Morgaine and Money

Bi-Weekly Budget Projection: May 26 - June 8

2011-05-27T12:48:00.000-04:00

I'm REALLY hoping June is a slow month as it seems that it should be: no birthdays :) no father's day for me :( but a trip to the fiance's hometown to see his father :)

There isn't anything that I really need but a few things that I want: a couple of new pairs of capris (I have gone down in size since I last bought new ones) and a pair of more comfortable work sandals. I'll have to see how the spending in the other categories go before deciding to "splurge" on clothing.

I REALLY want to stay on budget in June, there was just too much happening in May and the spending got carried away ... I WILL do better in June!

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!
TTFN, Morgaine

Bi-Weekly Budget Update: May 13 - 25

2011-05-26T16:04:00.000-04:00

So, I went over the bi-weekly budget by $158.73, any guesses how the overage was supported? ... Credit card :( but I did pay back exactly what I spent this last 2 weeks back on the card today (payday) :)

The purchases were (mostly) anticipated, and while I didn't have money saved up a head of time, the gifts were purchased early because we were downtown last Saturday and the shoes happened to be on sale. So it was a timing issue more than anticipation. Also, one purchase I made using the CC was purchased online so I had to use the CC anyways.

As it stands I am already overbudget in May by $59.48 and we still have about a week left to go. Argh!

TTFN, Morgaine

Weekly Spending Report: May 16 - 22

2011-05-25T10:07:00.000-04:00

16: $7.67 (lunch)
17: $3.92 (dinner) + $4.25 (snack) = $8.17
18: $28.22 (debit - new purse) = $28.22
19: No Spend! (finally!)
20: $5.65 (snack)
21: $55.00 (cash - lunch for me, the boy, and my Mom) + $1,000.00 (cheque - deposit on wedding venue!!!) + $80.02 (credit - bday gift for T) + $42.97 (debit - Canadian Tire - $32.81 bday gift pt 2 + $10.16 bug stuff for the house) = $1,177.99 - $1000.00 (coming from wedding fund) = $177.99
22: $14.70 (credit - wedding inviation sampler stuff) + $24.39 (credit - personal care) = $39.09 - $14.70 (coming from wedding fund) = $24.39
Total: $252.09
Emotional Tracker: 17th - really bad day, woke up late, got to work late, it was busy at work, my debit card was cancelled by my bank (potential fraud), I had to buy dinner because I didn't get home until late on Monday and didn't have a chance to make both a lunch and dinner for Tuesday. I only spent $3.92 because that's what I had available without my debit card working, when my fiance picked me up I was able to get something after, but of course neither was healthy. So, all in all a REALLY Craptacular day! And today (18th I'm writing this note) I feel worse because I ate so poorly and it seems to really have had an effect on my stomach as well as my emotional well-being. I gotta stop doing this!

Notes: Booked the wedding venue! We are booked for September 8, 2012 :)

Bought T his birthday gifts (the shoes were less than expected because they were on sale!) for a total of $112.83 (which is less than $100 before taxes, and I'm happy with that). I did put this on my credit card (Mastercard) because I didn't have the amount in my account, but it will be paid off when I get paid.

So, it was an expensive week, but I was expecting it. This weekend is going to be expensive with dinner out on Saturday and the making of a cheesecake and regular birthday cake. But it's T's 30th so I have to make a big deal out of it :-)

Tomorrow is payday so I will be posting my bi-weekly numbers. Definitely not as good as the last one :(

TTFN, Morgaine.

Getting to Know Me ...

2011-05-18T10:42:00.001-04:00

Saw this on a few blogs today (Originally from Homeowner by 30 )

The ABC's of Me ...

•Age: 30

•Bed Size: Queen

•Chore You Hate: Taking out the garbage, but I don't do this normally :) Other than that, dusting, its kind of pointless really.

•Dogs: none, bunny instead :)

•Essential start of your day: sleeping in 10 minutes before I actually have to get up.

