effective July 2008 - June 2009 (2007 tax year)

But, before we can apply, he needs his SIN. Before we can get the SIN, he needs an updated Permanent Residence card. Before I can apply for the card, I need an updated ID (which I will receive in about a week from now). The PR card will take 4 months and we'll have to go pick that up from Vegreville, which is an hour and 15 minutes worth of a drive from here. So, all in all, we'll have him applied for before Christmas.

Even if they only go back the nine years he's been in Canada, we're looking at about $21k. This figure, of course, will be determined on what the income level was for each year that he's been here.

DS7 will have an RESP opened in his name in September. That will give us ten years of savings for college for him. $1200 per year x 10 years is a good amount for him to get started on.

So now that things around the house are more stable financially, we're able to start focusing on more savings for the future. But how are we able to save with things being so tight still?

Due to DH's reported taxable income from last year, we'll be receiving not only another $100 every six months for the Alberta Family Employment Tax Credit, but another $330 each month for the Child Tax Benefit. Once DS12's DTC starts coming in, he'll have about $200 each month to go into that account as well.

As far as the bills are concerned, we're still working on getting those lowered. It's a struggle because we've been here six months. We won't know for another six what our bills should realistically be at. Groceries is something else I'm having trouble taming. It's averaging out to be about $150 every week, which is $50 more than we were spending in Calgary. But, we also eat out way less now. So we'll have to wait and see with that.

[mauimagic]

Sounds as if you have a good handle on your finances - congrats - looking forward to hearing updates!!