Exploring Our November 2024 Budget: Insights and Tips, Life in canada

Estimated reading time: 16 minutes

Learn how we manage our expenses in our November 2024 budget update. Get tips, insights, and a free budget binder to help you stay on top of your finances.

Before we begin, the 2025 51-page Budget Binder is ready for download!

Why I Share Our Monthly Budget

For anyone new to CBB, this briefly explains our monthly budget update.

I look forward to putting this post together as it lets us see where we spend our money.

A budget also acts as a diary for your expenses so you can look back to see success and failure.

Our budget update also lets readers know that we are not perfect and must make changes like everyone else.

We use the tools (Free budget Binder), and I hope you have downloaded your free copy.

Alright, let’s get into this.

Percentages For Our November 2024 Budget

Our year-to-date percentage chart is another way to chart our household budget.

November 2024 Household Budget Percentages

Savings of 39.92% include investments and savings based on our net income.

Our life ratio is 38.5% and contains everything from groceries, entertainment, miscellaneous items, health/beauty, clothing, etc., all variable expenses.

Transportation is 1.08%, which covers gas, insurance, and maintenance for our vehicle, which holds no debt.

Our house and vehicle are paid for, and we have zero other debt; however, we still pay property taxes and maintenance fees.

The projected expenses of 10.28% can change based on what we encounter monthly, such as a new item we need to save for.

Jr. CBB’s 52-Week Savings Challenge

Our son created a Moolah Jar label for his money savings jar, which I thought was funny.

52-Week Savings Challenger Update

As of November 2024, his yearly total is $230 in savings.

Update 52-Week Saving Challenge Participant.

Below is the report from a CBB fan participating in the year-long savings challenge.

Hi there, TFSA Saver here, 

These are the November totals for the budget challenge.

• $14 Sold 2 items of clothing in my buy-and-sell Facebook group
• $31 downsized a piece of furniture (FB marketplace)
• $75 Sold an air hockey table (on FB Marketplace)
• .10 found on a walk

Total: $120.10

Thank you! 

TFSA Saver 

November 2024 Budget Estimation and Actual Budget

Below are two tables: the November 2024 Budget and our Actual Budget.

Our November 2024 budget represents two adults and a 10-year-old boy.

Budget Colour Key: It is a projected expense when highlighted in blue.   

Since May 2014, we’ve been mortgage-free, redirecting our money into investments and home improvement projects.

Spending less than we earn and budgeting has been the easiest way to pay off our debt and save money.

This type of budget is a zero-based budget where all the money has a home.

Estimated November 2024 Budget

For November, the estimated budget was $8,179.33; of that, we used $8343.45, going over budget by $164.12

We may not need all the money we budgeted for in each category; however, remember the number is only an estimate from the previous year.

Don’t forget to budget for projected expenses because your entire month can fail due to not planning.

Actual November 2024 Budget

Current Canadian Banks We Use

November Budget 2024 Month To Month Update

Between October and November 2024, we experienced a net income increase of 9.55%.

Our emergency savings increased by 39.53%, which mainly came from investments.

Always expect to see changes from month to month, as that’s perfectly normal.

Breakdown Of Our November 2024 Budget Categories

Below are some of our variable expenses from November that I will discuss.

Prescriptions

Our prescription category slightly increased as we had to pay for the Iron needed for Mrs. CBB’s infusion.

If I remember correctly, it was just under $40, a bargain compared to buying pills.

Health and Beauty

The health and beauty category was riddled with deodorant, Irish Spring soap, vitamins, day and night creams, and hair conditioners for Mrs. CBB.

Grocery Budget November 2024 Budget

Our monthly grocery budget is $900 plus a $25 stockpile budget; we spent $465.45 in November.

Since our son was in a night social skills class every Monday, we decided to shop at Food Basics as it was across the street.

Besides that, we didn’t go to Costco, avoided Flashfood and Zehrs, and kept the costs down.

You can find all the online groceries we purchase in the CBB Amazon Storefront.

November 2024 Grocery Food Savings Jar

So far, we’ve saved $1,548.07 in 2024 using coupons at local grocery stores.

That’s fantastic since every product we buy with a coupon is on sale 99.9% of the time.

Memberships

The membership expenses in November were for soccer, where one is training, and the other is for the house league for the winter.

It’s a bit costly, but our son loves it and gets him out of the house and moving, which he needs.

Our Flashfood Orders November 2024

So far, in 2024, the Flashfood App has saved our family nearly $1000!

Unfortunately, we found no deals we wanted to purchase in November.

We will continue to use Flashfood as we save so much money, so please consider signing up using my affiliate code below.

As I do, you get $5 free when you place your first order. It’s a win-win for both of us.

Every person who signs up gets a $5 credit, a freebie Flashfood offers for new app customers.

Also, Flashfood has added a small service fee to every order, which I feel is acceptable.

Use my referral code, MOCD28ZN4, for a $5 credit.  

Your first purchase must be over $15.

So far, in 2024, we’ve saved $925.15, which is incredible.

Home Maintenance

There hasn’t been much home maintenance, although I need to finish the master bathroom for Mrs. CBB.