•Favorite color: Green

•Gold or silver: Silver

•Height: 5 feet 1 inches (petite)

•Instruments I play (or have played): flute and rockband bass :)

•Job title: Service Support Associate (this doesn't actually tell you anything about my job, and I'm ok with that)

•Kids: not yet ...

•Live: Toronto, ON Canada

•Mom’s name: L (don't want to give this one just in case)

•Nickname: (same as above)

•Overnight hospital stays: None since birth :)

•Pet peeve: Rude inconsiderate people

•Quote from a movie: "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." Princess Bride

•Right or left handed: Right.

•Siblings: 1 brother

•Time you wake up: 7:10

•Underwear: Yes.

•Vegetables you dislike: brussel sprouts, ewww!

•What makes you run late: Oversleeping and TTC - Toronto Transit Commission (thanks Cassie ;P)

•X-rays you’ve had done: when I got hit by a car ...

•Yummy food you make: Garlic Chicken, desserts

•Zoo animal: monkeys

Weekly Spending Report: May 9 - 15

2011-05-16T12:51:00.000-04:00

9: $2.90 (cash - milk) + $2.72 (cash - breakfast) = $5.62
10: $2.72 (cash - coffee and cookie) = $2.72
11: $7.90 (cash - lunch) = $7.90
12: $20 (cash - Tim Horton's card refill) + $3.93 (cash - snack) + $7.33 (cash - dinner) = $31.26
13: $1.85 (cash - breakfast) + $38.71 (debit - personal care) + $4.98 (cash - snack) = $45.54
14: No Spend!
15: $12.41 (cash - rabbit food and treats) + $15.75 (debit - movie) + $11.28 (cash - movie concessions) = $39.44
Total: $132.48

Emotional Tracker: This was a rough week. The spending flood gates opened early and didn't close. In fact they are still open considering I just bought lunch :( Particularily Thursday and Friday were bad as I felt REALLY stressed out this week (monthly cutoff plus at work and a test for my bookkeeping course on Thursday). I need to learn to stop feeding my emotions (literally) especially with bad food. Something I'm working on on top of the financial stuff.

Notes: I am happy with spending overall this week, but still, if I hadn't spent so much money stuffing my face this week, I would have come out of this week really happy.

Funny how you tend to run out of stuff all at once? On Friday I bought: shampoo, body wash, face wash, and body lotion. Which are all out or on the verge of being out.

Went to see Thor on Sunday (fiance's choice, of course). It was alright, not as good as Ironman, not as bad as Spiderman. Just sort of meh. And, it totally didn't need to be in 3D, it didn't add to the movie whatsoever. But, try to convince the boy that we don't need to go to the 3D showing ...

I'm hoping to spend a lot less this week, as I only had 1 No Spend last week (because I wasn't feeling well on Saturday I didn't leave the house), I want to have at least 4 this week. Today's lunch out is the only meal out I have planned (ok, it wasn't planned) this week.

How did your week go?

TTFN, Morgaine

Bi-Weekly Spending Post: Apr 28 - May 12

2011-05-15T15:34:00.000-04:00

What? A positive bi-weekly budget???

Yep, for the first time EVER (well, since I started tracking and budgeting, but I would imagine that this is still the first time ever) I had money left over! I'm looking at these numbers and I find it hard to believe that I ~~can't~~ couldn't stick to my budget before. I even spent money on clothes and gifts!

BTW, the left over $51.82 went to my "pay off debt fund". I hope to have an extra $1000 to throw on the Citifinancial loan in December. I've set up an auto-savings plan at ING for $35/bi-weekly which should get me $500 in this account by the end of the year. The other $500 has to come from snowflakes and other forms of "extra money" (i.e. overtime worked, GST refunds, etc). I'm not sure if its doable, but whatever is in that account in December gets thrown on the loan.

Sorry I haven't been posting lately, its been super busy at work this week (which did equal some overtime! :D) and I had a test on Thursday in my bookkeeping course. The course is going well, I'm getting it, even though it does seem that we are going through the material quickly.

