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.

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!

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

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.

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.

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 :)