I purchased a digital soldering station from Amazon, 3 sets of Joomer color-changing Christmas lights for our tree, and some bits from Canadian Tire.

I tried to repair the lights that came with the tree, but since I had to spray it down and clean it after the cat peeked on it, the lights were rusted.

It’s always the small things that add up.

We are also looking into buying a couple of cameras for the backyard.

Thieves seem to be targeting back windows and doors now and want to steal propane tanks from BBQs.

Pets

I waited until the dry cat good was done before ordering more, and Chewy offered 20% off and free delivery, so I bought 3 bags.

Has anyone used Farmina dry cat food before? Hit reply and let me know whether your cats liked it or not.

The rest of the pet expenses went to snacks and wet cat food, which we bought from Amazon Canada.

There was a deal on Amazon, where I spent $35 and saved 10%, so I took advantage of that, paired with the sale price offered for Fancy Feast gravy.

Before buying cat food, I always check the prices using the Flipp app and a quick visit to pet store websites in our area, Flashfood (Ren’s Pet Store), and grocery stores.

I will be writing a Chewy Canada review soon for the blog, so if you have any questions you’d like me to answer, please let me know.

Also, if you have experience with Chewy Canada, message me and share it so I can add it to the blog post.

Chewy Canada 20 Percent Off Your First Three Orders Discount code 2024.

Extended Healthcare Expenses

Any monthly expenses under our current extended healthcare budget category are from occupational therapy and speech therapy for our son.

Since we are at the end of the year, my benefits coverage of $4,000 for our son has been used.

Any sessions he attends are paid $135 for each therapy session.

Canadian Tire Rewards Points

When my CT money balance increases, you know I’ve been spending money and taking advantage of flyer sales on 20x the points days.

We used some of the rewards points in November to purchase a Christmas gift but later returned it as we found a better deal.

Always activate your Triangle Rewards to get the best bang for your buck at the many stores Triangle Rewards offers.

I have yet to write a Canadian Tire Mastercard blog review, but it’s in the making as my second favorite credit card.

Look for a CT credit card review in 2025.

Canadians Who Shop Online Use Rakuten

Do it if you order anything online and haven’t subscribed to Rakuten Canada.

Not only do you get $30 cash free from Rakuten when you use the CBB link, but you also get cash back from thousands of online stores.

You have 90 days from signing up to use Rakuten for an online purchase before receiving the $30.

Read my full review of Rakuten Canada if you are still unconvinced.

We regularly receive cheques in the mail from Rakuten, which earns us money.

PC Optimum Rewards Points November 2024

Since 2018, we have earned over 9 Million PC Optimum Points or $9000.

In the photo below, you can see the last 45 days of earnings for November.

We started 2024 with under 7 million PC Optimum Points, currently have $7719512, and are working towards $8000.

Unfortunately, for 2024, we have not used any points for Christmas gifts as we haven’t found anything we needed to purchase.

Look for an updated post about our points in 2025 as I learn more about any new details on the program.

How We Saved So Many PC Optimum Points

The process of saving them started after our son was born in 2014.

Yes, we have redeemed many times, but only during their Mega Bonus Event at Christmas.

Below are blog posts for anyone wanting to learn how we earn PC Optimum Points.

Moi Rewards

Over two months after joining the Moi Rewards program at Food Basics, we’ve earned $36.

We earned no Moi points in November, but we are still at the same amount as in October.

For every 500 points earned, buying products with Moi points equals $4.

I’m in the process of writing a full review of the Moi app through Food Basics, as we wanted to try it first.

I’ll be sharing our ongoing rewards progress here each month.

TD Rewards Credit Card November 2024

Our TD Visa has a cash-back balance of $19.33 as of the end of November 2024, which is pretty good since I cashed out the points in October.

That means we’ve been using our TD credit card lots over the last month, which would be correct.

Dream Air Miles Update

Most points are from our house and vehicle insurance, which offers Air Miles.

There was a point where we had to choose Cash Miles or Dream Miles.

Since my family lives in the UK, we felt the Dream Miles would have worked best for us.

Also, when the October update arrived in our email, it stated that 95 cash Air Miles were available to redeem.

I found out in November that they gifted us 95 Air Miles, perhaps to encourage us to earn more.

November 2024 CBB Net Worth Update

Overall CBB November 2024 Budget + Net Worth Update

I’ve had a few people email me about our mortgage and why we don’t have one in the chart.

After purchasing our home in 2009, we paid it in full by 2014, which was not easy, but we did it.

Our current market home value is approximately $988,000, and we bought the home for $265,000 in 2009.

In November 2024, our net worth increased by $37,115.84, or 2.08%.

Our son now has a Registered Disability Savings Plan, in which we placed $5000 to get the government to pay back to the date of his autism diagnosis.

I’ll write a blog post about the process we went through for Mrs. CBB and our son if anyone wants to learn more about our experience.

Comment below and ask me any questions you’d like me to address in the post.

That’s all for now,

Have a great budget month, and I’ll catch you back here in January 2025 for the final budget update for 2024.

Get ready for the new year with the free 2025 Free Printable Budget Binder!

Mr. CBB

You can find all the CBB monthly budget updates from 2012-present in our library.

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