Does that really say POSITIVE?!!!

I haven't written in a week or so and saying I was otherwise engaged would be an understatement. Last weekend I found out I'm PREGNANT!! S and I are absolutely ecstatic and although I'm ready emotionally and physically, financially is another story based on my current net worth. That being said, S and I both have good jobs now and I'm sure by the time the baby comes, we'll be in much better shape.

I'm about 6 weeks in right now and although we're only telling our immediate family and a few close friends, I decided to include the news in my blog since this is anonymous and because it will have such an impact on my personal finance goals.

Yes, I did just start my new job on Monday (oops, haha) but I'm not going to fess up until it's more or less obvious. Right now I'm feeling great except that I am HUNGRY all the time! We definitely need to increase our food budget.

On the financial front, I started my new job last Monday and will be submitting my payroll forms this coming Monday. I'm not sure when my first pay cheque will be issued but since I haven't had a real one in over two months, I'm really looking forward to that. I'm anticipating that it should be roughly $1,750.00 for two weeks. Plus my non-profit contract came through and they've hired me to work 8 hours/week at $25/hour so that another $400 every two weeks to add to my gross.

I was suprised the non-profit agreed to the $25/hour price point since I was expecting to come to an agreement at $20/hour. But, they didn't negotiate and just offered me what I asked for which is great luck. This will add another $10k to my income over the year putting me around the $70k give or take some mat leave!

Oh, You Must See These

THANKS SO MUCH to the following amazing 5 PF blogs that have referred the most traffic to Reality Cheque!

Saving 4 Later

Carrie on the Cheap

Shaking the Moneytree

The Asian Pear

Beachgirl's Budget Blog

Definitely check them out for multiple priceless quips, tips, stories and PF gems :)

G to the IZZLE!!!

I just had an epiphany. I had put it into the universe that I wanted to make between $65 - $70k and I didn't think I made it because I agreed to a $60k salary in my full time job. BUT. I didn't consider what I'll be making on contract for the not-for-profit! If I'm netting $2,025.34 every two weeks then that is the equivalent to $68,000!!!

Yes, I'm working 1.2 jobs instead of 1 but that's ok because I was originally planning on volunteering for the .2 part anyway!

Woot, woot! GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Counting My Pennies

It may be a little too early to be doing this since I haven't even started my job yet but I'm trying to calculate how much $$$ I'm going to be bringing in between my new job at $60k and the part-time (approx 6 hours/week) not-for-profit job.

I asked for $25/hour on the not-for-profit job but even if they come in at $20, I'd be ok with that since my original plan was to volunteer anyway. I have a meeting tomorrow to finalize that.

So, being conservative at $20/hour, I'm looking at grossing an additional $240 every two weeks. Since this is a contract position, I can write off expenses and so I don't think I'll end up paying any tax on that income.

My regular full-time job which starts Monday should see me grossing $2,500 every two weeks. Less the 3% I'm deducting for RRSP matching and less taxes, I should be netting $1,785.35.

$1,785.35 + $240 = $2025.34 every two weeks (assuming 24 pay periods)

Not too shabby!!!

On the expense side of things, my work has agreed to pay for my personal blackberry and my husband has agreed to pay the rent (for the time being) and so my only real expenses are going to be,

*Utilities

*Internet service at home

*MS society donation

*Groceries

*Bank charges

*Paying off my debts

If I'm netting $4,050.70 each month, I should be able to take some serious bites out of my debt in no time.

I said it before and I'll say it again... I can't wait to start getting paid!!!!!!!!!

EMPLOYED! in the City

I had my final negotiation with my new company yesterday and although it didn't go perfectly, it did go very well. So well in fact that I signed the offer and am thrilled to say I have a job!

The 'not-so-perfect' part was that they couldn't move on my base salary. So I'm set at 60k for now but they did offer me 3% RRSP matching ($1,800), the ability to expense my personal blackberry ($1,000) plus an additional week vacation over their first offer (4 weeks!!). There will also be an opportunity for me to establish a bonus system after my first six months. That was their response to my request for more $$ and I think it sounds like a win-win.

So hoooooraaaaaayyyyyy!!!!!! I CANNOT WAIT to get my first pay cheque and get back into Visa payoff mode.

Thanks so much for all your comments and support on my last entry. I'm sure glad I took your advice and didn't settle for the first offer! :)

Am I Being Greedy?

I got an initial offer on the job I was interviewing for last week. I asked for a salary range of $65 - $70k, and they came back with $60k plus 3% RRSP matching and 3 weeks vacation.

I was only making $50k at my last job (although I didn't tell them that) and it is a REALLY amazing position. Still, I'm a little disappointed at $60 because I really feel like I'm worth $65. What to do, what to do....

On Monday I have another meeting with the Director and I really want to sign off on this contract so I can get started on these projects. For some reason when I'm working on behalf of a company, I'm a pretty savvy negotiator but when it come to negotiating for myself, I don't feel overly confident. That's pretty frustrating. Time to snap out of it and be friendly yet fierce! I just really don't want to miss out on this opportunity.. but I don't think I will.

I'm going to ask for $63k with 4 weeks vacation and see what they say. Butterflies....

I'm So Excited!! I Need A Valium!

This morning I was leaving an interview when it dawned on me - why do I enjoy job hunting so friggin much? The Thrill Of The Chase. And I've almost caught something exceptional!

It was my second interview at this organization and today I met with one of the directors and the chairman of the board. The three of us are so thrilled about this new project they are considering hiring me to manage that we begin talking about it and an hour goes by before I can snap my fingers. I didn't realize that we only had an hour but the when the time came, the chairman thanked me and went to the meeting and the director said she would meet them in that boardroom in a few minutes. Once he left, she basically told me that she thinks that I am the right fit for this position and although she had to speak to the chairman, I can expect a formal written offer tomorrow. YAHOO!!

When I left that meeting and I was floating. I knew Edmonton was going to be good to us!

When they asked me what my salary expectations were, I told them that I was in the $65 - $70k range, so hopefully they come back with at least $65! Come on baby!!!

Cross your fingers for me please!

Bored w/ Your Jeans Like I Was?

After going through part of my closet yesterday, I decided to try revamping an old pair of jeans by aging a hole into them - à la Megan Fox at left. I'm not so much into some ripped jeans being worn that look like they were attacked by Freddy, but I do like an aged look and a hole or two is stylish if done correctly.




Tools:

- one pair of old jeans
- one grater
- one pair of scissors

Bascially I just started grating mid-thigh and gradually all the blue fabric came out in fuzz until I was left with a worn white area. Then I stretched it out with my hands and clipped a few threads to open up the hole and show a little skin. The final step was throwing them into the washing machine and once dry, I decided to try folding an ankle cuff like Megan's. I have to say, BIG IMPROVEMENT! I love them but feel like somehow I cheated my no spend day since I ended it with a "new" pair of jeans (even though I didn't spend a dime).

Settling into September

This morning the clouds are hovering in the sky and it looks like it's trying to decide whether or not it's going to rain. After weeks of beautiful summer sunshine, Autumn seems to finally be blowing in.

This is a cozy time of year that makes me crave a warm sweater, scarves and a mug of mushroom soup. It's also time to re-evaluate my wardrobe and see what's going to stay in my closet, be packed away for next summer or be donated to charity. This year, I'm reviewing with an extra watchful eye because I'm on a budget and I can't spend much money on new pieces.

Does anyone ever use About.com? It seems to have an answer for everything... I was on there this morning doing research for a separate subject but came across an article called '10 Ways to Revamp your Clothes for Fall'. Perfect! I thought... better to revamp then repurchase. After reading the article, I don't know if I'm quite crafty enough to sew new life into my old clothes but if I don't get a full time job soon, maybe I'll start experimenting.

Tuesday = no spend day today!