Ok, I just wanted to post to say, yes I'm still alive and tracking my money! Hope everyone else is doing well.

TTFN, Morgaine

Spending Analysis: Jan to Apr 2011

2011-05-10T16:06:00.000-04:00

So, I am re-reading Gail Vaz-Oxlade's Debt Free Forever (for motivation!) and I've decided that since I've done a good job of tracking my spending since February that this might be a good time to work out the Spending Analysis in chapter one. OMG! What an eye opener :(

So here it is in all its "glory"

I decided that its quite a lot to take in, so I grouped some categories and came up with this as the averages:

And, I had to get all "geeky" about this and creat a pie chart!

So, here it is. Scary, huh? Food is a HUGE improvement area. So, is not spending more than I make. Ouch.

Lots of room for improvement. Any comments or questions?

TTFN, Morgaine

Weekly Spending Report: May 2 - 8

2011-05-09T11:40:00.000-04:00

2: No Spend!
3: $12.15 (cash - dinner) + $1.75 (cash - drink) = $13.90
4: No Spend!
5: No Spend!
6: $1.85 (cash - breakfast) + $7.90 (cash - lunch) = $9.75
7: $50 (cash - gift: Mom) + $57.61 (debit - Zellers: $3.04 household cleaner, $11.29 Mother's Day gift for my Godmother, $42.84 "essential" clothing)= $107.61
8: No Spend!
Total: $131.26

Emotional Tracker: ate out twice this week, I should have only ate out once, but I kept Friday's lunch on the cheap side - sushi = cheap and yummy! :)

Notes: All in all I am pretty happy with this week. With the exception of Saturday I kept the spending pretty well under control.

I've sorted out my at class dinner situation. I will allow myself to eat out one of the two nights. This Tuesday I did that and then found out that Thursday's class will be online! So I ate at home. If I had known that earlier I wouldn't have bothered eating out on Tuesday but oh well. The teacher will be letting us know with more time ahead for future online classes so I should be able to schedule this better. Next week both classes will be at the college but Thursday there is a test so I will allow myself to eat out on Thursday after the test :)

My Mom needed a new vacuum so I gave her the cash I would have spent on a Mother's Day present ($50) and gave it to her towards her vacuum. I found a very nice clock that has room for 3 pictures with it, I know my Godmother will love it, and it just happened to be on sale :)

How did your week go?

TTFN, Morgaine

Projected Budget: May 2011

2011-05-05T10:19:00.000-04:00

This month is going to be expensive in the Food and Gifts categories - I already know this! May has both Mother's Day and my fiance's birthday :)

We'll be going out for brunch for Mother's Day (approx $50) and I'm planning to spend about $40-50 on flowers - that you plant - my Mom is a gardener. I also buy something for my Godmother as we have a very close relationship, but I'm hoping to keep that in the $25-30 range.

For the fiance's birthday, we'll be going out somewhere "fancy" maybe Keg, Earl's, or Ruth Chris (he loves steak, could you tell?) - approx $150 - and he also wants to have wings with friends - approx $20. He has told me that he wants new running shoes - approx $150. I am also making him a "Twix" (TM) cheesecake (yummy!) - approx $20-25 for ingredients. This is his 30th birthday so it is a very special occasion :)

Whew! That's around $500 right there! So, I can't be spending too much in those other categories!

I'm glad I'm being proactive and anticipating these costs, but still, May is going to be an expensive month.

TTFN, Morgaine

P.S. dentist is all done - for this year - so that should allow me to save up some more money :)

Monthly Budget: April 2011 - Oops!

2011-05-04T12:37:00.000-04:00

So, I went over budget more than anticipated - oops! The last few days of April killed my budget (almost as much as the beginning). It just seems that as soon as I get a paycheque (Mar 31 and Apr 14/28) I go a little crazy, because I feel like I have money. Even though I already overspent in that particular month.

