Owing on Taxes Again?!

I've done my 2011 taxes and this is the 3rd year in a row that I have owed. I cannot figure out why. I'm hoping you guys can give me some tips or some clarification as to why I am owing.

In 2011 I made about $29,000.

My main (basically full time) job takes off the proper amount of deductions. I know this because I check my pay stubs against the payroll deductions calculator on the Canada Revenue Agency website. It is always bang on.

My other part time job that I work at regularly also takes off the right amounts because they follow that same CRA calculator when they write my pay checks.

I did work a few random shifts at my old chain pharmacy job at 2 locations where they did not take tax off because I was making so little there. The income from those two places was only about $700 for the year. That's only $700 that I didn't pay tax on. I knew they were not going to take tax off so I made a point to try to contribute some money to RRSP's on my own to try to off-set that.

So I contributed $580.00 to RRSP's on my own.

It says I owe $133. I know I made a bit of extra money without paying taxes but even if I was to get a $700 pay check I would only pay about $45 in tax according to the CRA calculator. So what's the deal??

Any ideas?

Why I never want to live like my parents

This is going to sound harsh, but my worst nightmare is ending up like my parents. I honestly think my parents live a sad life and it really makes me sad for them, but I don't say anything because I don't want to hurt their feelings. Here are some reasons why I never want to live like them.

1. Their marriage. I think my parents marriage is a poor example for my sister and I, which is probably why I have serious reservations about the idea of marriage. My parents never speak a kind word to one another. They NEVER compliment each other or say things like "thanks for doing that for me I really appreciate it". In fact, they hardly talk to each other at all, except for when my dad is asking my mom what shes making for dinner, or they are arguing about money, or putting each other down. True fact: when I was a kid I used to wish for my parents to get a divorce.

2. My mother is so negative. My parents are in a tough spot financially, but honestly no matter how much money they had, my mother would still find things to complain about. Even when they had more money, it was never enough. My mother got a part time job a few months ago, and if she doesn't get a lot of hours one week, she complains about money. If she gets a lot of hours the next week, she complains that its too much and it hurts her back and her feet hurt. Nothing is ever good enough for her.

3. They are not good with money. They don't have a lot, but I truly believe that how you spend/save your money is more important than how much you make. What baffles me even more is how I managed to be pretty good with money because I really had nobody as an example. I think it came from sheer will to not be like them. lol. They have no savings for anything at all. No emergency money. No retirement savings. Nothing. I'm even scared of what's going to happen when they are gone because I don't want to end up paying for this house and any other debts they have that I don't know about. And they rely on their 24 yr old daughter's (me) rent money to pay the bills. Oh and I pretty much let my mother use my car whenever she wants, because she doesn't have one. Even though I pay for the car, the insurance and most of the gas.

4. They don't do anything. They never DO things TOGETHER. All they do is sit on the couch and watch tv, or when its summer they sit on the porch. They never go out and do stuff. You don't even need to spend a lot of money. They could go for a walk, or go to the movies on cheap night. They honestly live the most boring life ever.

5. My dad is kinda one of those people who thinks it's a woman's job to cook and clean and do his laundry and basically be his mother. If he suddenly realizes he has no clean shirts for work, its my mothers fault because she didn't wash them. I think this is part of the reason I am really NOT into cooking and cleaning because subconsciously I was rebelling against that idea. I do not want to live my life feeling like I am serving my husband because it's my job!

6. My mom quit her job to be a stay at home mom and I think it was her biggest mistake in life. She doesn't have like a degree or anything, but she worked for an insurance broker and if she had kept doing that, she would probably make pretty good money now. She quit her job to be a stay at home mom, and when she wanted to get a job again, she was out of the work force for over 10 years and it was extremely hard for her. I just think things would be a lot different if she hadn't left her job. Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against moms who don't work outside the home, it's just for our family I feel it wasn't the best idea. This is why I vow never to quit my job because I had a kid. Even if for the first few years your basically working to pay for daycare, I think it still makes sense to at least keep working part time to stay current in your industry because eventually you won't have daycare bills anymore and at least you won't have been out of work for 5 years.

So anyways that is my little rant of the day. It probably sounded a little harsh, but I think it's a pretty common feeling for people to want to "live better" than their parents did. I hope I did not offend anybody!

A Personal Space Rant

Ok folks, I would like to take a few minutes to discuss what I did not realize what is one of my biggest pet peeves until yesterday, which is: People getting in my personal space!!!

Yesterday I was off, and I went and did a little shopping at Shoppers. I was at the cash paying for my purchases, and as the cashier was bagging my stuff, the lady in line behind me had her crap on the counter and she was so close she was practically shoving me out of the way!!! Oh my god, I wanted to turn around and yell "GET OFF MY ASS!!!!" so badly. And then I had to initial my receipt for the cash back and her crap was all over the counter, I barely had enough room! Like, can I have a minute to get my sh*t together here? Seriously!


UGHHH!!!

Feeling Down Lately..

FYI: Bit of a rant coming on here..

I apologize that I have not been writing much lately. I am in a bit of a funk right now and have not been feeling motivated to post. Mostly it's because of my work. As I may have mentioned before I work in a pharmacy. I love my job most days, but lately I have been feeling like every day is "one of those days"..you know? Its extremely draining, more so emotionally than physically. Most people that you are dealing with are sick in some way so of course they are cranky. Customers are very demanding, everyone seems to think they are the sickest person out there and they should have their prescription "right now". At the end of the day when I get home, I have nothing left. NO energy whatsoever. Sometimes I am in a bad mood when I get home and I pretty much don't want anybody to look at me or talk to me and just want to be by myself.

Of course there are the nice customers that always appreciate everything we do and are always saying thank you and it makes me feel good when someone appreciates my hard work, but those people seem to be so rare these days. I work really hard at my job, in fact I have never worked so hard in my life. Yet at the same time I have also never been treated with such disrespect and rudeness, and at times what could be considered harassment. Sometimes I just feel like what do I work so hard for? I don't make a lot of money, so I can't really say that the money is worth it. I used to think that the people I work with make it all worth while, because I work with a great team. We all get along well and the hours are not that bad. We don't have to work super late and we rotate weekends and we are all pretty flexible, we all know that if you ever cant work a day or need to switch a shift, something can always be worked out. These are little things that do make the job more enjoyable but I wonder if they are enough??

I have been thinking about working on my resume and handing it out to other pharmacies in town, but then I wonder if a job change is best in this economy. I work full time, I have benefits and vacation, maybe I should consider myself pretty lucky right now. I am not sure but I know one thing, I feel like I am at the end of my rope here.