No Spend Days

Unfortunately I fell off the wagon with my no spend days over the past few months. I was doing so good too!

Anyway, I had to revise my 2009 goal from 80 no spend days to 50.

My plan to accomplish this is to return to my no spend Tuesdays & Thursdays for the rest of the year. There are enough of them left to achieve my goal and I'm hoping to throw in a few extra no spend days in there to surpass it.

New Job #1 - Part Time

Part of my thinking when we moved to Edmonton was that when we arrived, I could re-institute a reasonable work/life balance. S and I celebrated our 1-year anniversary over the summer and we'd both been working non-stop, a la T-dot. It was hard to believe that a year had passed already.

When we moved here, I started looking for a job and on the 'life' side of things, I wanted to do a little karmic investing by giving back to the Earth. In Toronto I had spent some time coordinating with colleagues that operate an environmental charitable organization and as luck would have it, they have recently been approved to start a branch here in Edmonton. I'm extremely passionate about the initiatives and they've asked me to help them get it up and running. It will be one day per week which could work out perfectly as I'm still looking for a f/t job. I've asked for $25/hour plus expenses on a contract basis but that rate hasn't been finalized yet. If it was a regular job, I would have asked for a higher hourly rate but since I'm thrilled to help out the organization, this seems reasonable. Originally I was just planning on doing some volunteering but this is a more serious role.

S has been working crazy hours since we arrived (poor angel), so even if I was working full time, I'd still have plenty of time to build this organization. I'm super excited!!

Job Hunting Safari

I had my first interview yesterday!!!

Job hunting seems to be one of those 'love it or hate it' kind of activities and for some reason, I love it. Whenever I revamp my resume, I feel like I'm moving on to a new chapter, and it's a good opportunity to reflect on what I enjoyed and despised about past jobs. It also seems to be the time that I get the biggest raises... why is that? The largest raise I've ever had from a current employer was $4k/year but whenever I change jobs I seem to be able to negotiate a higher rate of return. My last salary increase between companies was $7k.

In my last position I was making $50k and in my new one, I'm aiming for the $65k range. Even though 30% may seem like a big jump, I felt pretty underpaid in my last position given the amount of work and the fact that it had a certain level of prestige. I'm hoping to leverage that prestige into a more appropriate salary range. Besides, if I don't try, it's definitely not going to happen so I might as well give it a shot!

The interview yesterday went well and I am beyond excited about the prospective position!! (well, trying not to get too excited but can't help it) My correspondence with this company actually started when I was back in Toronto. S & I had decided that we were definitely moving to Edmonton so I started to scan the job sites for something interesting here. I found a position I thought would be great and submitted my application. After a few days I hadn't heard anything and never received one of those "yes, we got your resume" emails so I called. I was transferred to the Director of Operations and we corresponded briefly which included me sending him my resume direct. Unfortunately, at that time they were already quite deep in the process (already going into third round interviews) and I never heard back.

So, when I got settled in Edmonton, I sent the Director a quick note and asked if we could keep in touch via LinkedIn. He agreed and said that he still had my resume and if anything came up that he thought might be a fit, he'd 'ping' me. Low and behold, one week later I had an e-intro from him to the Director of Development and she asked me to meet for coffee.

The coffee date was yesterday and I think things went really well. She took the copy of the CV I brought with me and said that she'd like to show it to a few people who's opinions she respects. At the end of the meeting, she said that she would be in touch early next week (probably Wed because of the long weekend) with some next steps.

From the sounds of it, the position would be more or less a dream job and would definitely be a step forward career-wise. The best part is she said that rather than having to write an official job description, post a posting, review resumes and go through interviews, it would be so great if this worked out and we could develop the position organically. Happy Days!!! Arms, fingers, legs, toes, tongues (jk!) crossed.

We didn't speak about salary expectations yet but I'm really hoping it's in the range I'm looking for.

A New Appreciation for EI

Whenever I'd get a regular pay cheque, a nominal amount was deducted off the top for Employment Insurance (EI). I never really thought much about it and just accepted it as part of the tax I have to pay for living in Canada. The only time it ever crossed my mind was when I maxed out my EI contribution for the year and they stopped deducting, at which point I'd think "yahoo" an extra $20 (or whatever it is) into my account instead of the governments.

As of this morning, when EI depositted $802.00 into my account, I have a whole new appreciation. It turns out that since I was "forced" to quit my job and move because my spouse had to relocate for work, I am eligible to receive EI. In Toronto, I was making $50k annually which works out to the maximum weekly benefit of $447 less $46 for income tax - $401.00 every week. They were a week behind in processing my claim so that's why I got $802.00 this morning.

I'm hoping not to be on EI for that long though. It's not that I'm adverse to using the system (I do pay into it afterall) but I'm starting to get bored! Last week I applied for four jobs and there's one in particular that I'm pretty excited about. The managing director of that position doesn't return from vacation until next Monday. So, next Monday I'm going to go in and submit a paper copy of my application along with some letters of reference.

Now that I know that I have a regular stream of income - $401 per week until I find a job - I feel comfortable getting my budget reset. S is going to pay our rent & groceries and I'll be responsible for the following monthly expenses:

*elecricity

*internet

*my mobile

*MS society donation

*paying off Visa #2

*making minimum payment on my LOC

*national student loan payment

This should give me some flexibility to pay off my Visa at a quicker pace. Today I put down $206.92 plus $150 from my line of credit bringing my balance down to $5,350.00. I can't wait to be back at $4,900.00 which is where I was before I fell off the wagon.

Current bank account balance: $889.24

Big Gulp - hold the sugar, Sugar

There's no point in delaying this any further since the worst person to be dishonest with is yourself! I need to get a new handle on where I stand financially. As I'm writing this the Edmonton wind is whipping through our open windows and feels pretty ominous.

Current Income: $0 - unemployed!

Current Liabilities
1) Visa #2 - $5,805.58
2) LOC - $6,940.02
3) Student Loan - $6,189.70

Total debt - $18,935.30 ........drat.

Since I last calculated my total debt on May 23, 2009 I've increased from $18,239.98 by $695.32 to $18,935.30. To be honest, that's not as bad as I thought it was going to be but when you consider all the funds that I should have been applying to my debt during that time period, it's pretty bad. My goal of paying off Visa #2 by the end of September is definitley out the window.

Current bank account balance: $235.30
Final expense cheque pending - approx $300.00 (supposedly in the mail)

So basically my plan of action is to spend as little as possible and find a job. I should mention that S has a good job so it's not like I'm going to be out on the street or anything. Still, I really want to pay off my debt on my own before we totally integrate our finances.

Allie in the NEW City

What an unbelievable few months. Since my last post, my world has up and done an unexpected 180 degree turn. Allie in the "city" is no longer a Toronto girl but an EDMONTON one... heehaw! Although Edmonton seems like a bit of a small town compared to T.O., there are over 1.1 million people living in the Edmonton metro area so it is still a city which means I don't have to change my URL!

My last few months in a nutshell....

My job in T.O. was project-based and the huge project I'd been working on all year was coming to actualization in mid-June. During my Toronto tenure, this time of year was easily my busiest and most exciting. It was also all-consuming and totally threw off all the great routines I'd gotten myself and S into. Thankfully, all the hard work paid off and the project was a big success!!

Come July... I'm doing wrap-up at work and generally trying to get my personal life back on track. S and I had been talking broadly about how this summer brought with it the two year guideline that we'd set in place for our time in Toronto. Although we both enjoyed the city and had lots of great friends, we both felt that the workaholic daily grind which TO is famous for was aging us. We're both laid back west coasters at heart.

Then as if the universe opened up and smiled S was offered a great new position here in Edmonton. They flew us both out so I could check out the city and S could meet with the exec's and within 3 weeks we'd both quit our jobs in Toronto and moved into our new home in Edmonton. I can't say that I've EVER thought of myself as an Edmonton girl but now that we're here, I really like it so far. There are tons of festivals and it's definitely a more relaxed vibe.