Food and Entertainment were RIDICULOUS this month! I can't believe I spent so much money stuffing food in my face! This is a HUGE area for improvement. We did do a lot in April which accounts for the Entertainment (this is usually a fairly low category) and now that I have the course and other things to keep me "busy" hopefully that number will go down.

On to May ... well, at least the variable budget numbers are increased this month :)

TTFN, Morgaine

How did you do in April?

Weekly Spending Report: Apr 25 - May 1

2011-05-02T10:07:00.003-04:00

25: $9.27 (debit - lunch) + $2.70 (debit - groceries) = $11.97
26: $5.65 (cash - dinner) + $3.75 (cash - snack) = $9.40
27: No Spend!
28: $2.50 (cash - snack)
29: $1.85 (cash - breakfast) + $7.64 (cash - lunch) + $4.01 (cash - bday card) + $11.29 (debit - advil, ugh!) + $36.85 (debit - gifts for my friend) + $25 (cash - dinner) + $50.37 (debit - indigo, board games)= $137.01
30: $15 (cash - goodies at a bake sale, for a good cause :))
1: No Spend!
Total: $175.88

Emotional Tracker: 29th - just couldn't be bothered to bring my lunch (decision made the night before) and then my friend called to ask if I would be up for going out for dinner for her birthday. So, I ate out twice on Friday when it could've only been once :( Other than that, I wouldn't say any purchases were emotional but just hunger. Gonna make sure I have plenty of snacks for the nights I have my course so I'm not tempted by those d*mn vending machines!

Notes: Nothing other than above. 12 No Spends for the month of April, not quite my 15 target, but I am still happy with this number :)

April's monthly budget update tomorrow.

TTFN, Morgaine

Projected Bi-Weekly Budget: Apr 28 - May 11

2011-04-29T13:25:00.000-04:00

Some bad news ... I completely forgot that I don't get paid for stat holidays! Instead of getting paid for those days I get an extra 4% per paycheque. But it also means that for this last pay period I missed out being paid for 2 days! This equaled about $200!!!

Unfortunately, this is a month that I know is going to have "extra" spending in it - Mother's Day and fiance's 30th birthday. So, I am going to try and spend less than my allotted budget amounts (especially in the first pay period since fiance's bday is taking place in the 2nd pay period) but I've re-jigged the debt repayment and savings amounts so that I don't end up putting variable spending money on a credit card because I've left myself short in the spending dept. Of course, any extra money will go to debt repayment and I am hoping that this will be the case.

This is the projected bi-weekly budget for April 28 - May 12:

I know I keep saying that I have to spend less money eating out, but I swear the Universe is conspiring against me! My friend (whose birthday it is today) sent me a text this morning to see if I wanted to come out for dinner. And, I didn't bring my lunch today because I was late getting home from my course yesterday and I just didn't feel like lugging my lunch bag around with me today (yeah, I know, flimsy excuse!) So, this food category will probably get maxed out or over the top fairly quickly this month :( So, we'll see how well I do in cutting out snacks and other forms of money "suckage".

I hope everyone has a nice weekend!

TTFN, Morgaine

Bi-Weekly Budget Update: Apr 14-27

2011-04-28T12:27:00.000-04:00

Here are my budget numbers for this pay period:

So, I did spend under my allotted bi-weekly budget by $88.42 BUT it still wasn't enough to make up for the overspending done in the first half of the month :( Right now I'm sitting at $41.76 over budget. Considering the whopping amounts I was over budget in the first 3 months of the year, this is not too bad. Again, I am extremely reassured that I will be able to stick to a $700/mth budget.

I am liking my class so far, and I am doing today what I hope to be doing for the rest of the course: bringing a large course or left over meal for lunch (because I have access to a microwave) and bringing a sandwich for dinner. Also bringing extra snacks from home. So, this should ease my spending on nights when I have a class. I got my Indigo gift card from CardSwap so I'm purchasing my Vapur bottle today and I can fill this up and take it with me too :)

I definitely want to keep the eating out/snacks budget low (except taking out my Mom for Mother's Day and the fiance for his birthday) since its gotten quite out of hand! I worked out some averages numbers that I will be posting soon. The food budget is scary! :(

Ok, off to Indigo!

