Its a Friday ramble around the kitchen table type post.. If you are looking for homestead and or recipes or pretty photos, skip this one!

Cause my eye is on the future and what some of the things on the horizon could mean and or their possible effects

Its been a low spend jan so far, i tried hard on my trip to always use the included breakfast if we were at a hotel, and a bit of the breakfast might have made its way to travel with me, a apple or banana or perhaps a oatmeal cookie and so on. I had a cooler with me and stocked the truck for travel with the main out meal being supper but even there sometimes i would have enough to miss a few at times. 

While i had a outstanding budget for trip, food was the one thing i figured i could lower some costs, i took some items planned and gotten on sale include my own farm eggs with me to help on the Christmas meals costs. i spent $300 in Alberta and i hauled extra and leftover staples back home with me. What didn’t get used there will get used here.

Still with everything that is going on and wanting to work out of the current budgets (aka not using savings etc) means that things are a little leanish. Compared to many, i know that we are very well set but like everyone we are feeling the pinch in every single thing we do.. it all costs more. It can seem small at the time but boy o boy by the end of the month when you look at your monthly statements can see it all add up.

Dear Hubby has his eyes set hard on retirement at 30 years with the federal service and while i will admit to feeling some Hmmmmm on this due the way things are, we are starting the process of figuring out things in the now and over the next few years in regards to figuring out the timelines and more for his retirement. Perhaps he will choose to work part time in some way, perhaps he will not. 

I am certainly planning on working part time, I want to see if i can find a way to earn enough take home to cover the difference between our current budget and what our budge will be when he retires. That is my personal goal for the rest of our 50’s and if my health holds and allows it till i reach 65 give or take.. My main focus on this is my photography, combined with my kitchen reno to make it into a certified commercial kitchen for low risk foods which include canning, baking and more.

While the truth is no one can really tell what is coming in 2024, i think here in canada, we are in for a world of hurt on a few big levels! The ripples from the big ones will be felt by everyone other then 1 percent folks, they will just keep on trucking.. the rest of us.. o we will feel it.

Let me just hit some of the highlights.

While this will not effect those that own their home but the higher interest rates effect those that own the home but have large home reserve loans on them, which many took at the lowest point just before covid for reno, often taking out 50 to 100, 000 thousand on their lines of credit.

The fact that so many across the board have their renewals due this year and next means that those higher rates are going to hit and hit hard, this will effect those that will need to sell their second rentals properties, those that just made their payments when the rates where low, those that have had illnesses and more. We are going to see a lot of folks selling underwater and owning and or declaring bankrupts afterwards.

if you think the rental market are tight and pricy now, just wait till more single homes are bought up and then rented back out when folks are forced to sell.

 

According to a report by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), up to 2.2 million mortgage borrowers are expected to renew their mortgages in 2024 and 2025, which represents 45% of all outstanding Canadian mortgages ¹. Another source suggests that 80% of all mortgages that were outstanding as of March 2022 will come up for renewal in 2024 ².

It’s important to note that the mortgage renewal process can be challenging, especially given the current borrowing environment. Both fixed and variable mortgage rates have increased significantly since early 2022 due to rate hikes and a volatile bond market. The Bank of Canada forecasts median monthly mortgage payments will increase as much as 54% for some borrowers by 2027 ². However, there are options for borrowers who wish to reduce the financial impact of renewing their mortgage at a higher rate 

The second big one this year is that all the CERB small business loans are coming due

More than 885,000 small businesses and not-for-profits took out CEBA loans, totalling more than $48 billion.

The federal government has indicated the deadline to pay back up to $60,000 in loans issued as part of the Canada Emergency Business Account, or CEBA, program isn’t going to be postponed again after being extended to Jan. 18.

If the loans are paid back by that date, businesses could have up to $20,000 forgiven of the loan. Loans that are not paid back before the deadline will start to accrue interest.

Companies that are unable to pay their entire loan off by the deadline can continue onward, without receiving the free money as part of the loan forgiveness, and have a five per cent interest rate per annum starting Jan. 19, 2024.

the most recent data from Export Development Canada (EDC), the Crown corporation responsible for administering CEBA, indicate only a fraction of the money has been paid back. As of the end of November, only $5.7 billion had been repaid and just 13 per cent of businesses had repaid the loan in full.

Do i really need to say more? so many small business are holding on or having been holding on by the skin of their teeth.. just watch for the closures that will be coming across the country and as each of those close, those they employ will be laid off. And then there is the issue of all that rental space being open, combined with all the office space that is currently under valued and underused..

 It will effect tens of thousands plus jobs in a very short period of time, it will effect so many of the households that have been just making the payments by having a full time job and part time job on the side..

You know i was going to do a third in detail in terms of energy costs combined with how they will effect rising food costs but do i really need to.. sigh.. no no i don’t..

Please if you can plant a garden this year, do so.. talk to your friends about borrowing more costly items and if you have not done so building your community network, if you have one, support it, use it and respect it. IF you can raise a bit of your own protein be that eggs, be that chickens or be that beans, do it.

If you have any access to wild food, take what you need with respect, learn to fish and learn how to use all the parts, this spring take the walks and track and mark all the wild flowering bushes and trees, give them a bit of compost and a light prune or open the area around them for better sun if possible, if you find wild cane fruit, clean some out and prune some for better yields.

Look to your libraries for their free seed banks, talk to your fiends, can you trade seeds, they only want or need half the package of x and you are the same with y, trade them out. Start asking folks what their talent is and make note of it.. got someone who loves to sew, had the zipper go out of your jacket and not sure how to fix it.. while google is great, its not so helpful if you do not have the tools never mind the skills.. talk to your friend, see if there is something they could use, even if its as easy as a playdate with your children while she gets a couple hours to do something etc.

We are not all suddenly going to get more money, even those with some things tied to inflation will find it eaten up quickly, we are going to need to get creative..

VERY VERY creative!

How do you see the next coming years here in Canada or in the countries you live in, i fully understand that this is a post that is about my country and where i see the big challenges coming that will have big ripple effects in our area, i think the trades are pretty darn safe but the rest.. o boy.. its got my Spidey senses tingling..