Financially speaking, I am now jobless. Committing all time and energy into my T.O. project also came at a price as I'm sad to say that I'm pretty much back to where I started in terms of debt. It's interesting that once I got out of the routine of checking my finances daily, I really didn't know where I stood financially. I think it was that lack of knowledge that led me back down this path. If I was looking at something, I would generally tend to assume I could afford it even if that wasn't the case. I also purchased 3 plane tickets in that time frame which didn't help either. I haven't figured out exactly where I stand financially yet but now that we're settled, getting myself back on track financially will become one of my top priorities.

Blew My No Spend Day

Boourns. I blew my no spend day today. Even though I forgot my lunch this morning - ok, rushed out of the house in a late panic is a better description - I ended up being treated by a business associate and internally was thrilled that I didn't have to buy food (my pet peeve!).

However, the $14.00 that I did end up spending later this evening was sooooo worth it. I'm totally lonely right now because S is in Europe for two weeks for some lectures for his MBA. He's doing it by correspondence but he is required to take one trip to the university during his program and that time is now. Wow, it's only been a week but it feels like FOREVER and I miss him constantly. I consider myself a pretty independent woman but this sucks. This really sucks. This really, really sucks. Did I mention that this sucks? Anyway, the $14 that I spent was on some Skype credit since I missed his calls earlier. It was so good to speak to him, I love that man!

Skype, btw, is something I'm going to start using more of. Right now I have a long distance plan that gives me unlimited calls in Canada for $6.77/month (Comwave). It costs just under 3 cents/minute to call within Canada on Skype so that's equivalent to 225 minutes on Comwave or 3.76 hours per month. I'm not a big phone talker to be honest so I'd probably save money if I switched to Skype. The Comwave fee is automatically charged to my Visa every month and that irritates me anyway since I'm trying hard to pay it off.

Back on the Wagon

It's time to bring this lengthy hiatus to an end!

Last month my laptop went sideways. It's been a frustrating affair as it's old and not easily fixed I take it, based on the length of time the laptop surgeons have had it. In fact, it's still not home and I'm questioning the qualifications of those jokers. All I really care about is my data and they promise me that's safe so *knock on wood* I hope they're right.

However, around the time that my laptop broke, I started planting the seed with my boss that I could work much more easily & effectively if I had a work laptop at home. So, thanks to my powers of persuasion and his generosity, today I was blessed with a tres petite new laptop. It is so handy, it fits right in my purse!

Being crazy busy at work these days and without a laptop at home, I became pretty disconnected with my blog and unfortunatley with my focus on personal finance. I mean I didn't go bananas with spending or anything but if you're not blogging about it almost daily, and creating budgets for each pay period, it's easy to lose site of your financial goals.

So far, I'm doing ok on my goals. Had I been disciplined enough to follow my original plan, I should have $500 more paid off on Visa #2. Even though I'm disappointed to be behind, I'm still happy that I've broken the $5k mark and I'm down to $4,900.00 owing. I also took a quick trip back to BC to see my family last weekend so there were some additional costs for that. Once home, I got my watch fixed and bought a shirt from American Eagle that I lusted over in my sisters closest. (The bonus of living so far apart, you can buy the same clothes as your sister/friends if you please).

Well, it's midnight now and I should head to bed. Good night!

Lower Prime Rate

All those who are fiscally responsible with investments were probably not too pleased to see that the Bank of Canada had dropped it's prime rate by another .25%, bringing it to 2.25%. However, for those like me with a negative net worth, this announcement last week made our day.

All of my debts are floating and so a lower prime rate, means lower interest payments. In my case, .25% is marginal but every penny counts!

Here are my new and improved interest rates -

Visa #2, Prime + 6.9% = 9.15%

Line of Credit, Prime + 5.75% = 8%

Student Loan, Prime + 2.5% = 4.75%

Some banks are increasing interest rates on lines of credit but (knock on wood), this hasn't happenned to me yet. It seems pretty unethical to raise interest rates on lines of credit but I guess ethics isn't the strong point of the banks these days. If you haven't had a chance yet, listen to Juan Enriquez the chair and CEO of Biotechonomy, a research and investment firm helping to fund new genomics firms, speak about the economy and our economic & technological future. Really Citibank? You loaned 47x the amount of cash you had? They say payback is a bitch but in this case, it was obviously leverage.

Birthday Love

I haven't had much opportunity to write lately because of the demise of my laptop. Right now it's almost 6:00pm on a Friday and I can't wait to get out of the office so this will be a short update.

It was S's birthday this week! The extra $$$ I needed was all included in my secret b-day budget this pay period. Because I budgeted, I was able to get him some great gifts and still keep my bank account afloat. For a mid-thirties b-day, S got:

*a cd case for the collection of indy rock he keeps in his car
*a nose hair trimmer (asked for) - yes, we are married now so this is ok apparently (ha!)
*a fishing mapbook to show where the best places to go fishing in Ontario are
*a $100 gift certificate to a local sport fishing shop so he can get a new fly rod
*dinner with his me, bro & bro's wife
*delicious cake & wine
*lots of kisses

The nose hair trimmer is a bit of a hilarious gift. It's not like he really needs it but then again, it will probably come in handy one of these days. Is this the men's equivalent to a woman getting a blender or a vacuum? In any case, he asked for it soooooo..... yeah. Potentially it was a bit of a domestic gift but we've got to take care of each other so that's o.k.

Today my bank account is at 143.22. That's $8.77 below my minimum bank balance for the day but given what a big week it was with the b-day and all, I think that's pretty good. Next pay period, I'm really going to need to get my laptop fixed - stat!

Who Steals Parking Tickets?

This weekend I went to this really interesting event on Creativity and Innovation. It was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon, learning how to "fire up my brain" and also the history of creative theory.

Apparently drinking pure water (coffee/tea don't count) is the number one thing you can do to make your brain most effective. So if you're going into a big exam or meeting, have a big glass of H2O before you begin. I'm kicking this up and am going to try to drink 8 cups a day, which is equivalent to just under 2.5 times the stainless steel water-bottle I have.

I had 2 tickets to this event and invited a friend to come along with me. Then when I got there, I got asked for a $20 'donation' per ticket. Kind of embarrassing when I told my friend they were pro bono and I didn't have any cash. Anyway, no biggie, quick trip to the bank machine and I covered both tickets. I'll just expense them but I wasn't anticipating having that money out of my account so another area will have to be cut out this period.

Anyway, it got worse because I went out to feed my parking meter half way through and a shop keeper comes out and tells me that I got a parking ticket and a homeless person stole it!!  Only one question come to mind here... uh, why? Was he also going to pay it for me? Somehow I doubt it...  Why would someone steal a parking ticket? Was this person so vengeful towards others that he was hoping I'd get a second ticket?  If that's the case, peace be with him. What a way to live your life!

The parking signs are so confusing in this city, they might as well be in Swahili. The parking authority has paid at least one salary on my parking tickets alone since I arrived, I'm sure. Anyway, now I have to call them to see if they can find the ticket because of course, it triples in price if you don't pay it in the first week.

I hope no other unexpected expenses come up this week!

Friday Financial Analysis

Prior to my frugal days, the weekend was the most dangerous time for my bank account because of my weekend spending binges. It was like the money was magnetically repelled away from my wallet. I'd go to Costco and drop $250 at the til without any prior consideration or head to the outlet stores and cherry pick some cute shoes or outfit(s) to add to my already too small closet. Pointless! Looking back, I'm not sure how I managed that but I only have to look at the remaining balance on my #2 Visa card to remember.

Original Balance: $6,150.56
Today's Balance: $5,500.00
Total repaid to date: $650.56

I actually had paid off more but added another $500 on it for a trip back to Vancouver for the May long weekend. Anyway, the $650 is not impressing me and if I want to achieve my goal of paying off Visa #2 by the end of September, I need a plan!

