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.

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!

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

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.

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 :)

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.

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!

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.

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.
_________________________________________________

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.