TTFN, Morgaine

Course starts tonight

2011-04-26T15:22:00.000-04:00

My bookkeeping course starts tonight. I feel like I've been needing to learn something new for a while, when I'm not learning something new I get bored and spend money. So, I'm greatly looking forward to learning a new skill, particularly one that will help with my career.

The only downside is that its two nights a week. It means less time spent with the fiance and less time at home making dinner. The potential for eating out is high. Not even just dinner but snacks too as I tend to get a bit sleepy around that time if I don't have something to eat. So, this may become an issue with spending.

I'm hoping to keep this in check by: packing a big lunch that I can heat up at work and a sandwich that I can take and eat at my course (I have no idea if there is microwaves available on campus and if they are available in the evenings). I will also bring extra snack for the course break. I'm also planning on purchasing a Vapur bottle which is a reusable plastic water bottle (see image below) that would be a heck of a lot lighter than my current aluminum water bottle and is a lot more portable. The plan is to drink LOTS of water this summer and stay away from pop and iced coffee whenever possible. BTW, I'm waiting on my Indigo gift card from CardSwap before I make the purchase :D

So, that's my strategy, hopefully it will keep me from spending too much money on eating out while on this course. I will keep you guys updated here :)

Hope everyone has a nice day/evening!
TTFN, Morgaine

Weekly Spending Report: Apr 18-24

2011-04-25T11:03:00.000-04:00

18: No Spend!
19: No Spend!
20: $380.44 (credit - being repaid from Planned Spending - Bookkeeping Course) + $99.46 (credit - being repaid from Planned Spending - textbook) + $10.98 (debit - lunch) + $1 (cash - pop) + $38.53 (debit - Shoppers: $3.94 - mini eggs + $34.59 including $25 movie gift card, present for cousin) + +$30.00 (cheque - Card Swap) + $45 (credit - to be repaid out of my monthly budget: chapters/indigo gift card from Card Swap) = $544.41 -479.90 = $65.51 (taking Planned Spending purchases out of the equation)
21: No Spend! + (+$50) (cash - for doing family taxes) = +$50

22: $30 (cash - lunch for 2) + $6.49 (cash - snacks) = $36.49
23: $21.31 (debit - PC items)
24: No Spend!
Total: $123.31

Emotional Tracker: I wouldn't say any of my purchases were emotional. The purchases above were planned for.

Notes: I'm not counting the amounts spent that I am repaying out of my Planned Spending account as these are not coming out of my monthly budget numbers. However, I would feel that if I made these purchases on a day where I didn't spend any other money that it wouldn't count as a No Spend day. So, I'm trying to anticipate these days where I know I'm going to spend money anyways and put other purchases together with it :) Next week: dentist on Wednesday. Next month: Mother's Day and finance's birthday. It also helps me to anticipate how I have to "juggle" my budget allocations. Its a work in progress ...

So, I think I am going to fail on my Stick to the Budget Challenge this month. I now have left $4.18 and still have a week left in April. :( But, I did get quite a bit of "extra" money this month: GST $48.30, 2 online survey cheques $100, and $50 for doing family member's taxes. So, I didn't spend more money than I made this month but I didn't save extra or put more money on my debt which is where the extra money I get should go. The only good thing is that it definitely made me see that $700 a month is completely doable so I should be able to stay on budget for the rest of the year :)

Oh, and 4 No Spends are still pretty good :)

How did your week go? Did you have a nice Easter?

TTFN, Morgaine

Card Swap!

2011-04-21T09:30:00.000-04:00

I got a gift card for my birthday in November. It's now April and I still hadn't used it. I don't want to say what kind just in case someone reads this and gets offended. Anyways, it didn't seem likely that I was going to use it as it was for something I don't really buy.