Voici - "le plan"
The payment schedule is pretty stiff but I think I can do it. I really need to be frugal and save though because admist all this debt repayment, I also have to pay for a few other big expenses like another trip back to Vancouver for on of my BFF's wedding. Which reminds me, I really need to work on my 2009 overview budget this weekend.

Should be a pretty low key weekend this weekend. I went MIA on my turn for house-cleaning last weekend so I need to do that, then yoga and sushi which is becoming my Sunday ritual.

Today's bank account balance: $631.56
Minimum balance: $578.19
Ahead of the game: $53.37

Top Secret Budget

Unfortunately, this pay period I can't post my official budget because it includes some dolla dolla bills for S's birthday gift. It's his birthday next week!

Any stellar gift recommendations for a male stranger in his late twenties / early thirties? I've got a few ideas but am definitely open to any strokes of genius any readers may have.

However, I will post my minimum bank balances for the period because S certainly doesn't have time to sit there trying to decipher my budget!

Overall, I'm left with about $33/day to spend on my ok to spend days. It should turn out to be a fun and doable pay period.

Also, I need to get my taxes submitted asap! I've been waiting because the National Student Loan bureau hasn't sent my receipt for my interest credit yet (despite multiple phone calls). Since the deadline is just around the corner, I don't think I have much choice. S says I can carry the credit forward to next year though - providing I EVER get the form out of them.

Fingers crossed for a nice refund.

IT'S PAY DAY TOMORROW!!

Just wanted to throw that out there :)

Today's bank account balance: $59.26

Tonight (if S has a new work laptop he brings home) I'm going to sit down and figure out what a no spend pay period would look like. Lately I've been reading Carrie on the Cheap and came across Carrie's 10 Baby Step to Financial Freedom which I found very helpful, especially Baby Step #1 Write It Down which is about doing a budget for the whole year.

Although I haven't done this in it's entirety yet, I do plan to. I've got some big bills coming up this year including another plane ticket back to BC for one of my best friends wedding and one to Scotland for my brother's wedding. I had not even considered starting saving for my next plane ticket to BC since it's not until August but that's only 7 pay periods away! Thanks to Carrie from Kansas City, I'm on it.

Bad Laptop Karma

Tonight I'm writing from S's tiny Nokia E71 because S and I have clearly done something to piss off the laptop gods.

My Toshiba laptop has been on the fritz for a while with the battery dying even when it's plugged in and registering a charge. Now it will only stay on for a few minutes. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Do I just need a new battery? Anyway, it's not useable so we've been using S's work laptop which today totally went sideways!! The screen went bananas with all these crazy lines and we can't see a thing.

S suggested that I try to take things to a whole new level and try a no spend pay period (except monthly bills and groceries). Now I'm thinking that's not such a bad idea. The weather is getting warmer now anyway so we could play tennis, etc, to keep ourselves entertained for cheap as chips. If I did, that would be a great way to save for a new computer. Then in the summer I could try it again to save for another plane ticket back to BC for one of my best friends weddings.

Blogging - The Secret to Weight Loss?

A strange thing has been happening since I started this blog - I started losing weight!

It definitely wasn't a planned thing but when I began this blog, a few new habits began to form and low and behold -> blogging = weight loss. I'm not talking a lot here but I've probably lost about 5 - 7 pounds, yay! Perfect timing too with Summer just around the corner.

It began when I stop my very expensive habit of buying lunch on work days. I was mildly trying to buy healthy lunches - turkey sandwich w/ milk, or veggie panini w/ salad, etc. They were always really large portions and I'm the type of person who will more or less eat until I'm stuffed if the food tastes good and is in front of me. My food schedule usually consisted of eating breakfast before work, one large lunch and a late dinner. I wasn't too worried about my weight but was always about 8-10 pounds over my ideal.

Fast forward to today: Now I pack my lunches every day! And generally try to include a lunch item plus three snacks so that I can eat at regular intervals.

8:00am, Breakfast before work - toast w/ natural peanutbutter & banana

10:00am, Snack - green apple

12:00pm, Lunch - dinner leftovers or Lean Cuisine microwave meal

2:00pm, Snack - small yogurt or carrots

4:00pm, Snack - dark chocolate cherry Kashi granola bar

8:00pm, Dinner - Spinach salad w/ chicken breast

(obviously this isn't what I eat every day but it's a good representation)

Because of this new schedule, I've really noticed that my metabolism has been kicking it up. I'd heard this before but had never tried it myself. Now I'm a believer, eating 5-6 small meals a day really works. My budget also allows me to fit in hot yoga once a week without feeling guilty at the cost. So I'm doing that weekly now too.

So, what I have to keep doing to get ready for summer is,

1) Keep bringing my own lunches to work

2) Eat at regular intervals

3) Hot yoga weekly

4) Blog about it!

I Can't Wait To Get Home!

On the May long weekend, I'm heading back to Vancouver to see my friends and family! I cannot wait. The last time I saw everyone was at Christmas time but I'm super close to everyone and missing them has been my biggest challenge in moving to Toronto. My ticket was $499.45 and my parents and S are both going to give me $100 each so I'm heading to Vancouver for about $300 which is an wonderful.

S is leaving for Europe for three weeks to finish his MBA at that time anyway, so since I'd just be at home missing him, this works out really well.

Unfortunately, I had to put this ticket on my Visa so it's now maxed again. But on the upside, I'm planning on dropping a large payment of $750 in my next pay period. Plus the $200 from my familia and it should be back down to a respectable amount very soon. I'm also going to make an effort to put some extra money on it.

It's actually a good thing that my Visa was maxed this morning because I was playing around online and ended up designing my own business cards on vistaprint.ca. They look great! And were only $50 including shipping but when I went to process the order my Visa got declined. Although I think it's a really, really good idea to have a personal business card and I will probably process them in future, this morning it definitely would have been a complete impulse buy.

Officially Frugal

What a hectic week, I've barely had time to update my blog.

This morning I did something for the first time that in my opinion, was the final confirmation of my new frugal status. What was such a milestone?

I hand-washed a zip lock bag.

Yup, that's it! In one thrifty move, my zippy was washed and back in the drawer. Sticking it to the man, frugal styles.

Thankfully, I got my transit expenses back this week and now they're safely in my savings account so I don't short myself next month. Other than that, my budget is in excellent shape this period.

This weekend S and I were talking about going canoeing & camping in Algonquin park. We were thinking it might be a little chilly but I was going to rent a super warm sleeping bag. Anyway, S calls to rent the canoe and the guy says that sure we can rent a canoe! Except for one small problem - there's 6 inches of ice on the lake. So, S & Allie from Vancouver potentially could have been sitting in a canoe trying to paddle on a frozen lake this weekend. Hmmm, Veto!

Happy long weekend everyone :)

Power Weekend Run-down

This was such a great weekend, I wish I could rewind and do Sunday again. It was so beautiful here in Toronto and this morning, it's slushing, yuck.

Thanks to S's extra injection of funds into my account, my budget is not looking half bad this period! And the weekend didn't knock me off course. On Friday I went to go see my cousins; Saturday I slept in and was late for the art show I wanted to see but went to say hello anyway, did my grocery shopping, went to the concert S had tickets for. On Sunday, we woke up early, had breakfast, went for a 27 km bike ride down to the waterfront and up the Humber river, walked down to Kensington market, went to hot yoga, watched ANTM on youtube, went to sleep!

Money-wise

Friday

Bottle of wine - $9.75

Saturday

Used Book purchase - $13.64 - The Portable Dali

Groceries - $75.04

Personal Care - $13.00

Sunday

Bulk Quinoa - $8.00 ("Nutrient Powerhouse", cheaper in bulk!)

