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.