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%)

_________________________________________________
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.
_________________________________________________

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.