Sushi lunch - $16.45 - treated S $5.95 each plus tax & tip

Hot yoga - $18.00

Total Spent $153.88

*It's now slushing plus thunder & lightning, I don't want to leave the house today!

My addiction to Hot Yoga is completely growing and the more I go, the less the heat bothers me. This week we were working on anchoring before twisting to get a deeper stretch. I'm by no means an experienced yogi (this was only my fifth class) but after a few weeks of getting used to the heat and learning the basic poses, this was the first week I really noticed my flexibility had increased. I've taken to going on Sunday evening because it's a great way to calm the mind and spirit after a full weekend and to prepare for the week ahead... which is starting Now.

Mini-Crisis Averted

This morning I was sitting at my kitchen table catching up on my favorite blogs and drinking tea while S made french toast for breakfast. We were half chatting... I was trying to explain the "blogosphere", and I was telling him what interesting things you are all doing, he was half listening, half humming to himself.. you get the idea, regular Sunday morning at casa S & A.

After breakfast, S mentioned that he wanted to catch up on my blog, and so he read my previous post (the one that said I only had $41.01 to last me until April 14th). The result of that? Bank of S to the rescue!!

Now, despite being married, I am trying to get myself afloat on my own. I have serious "burden" issues -i.e. I DON'T WANT TO BE ONE. That being said, I'm definitely not above accepting support in the form of a short term, interest free loan of $253.91! The amount is so specific because it's the amount of my 2 benefit expenses that are pending ($188.91 + $65.00). When they come in, I'll just sign them over to him. Going forward I'll make sure to have better foresight into my budgeting and to think not just of my income statement but also in terms of cash flow.

Without getting overly romantical (Allie's lexicon), S does make me want to be a better person and that's where a lot of my motivation to get out of debt comes from. I really appreciate his support. Once I dig myself out of this money pit, I'll be able to contribute to our long term financial goals instead of just monthly expenses. I'll also feel a lot better about eventually combining more of our finances because I won't feel like such a drain or that he's bailing me out.

The best part of this whole thing is that I'm back on track with my budget for this period and when my transit pass expenses do come in, I can put them directly into a side account for next month. Problem solved.

The Error Of My Ways

Clearly my personal budgeting has not matured yet, and it seems I've got myself in a bit of a bind. It's my expenses which are getting the best of me. When I was doing my budget, I didn't include $218.00 for 2 monthly transit passes (one for my boss, one for me) because they are refunded through my work expenses and now my bank account is way below my minimum balance.

Today I should have a at least $322.08 in my account but my bank balance is $94.01 - which is never going to last me until my next pay day. Especially since I have $53.00 coming out as the preauthorized minimum payment on my Visa on April 10th.

So $41.01 to last me through April 14th. Good one Allie, good one.

What to do... I could ask for a rush on my expense cheques but sometimes I think the AP clerk at my work goes every more slowly on purpose when my department requests a rush.

The other thing is that even if I got those cheques back, I'd just be in the same situation next month. In theory, those 2 cheques ($218 total) should go into my savings account this month so that next month I already have the funds banked and don't go through this again.

Aaaanyway, I guess these are the types of lessons I'm going to learn in managing my meager finances. Right now, my game plan is bank account freeze and cross all fingers and toes that my benefits reimbursement cheque for my dental cleaning ($188.91) come in quickly :)

First Patio Night of the Season

Last night S and I went out to catch up with a group of friends we hadn't seen in a while. They're all really great people and so it was the perfect time for me to try my new money saving experiment - being the DD.

I have to say, delicious success! It worked like a charm. I went out, had a great time with friends and how did it affect my bank account? ZERO affect. Kind of reminded me of my younger, single days when paying for drinks didn't happen very often, ha, belated thanks boys!

Yesterday, Thursday, was one of my no spend days so I was a bit hard-pressed to go out in the first place. But I hadn't seen these lovelies in a while and knew I would feel like a loser staying in. So, I decided to drink and be merry anyway - drink Sprite and be merry that is. Most bars & lounges give pop at no charge which this one did; Then add a slice of lime for the girlie affect and quickly I completely forgot that my bev was non-alcoholic. Alcohol is making me super tired these days anyway, so I had even more fun being sharp and alert.

This weekend is going to be fantastic! My dear cousins are in Toronto this weekend and it's so rare that I get the chance to see family (they're all back West). So tonight, I'm heading out with the fam - to my cousin's, girlfriend's, parent's house for dinner. It should be an inexpensive night... actually I should bring a bottle of wine. Oh, and I also need to bring a birthday gift.

Saturday, I'm going to an art show ($10), then to a concert which S already bought the tickets to. I may try my DD trick on Saturday as well. Then Sunday is grocery day and weather permitting, maybe go hiking, then hot yoga in the evening.

At some point, I'd like to try and make it to a spin class too. There's one at 9:30am on Saturday & Sunday and one at 10:30am on Saturday. Included in my gym membership!

Bare-bones weekend budget

Friday
Wine & b-day gift for cousin - $25.00

Saturday
Art show $10.00
Saturday concert - $5.00

Sunday
Groceries - $100
Hot yoga - $18.00

Total - $158.00

These Expenses are Keeling Me!

Over the past two days alone I have managed to incur $406.19 in expenses. Holy Smokes. 

(holy smokes...where on Earth did that expression come from anyway?)

The $406.19 is on top of some other expenses that are already outstanding and if all the cheques came in today, I'd be feeling like one rich lady. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen but I need to keep track to make sure none of them fall through the cracks.

Here's what I'm expecting back...

1) Dentist cleaning - $188.19 (benefits)

2) Transit pass - $109.00 March/09  (covered by work)

3) Transit pass - $109.00 April/09 (covered by work)

4) Transit pass for my boss - $109.00 April/09 (work)

5) Travel booster shot - $65.00 (benefits) 

Total: $580.19!!   Wow, I really wish that was in my bank account right now.

The travel booster was from S & my trip to Nicaragua and Costa Rica last summer. I got the typical vaccine shots before I went and at 6ish months later required a booster for Hepatitis. Now I'm hep-free for life.  We actually got married down there in a little surf lodge by the sea which was pure magic. We both love surfing and I can't wait to get back down there to improve my skills (when my budget eventually permits that is). Surfing is definitely something Toronto is lacking in, haha.

Has anyone reading this been to Nicaragua before? The insects are out of this world - like miniature aliens. When our group first arrived, we would panic every time one landed on us. But by the end it was like "Meh, I know there's a 3-inch green creature crawling up my t-shirt... whateves."

Bi-weekly Budget

So far I'm finding it easier to budget on a paycheque to paycheque basis. Potentially I might try doing a full monthly budget in May but doing it by pay period makes me feel like I have more control. Plus, my inner geek now loves budgeting so I get to do it more often.

Tuesday, March 31st to Tuesday, April 14th

Income $2,636.31 * Incl. $1,100 from S for Rent & Util.
Groceries (100.00) *April 5th
Internet (34.84) *April 1st
LOC (210.00) *April 2nd
Rent & Utilities (1,790.00) *April 1st
Visa (53.00) *April 10th

Total $448.47

Days In Pay Period, 15
No Spend Days, (5)
Save as Much as Possible Days, 10

Max Spend per ok to spend Day, $44.85

Minimum Bank Balance Per Day

Tuesday, 31-Mar $2,636.31 *no spend
Wednesday, 1-Apr $766.62
Thursday, 2-Apr $556.62 *no spend
Friday, 3-Apr $511.78
Saturday, 4-Apr $466.93
Sunday, 5-Apr $322.08
Monday, 6-Apr $277.24
Tuesday, 7-Apr $277.24 *no spend
Wednesday, 8-Apr $232.39
Thursday, 9-Apr $232.39 *no spend
Friday, 10-Apr $134.54
Saturday, 11-Apr $89.69
Sunday, 12-Apr $44.85
Monday, 13-Apr $0.00
Tuesday, 14-Apr $0.00 *no spend
Wednesday, 15-Apr Pay Day

My mininmum bank balance takes into account my budgeted expenses, then deducts my ok to spend amount on my ok to spend days. So far I prefer the flexibility of a budget like this rather than breaking down a specific amount for clothes, entertainment, etc. As long as I keep my account above my daily minimum's, I'll reach my current goal of paying off Visa #2 by the end of September.

For my planned purchases (right now: hot yoga class card, yoga mat on sale, ski helmet) I was originally going to put all the $$$ I could on my Visa and then for planned purchases, just use my Visa. But I'm changing that plan. Now that Visa #2 balance is starting to come down, I don't think I could handle seeing it increase again - too anti-motivational. Since I need to change my financial habits anyway, I'll save up my ok to spend amounts instead for these purchases rather than resorting to plastic.

Today, my bank account balance is $2,666.31 - I'm $30 over my minimum but the $20 I budgeted for March bank fees hasn't come out yet so technically, I'm probably only about $15 over (hopefully bank fees won't be the whole $20). Have a great day everyone!

Weekend Money Merengue

I had such a great weekend, this weekend - despite being totally foiled by the weather!  I decided to clean house on Saturday (picture perfect sunshine), so that I could relax and have some fun on Sunday. Then on Sunday it poured!  Lucky for me the Vancouver roots kicked in and it ended up feeling pretty refreshing.

S and I have a pretty good division of chores going on right now. We alternate weeks, cleaning the house and grocery shopping. Cleaning has never exactly been my strong point but Karma was my friend when I met S - a cleanoholic.  I get a lot more pleasure from grocery shopping because I'm a label reading fanatic.  For any entrepreneurs out there, I think you should open an ethical grocery store that doesn't stock any products with trans fat in it. I wonder what that would look like...

Anyway, money-wise the weekend was not too shabby. I didn't spend any cash on Saturday and on Sunday my expenses broke down like this,

1.5 hour Hot yoga class (including mat & towel rental) $22

Sushi lunch $19

Salsa practice $10

Total: $51.00

Looking back it seems kind of frivolous.. Since I'm going to hot yoga every Sunday now, I'm going to invest in a class card so I don't have to pay the drop in rate. I'm also going to check Craigslist for a reasonable yoga mat (new). I shouldn't have had to pay $2 to rent a towel but I forgot mine.

$19 is pretty expensive for lunch, not sure how that added up so quickly. I haven't been eating out much lately and have stopped buying work lunches cold turkey so I'm not going to beat myself up over it but looking back, I'm definitely wincing! I have to do better on being more price sensitive if/when I do eat out.

Salsa practice! I found this fantastic new salsa spot not far from my place. Thrilled!!! Best $10 spent all weekend.

When I was a little kid, I had this green Snoopy sign above my bedroom door that said "To Dance is to Live, To Live is to Dance".  I still think that :)

The Unexpected Benefits

Since starting my journey back to black about three weeks ago, I've taken to checking my bank accounts and balances every morning before work. I know how much I have and owe down to the penny and have become super protective over the funds in my account. It's a bit of a strange transition... In fact, I was starting to get a bit concerned that I was obsessing over my money a little too much. Checking, planning, comparing, counting, calculating. I don't normally have an obsessive personality and I wouldn't classify it as OCD yet but I am putting a lot of energy into an area that was previously grey.

However, the benefits of doing this have been unexpectedly greater than just my shrinking debt. First off, it has substantially decreased my stress level (health benefit!). My husband and I always had separate accounts while we were dating and living together and that worked for us so we've continued that way now that we're married. Or course we split house expenses and I suspect our funds will become more integrated as we move forward but we're in no rush. We'll probably always have at least one individual account each. Anyway, the downside of this was that I was never completely honest with him about my finances. I wasn't dishonest but since we had separate accounts, the balances within them never came up and so he really had no idea of the state of my affairs.

When I started this blog I was a bit nervous about telling S about it but true to form, he's been wonderful and supportive (relationship benefit!). Even though I wasn't stressed about telling him about my debt on an everyday level, because ultimately it's only money, now that it's all out in the open, a weight has been lifted.

And another weight has been lifted as well. By getting my act together, counting my pennies, budgetting and setting goals, I'm being honest with myself and it feels great. It's about time, I say!!

In life, there aren't that many things one can control. It's empowering to be in control of my money and finally taking responsibility for my financial future.

Taking Visa #2 Downtown!

Now that Visa #1 is paid and out of the way, I need to focus my attention on my next goal. No getting lazy or cocky!  Visa #2 still has a punishing amount on it - over $6,000.00 - and it needs to be paid off. I started thinking about this over the weekend... what's my plan to tackle this innocent looking-yet-interest thirsty bank account vampire?

Examining my monthly budget, it looks like I can handle putting about $800.00 directly on to the card every month. My line of credit also requires a 3% payment every month (about $210) but the majority of that goes to principal. So, since my original plan of attack included me transferring my free (lower interest) loc credit up the debt chain, once I've made that payment, I will do just that. 

Line of Credit

3% Monthly payment on $7,000  -   $210

Approx monthly interest incurred - ($50)

Left over to transfer to Visa #2  -    $160.00

So, $800.00 direct payment, plus $160.00 indirect payment = $960.00/month to Visa #2

Plus, I decided that if I don't spend any money on an "ok to spend" day (my no spend days are Tues & Thurs) then, if I want to, I can transfer the ok to spend amount for that day directly to my Visa. A typical budget allows me about $40/day so if I do this on even one day per month I should be able to put about $1,000.00 on my debt every month. My second Visa should be paid off in about 6 months.

Goal:  Pay Visa #2 in full by the end of September 2009.

Re my first Visa, I had paused on whether or not I should cancel it now that it's paid off. Apparently if you have more credit and don't use it it's better for your credit score. However, my past spending record isn't exactly stellar and obviously I only need one Visa card anyway. So, on S's smart advice, I cancelled it. 

An Apple A Day...

Today I called my cell phone provider and substantially discounted my plan. My cell phone battery is more or less dead and has to be plugged in in order to work anyway and so I never carry it with me.  I could just get a new battery but the new frugal me doesn't want to bother since my contract runs out in a few months. I also have a work Blackberry so it's not like I'm cell phoneless. 

On the topic of saving money on phone bills, I am loving the new *Google Directory Assistance* service. Doesn't the typical $1.50 charge drive you bonkers? But sometimes you get stuck and need to look up a number. Thanks to Google, the monthly frustration when you get your bill is gone because Google directory assistance is FREE!

Dial 1-800-GOOG-411 for directory info from Google (GOOG = 4664). You can also text a name, city and prov/state to GOOGL (46645) and get the digits back via text - which is bonus if you have an unlimited texting plan.

Woot, Woot!

Quebec Weekend Recap

Top Reasons I love Montreal:

1) They REALLY know how to make breakfast in that city. Delish.

2) The houses aren't crazy expensive so when you walk past the real estate window, the listings don't feel extraordinarily out of reach.

3) The cops are young and fit! (what a concept) and they wear fantastic camouflage pants. Yes, even the police are stylish.

4) Cobble stone streets in Old Montreal

5) Charming balcony and brownstone buildings on every street

6) Love how tout le monde parle Francais

7) People smile and say hello/bonjour on the streets

8) Four words: Bring Your Own Wine

Thanks to S, the weekend trip didn't blow my budget. In fact, I was only about $1.50 over, haha. What did put me over the top though was grocery shopping when I got home. I only had $100 budgeted but ended up spending $140. It should be ok though, since I'm inserting an extra no spend day today to make up the difference. Tomorrow is my regular no spend day so by Wednesday I should be back on track.

There are a couple things I need to think about this week - more vacation and my credit score. I was reading an entry on one of my fav pf blog's on credit scores and unfortunately, I have no idea what mine is. Next thing, more vacation! I have 9 vacation days left to use before September 1st, so I need to start planning when I'm going to take some days off.

Current Bank Account Balance: $158.81

Btw, does anyone else find the Highway signage in Ontario hilarious? There are all these attractions signs for the small towns trying to lure in some tourist $$... Everything from Jungle Cat Safari's to Granny's Homemade Honey HoneyBee Farm. So random, so priceless.

Montreal Weekend Trip

We are heading up to Montreal this weekend! I'm so excited, I love that city. It's the St. Patrick's Day parade weekend and apparently it's an absolute blast. I don't want to set expectations too high (we all know how that usually turns out) but I'm really looking forward to it. The hotel accomodation was a Christmas gift so it should be a realively low cost weekend, I hope.

Here's my trip budget,

Current bank account bal: $392.08

Less:
Sunday Groceries: ($100.00)
Sunday minimum bank account bal: ($198.09)

Total Montreal trip spending: $93.99

It doesn't seem like that much for a weekend away but I figure it will mostly go towards food & of course, a few drinks. Weekend trips are one of S & I's most favorite things to do and I'm so happy that Winter is over (Officially over today!!!) and we'll get to do more of them.

My favorite semi-local weekend trip destination is a little town called Grand Bend which is on Lake Ontario west of Toronto. There is a beautiful national park called The Pinery, which has incredible white sandbanks that trail off into blue water. The town has one main road which goes directly down to the water and Summer weekends there are straight out of footloose. I can't wait!

Cashing Out on Fashion Week

Yesterday I had a real dilemna on my hands... to go to the Calvin Klein fashion show (which would have blown my budget) or stay in and save my cash. It was particularly hard given that I was on the list to bypass the line and had a super discount on tickets.

Old me:

$30.00 - order in Thai food before leaving for the show
$10.00 - taxi to get there
$10.00 - entry to the show
$20.00 - drinks
$10.00 - taxi home
$80.00 (probably on my trusty plastic)

New me:

$0.00 - cry a little inside as I decide not to go to the show
$0.00 - feel a bit relieved and happy with the decision
$0.00 - make dinner for S & I with food we already have in the fridge (yum!)
$0.00 - Catch up on some reading, snuggle with S
$0.00 (I'm up $80!)

We're heading up to my second favorite Canadian city this weekend, belle Montreal, for the St. Patrick's Day parade festivities so I need to save my pennies.

Today's bank account balance: $392.08

By the way, I am so so sad for Liam Nieesen and his family with the passing of Natasha Richardson. Usually I don't ski with a helmet on although had been having second thoughts about that recently. Before I go skiing again, I will most certainly invest in a good quality helmet. If you're a non-helmet skier like I was, click on the link above and read what can happen if you don't wear one. Let's all protect our heads.

Greedy, Greedy, Greedy

Did everyone see this article on how AIG is paying $165 MILLION in bonuses?

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/03/16/aig-bonus-outrage.html

Another shining star for Obama for being the voice of reason and calling for this to be stopped. There's some criticisms in the comments section of this article for Obama's bail out plan, but I can't really comment on that. I just think these bonuses are totally contradictory to common sense...

Come on people!!! Insanity!!!

St. Patrick's Day in the Dot

I don't think I have any green to wear today so I'm sure to get pinched. That being said, I've been feeling pinched for a few days now; Weekends are expensive! It was really hard to stick to my budget. In fact, I almost did it except that I incurred a benefits receipt yesterday which is still 100% covered but I don't like seeing my bank account below my minimum daily balance. Today I should have a minimum of $416.81 in my account.

Today's Bank Account Balance: $392.08 *gulp

Now all my bills are paid for this period though, so that's why it's so much lower than last time. The benefits receipt was also $74.75 which is what's put me in a bit of a tight spot. That's ok though! Because I should have about $110.00 on the way in benefit receipts already submitted plus another $109.00 in work expenses. Fingers crossed that that $$ arrives soon and I don't go into the rouge. I don't think I will. If I keep it on track with a no spend day today, I'll be back in the game but that means I can only spend $4.95 on Wednesday.

All this penny counting.... I'm proud of myself!

Beautiful Budget

I'm going to try and do a budget for each pay period so I can track my thriftiness! After looking at my expenses for this period more carefully, I realized that I could afford the $84.85 to totally pay off my 19.5% interest Visa card so I'm going to do it.

Current Bank Account Bal: $923.65

Less:
Visa #1 ($84.85)
Telephone ($65.70)
Student Loan ($120.00)
Bank Fees ($20.00)
Groceries ($100.00)

Subtotal $533.10

There are 18 days in this pay period with 4 no spend days, so that's $38/day on days I can spend without overdrawing my account. That being said, I want to save as much money as possible so I can start shaving down Visa #2.

Visa Vie? Mais Non!

There's only a drop life left in my 19.5% Visa - I've almost slayed it. Only $84.85 left to pay off!

Well, I did slay it actually - now not only is it frozen in a block of ice in the back of my freezer, it's also cut in half. Over kill? No way! I don't think so. I wonder how much interest I've paid on it over the years... Thinking about the 19.5% interest makes me nauseous.

Next step is getting the auto-debit accounts (iTunes, cheap long distance, etc) linked to this card unlinked.

Has anyone heard that it's a mistake to cancel your credit cards once you pay them off? I heard Suze Orman say it once and it surprised me. I guess it improves your credit rating to have the credit and not use it. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

*Pay Day Friday Today!* After dropping $1,150.00 on my top level debt, my bank account stands at $936.31.

West Coast Girl Livin' in An East Coast World

Can you believe it? I got home from work tonight at 8:00pm. I'm exhausted!! The meeting yesterday with the moody head of my company, did not go so well. He completely laid into my boss and guess what?! Today it's coming down the pipe. I'm working my sweet ass off but in these "times" there's no extra cash for anyone additonal and I guess he thinks that applying more pressure will get things finished quicker. Ha! Let me just say that our #1 competitor has a staff of 30+ and we have one person working fulltime plus whatever time a few exec's can spare and 1 part time person. My boss keeps asking me if the p/t person who gets paid peanuts is worthwhile. I'm thinking yes, my sanity is worth more than peanuts thank you because I would surely lose it if I lost her.

Anyway, I'm certainly getting the career experience I was hoping for when I came. And on the upside, I still have a job! When we move back to the west coast, hopefully this will translate to a sick job right down by Kits beach or out near UBC would be lovely too. And please west coast job gods, let me get off at 3:30pm like I used to as well.

I have really surprised myself this week. Get this, I haven't spent a penny since Sunday. It's so strange! By bringing my lunch to work, it really makes not spending possible since that's mainly where I spend money during the week. Evenings usually consist of gym if I can, dinner, hug S, read, dream. Last night instead of the usual, we went to a cool show and I heard live an instument I can honestly say I haven't heard before - the thumb piano. But I digress...

Back to cash.

I have submitted my massage receipt as well as the old ones I found from last summer. Instead of waiting for an expense cheque, I ran my expenses through petty cash and actually added $145 to my bank account. Somehow I've managed to keep over $550 dollars in my bank account and since tomorrow is payday Friday, that will all get transfered to my highest interest debt (Visa #1).

Here's something shocking - I'm on track to pay off my $1,936.44 Visa bill by Monday ALREADY. Here's how - I transfered $750 from my lower interest line of credit. I kept $550 in my account this pay period through no spend days, etc, which will go on the card. Finally, I consolidated my monthly debt payments into one large one (less the minimum payments on my other debts) and will be applying another $636.44 to the card on pay day Friday tomorrow. Then, that's it! Free from the ugly interest demons of Visa #1. Those rates are criminal, how do they get away with it?!

I've got to remember to transfer the credit card on my iTunes account from Visa #1 to Visa #2. V1 will soon be dead to me :) YES!!!!!

I Love My Graphs

Just a quick one from me this morning, I am late for work! I have a meeting this morning with the moody head of my company and was trying to get in early to prepare but this 'Spring forward' business is killing me. *Yawn*

There was some good and some unachieved yesterday. Firstly, my Visa with the 19.5% interest rate has found a new home in a block of ice in the back of my freezer. She's a little cold but she'll adjust. Second, being that yesterday was Tuesday, I didn't spend a dime. No spend day #2 is finito.

In the morning, I transfered the $750 I had available in my lower interest line of credit to my 19.5% Visa. I may keep making an extra effort not to spend this week because this Friday is *Pay Day* (woot, woot!) and I want to transfer as much left over $$$ to my Visa as possible.

I did prepare my benefits form for the massage and am dropping it in the mail this morning; However, am still waiting to hear from S as to where I should submit the old receipts. The company that we get our benefits from changed recently so I'm not sure where to send them.

I didn't get a chance to do my work expenses yesterday but I will try to get them this afternoon - I want that money back in my account!

Check out my new graphs! They are so pretty! Many thanks goes out to Krystalatwork for solving that piece of the blog puzzle for me.

Bank account balance: $424.34

Check Baby 1, 2, 3, 4

No Spend Day #1 was a success! Not a penny spent and I managed to cross all 4 things off my list. The most difficult was definitely #4 on not buying lunch or tea. The lunch part was fine as I brought it but the tea was surprisingly harder since I did get a few cravings for my venti China green tips tea from Starbucks. They are obviously Stars at getting my bucks and are awfully cheeky for putting it directly in their name like that. Yesterday I prevailed.

Must celebrate the small victories.

So, there was an exciting update yesterday when I called about my student loan. I was thinking I owed around $7,500 - $7,100. Nope! It's at $6,653.49. So that's great news because it moves me below $20k debt line. I feel like I'm improving already.

I also went through and figured out what percentage of interest was being charged on each of my debts and it breaks down like this,

CIBC Visa - $1,936.44 @ 19.5%
TD Visa - $6,150.56 @ 9.4% (P + 6.9%)
Line of Credit: $6,208.11 @ 8.25% interest (P + 5.75%)
Student Loan - $6,653.49 @ 5% (P + 2.5%)

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My Plan of Attack

1) Start at the top first. Reduce everything down to a minimum payment and funnel all the extra cash to the top level debt. As that gets paid off, move down to debt #2, etc.

2) Aim for 2 no-spend days per week (Tuesday's & Thursday's). If I have plans and can't do it on a day that starts with T I must substitute it for another day that week. I am able to plan ahead and "bank" no spend days if I need to but not the other way around.

3) Continue to buy my groceries every week and bring my lunch to work.

4) Set-up all my debt & bill payments to take place automatically.

5) Leave my credit cards at home and use debit.

6) Monitor my bank account to make sure it stays in the black.

7) Live pay cheque to pay cheque. That means at the end of every pay period, transfer any $$ I have left over to my top level debt and start fresh with my new pay cheque. If there is an emergency or unanticipated urgent expense, I can use my credit card if I must.

8) Transfer the $700.00 or so dollars free on my line of credit to my top level debt. As I make the minimum payment on this and the balance decreases, continue to transfer the balance up the debt chain until I reach the point when I start paying this loc debt back.
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I think it's an achievable plan, reasonable and not overly extreme. My goals for today are,

* Send in the old expense claim form for S that been sitting in our kitchen cupboard since summertime.

*Submit the benefit form for the massage I had yesterday.

* Do my expenses at work.

* Bring lunch and snacks to work.

Today's bank account balance: $424.34

J. Money & Krystalatwork, thanks so much for the warm welcome and encouragement! I was so happy when I saw your notes and really appreciate the support. Go team.

Monday, Monday

Alright my first week of saving has begun. I think fitting to start it with a No Spend Day, a concept I learned about while reading other pf blogs. Great idea! I am scheduled to get a massage this evening but that's 100% covered by benefits so I'm not counting it.

A few goals for today -

1) Have No Spend Day #1
2) Find out how much is owing on my National student loan and the interest rate being charged.
3) Get a new bank card. I think I dropped mine in the parking lot leaving the grocery store yesterday.
4) Bring lunch and snacks to work and don't even think about buying any lunch or tea.

New mantra: I respect my money and my money respects me.

I get paid on Friday so I'm interested to see how much $ I still have in my bank account at the end of this week. Today I'm at $503.09.

In The Hole

Can this be true? Am I seriously over 20k in debt?

I've only told one person about this blog - my husband - and he's probably freaking out right now. (Hi Baby). If he is, he's not the only one.

Wow. WOW.

Making regular payments is very deceiving. I felt like I was doing ok-ish, but doing the math is traumatic. Time to bring on the Saving and stop Spending - now.

Step One: Stop going out for lunch on workdays.

Tonight I went to the grocery store and bought my groceries for the week (incl. hubby's - no munchkins to feed, yet). My bill came to $109.22. Not bad. Especially when you consider that I bought my lunches for the whole week. Excellent! Usually I spend about $10-$12 dollars each weekday on lunch. That's $220.00/month too much.

To track my progress, I'm trying to figure out how on earth to add those progress tracking line graphs to my blog but so far, can't figure it out (grrr). I did my Net Worth graphic (scary), my traffic counter (yes!) and added Google Analyics code to my homepage. These bar graphs have got me stumped though and I'm experiencing graph envy. I'd also like to figure out how to build other pages into my blog (i.e. home page, financial goals page, link exchange, etc) but I guess I'll figure that out as I go along.

If you're reading this and you know how to add those horizontal line graphs with the percentage complete on them, please let me know!

Night all. X

Sexy World, Here I Come!

I'm so excited about this new project. It all started when...

I was reading the National Post last week and began leafing through their Financial Post Magazine. I came across a section called Trend Spotting which completely caught my attention. In it was an article called 'Their Money, Their Life' about a 26-year old marketing coordinator, Krystal, who was steeped in debt and managed to turn it around and grow her net worth to over $30k - all the while blogging about her journey and getting support from her friends in the personal finance blog community.

This article jarred me. I mean, there are so many things about it that I just hadn't considered before. Mainly,

1) Sharing personal FINANCIAL information online with strangers (and telling the truth about it?!)

2) The possibility of being 'debt-free' - ok, I had considered this before but literally not in years.

When I used to think about being debt free is was more of a 'when I grow up' type dream, along with marrying Leonardo Dicaprio and winning best actress at the oscars. I also thought about it in different terms... Not in terms of debt free necessarily but I wanted the financial freedom to travel and live the life I wanted. Now I understand that my debt is hand-cuffing me and I'm not free. My Dad was the one who coined the term Financial Freedom for me and when I think about this, it's pretty intense for a 14-year old.

Fast-forward 14 more years. I have a great job which I sincerely enjoy and in theory pays decently, however I do feel under paid because I work so hard. My financial portfolio includes, 2 Visa's with about an $8,000 balance combined, 1 Line of Credit with about a $6,000 balance, 1 student loan - no idea how much I owe on that.. around $7,500 maybe? I better find that out.

It hasn't all be for not though.. post high school I've also earned a 2-year diploma in accounting, completed a third year of business school, travelled all over the world, completed a successful cross country move, sharpened my saw as a business woman, paid off a BC student loan & a large MSP debt and launched an engaging career I'm excited about. I've also been married (oops), married again (wonderful) and live a happy and comfortable life.

But I still have compiled a whole wack of debt which is holding me back and weighing me down.

The point is, I can completely relate to and am inspired by a 20-something year old blogger who's managed to get her financial goals back on track. The subtitle of her blog is One woman's journey out of debt and into the sexy world of financial independence...

I want to be part of that sexy world too.