So, I was on the internet and came across Card Swap. I was able to trade in my $40 gift card for $30! That's not too shabby, I was expecting $20-25! So I accepted the offer on April 8, mailed my card in on the 9th and received my refund cheque yesterday (20th)! That's pretty good :)

So, I would recommend it for selling unwanted gift cards. Buying, umm, it depends. It seems the more expensive the card the bigger the discount so it certainly could be worth looking into if you are expecting to purchase a large item for yourself or a gift card for someone else.

There are no fees for buying or selling gift cards, which I found out because I bought a $50 chapters/indigo gift card for $45. This should come in handy as there are quite a few books I've been wanting to read ... So basically I went from owning a $40 gift card that I wasn't likely to use to a $50 gift card that I definitely will use and I only spent $15.

Has anyone else used Card Swap?

TTFN and Happy Easter!
Morgaine

BTW, this was not a sponsored post, just thought I'd pass the info along :)

Giving Myself Some Breathing Room

2011-04-20T16:17:00.000-04:00

While I don't want to give up on my current monthly challenge to stay within my original $645/mth discretionary budget, I think this is still too tight for me. I know I lack self-discipline on the idea of staying within budget and impulse purchasing. However, when I look at Gail Vaz-Oxlade's Life Pie, at $645/mth that equals 23% of my budget where she allows for 25%. 25% for me would be $699.46 which I'm going to round to $700 just to make it easier for me ;P

This is going to start in May. I still have $127.49 left for spending until the end of the month in order to meet my challenge. I think I can do it. The only things planned are movies and dinner on Friday. Saturday will be a movie night at home with bff and Sunday is Easter dinner at Mom's. I may not make my 4 No Spends this week :( That means 5 No Spends next week. Let's see how that goes ...

Oh, and I ate out for lunch today at work. I think I will go crazy if I eat turkey sandwiches 5 days a week for the whole month! Variety is the spice of life, after all :) Today was going to be a spend day as I purchased a birthday gift for my cousin. I can't believe she's 15, I was 15 when she was born! Where did the time go??? :(

TTFN, Morgaine

What percentage of your income do you spend on Life?

Becoming a Part-Time Student

2011-04-19T13:09:00.000-04:00

OK, so I had mentioned in last Friday's post that I was considering taking some courses next year. Well, I changed my mind (surprise, surprise) and I've decided to take the course I've been considering this year. It is a bookkeeping course being held by a local community college. Its 2 nights per week until June 30th. $380 plus textbook $101.39 (ouch). I haven't purchased the text book yet, I'm currently scouring the internet (and I'll hit the college announcement boards next week) for a used copy. I've found one but its 5th edition and the course wants me to buy the 6th edition. With financial services being the way that they are I'm weary of buying the wrong edition and getting wrong information. So, I'm still searching. The library also only has the 5th edition.

I've paid for the course using my planned spending account, basically wiping it out of everything except the $75 deposit I made last payday. But, its still better than what I used to do: put it on the credit card and then pay it off ... eventually ... actually I think at least some of my balance is from a previous course. So, I still haven't paid it off, sigh

Ok, so why did I decide to take the course this year as opposed to waiting until next year? First, and foremost, the job I am currently working is a maternity leave contract until the end of this year. There is absolutely no guarantee that I will have a job here on Jan 1st 2012. Second, the job I'm currently working is not in my field. In fact, I never even considered working in this field until the recruiter told me about it. I have no formal education or training so it would be hard for me to transition to another organization within the same industry. In fact, I applied for some last December and again in January and February (before I got my current role) and I didn't even receive a response. Granted I will have 1 year of experience in the field once I'm done this contract, but the roles that I applied for (and are most likely to be the roles required in the future) are not the roles that I am currently working. Third, my industry has been stagnated since 2009. Being in the financial industry has been extremely hard over the last few years and I've been finding it harder each time I look for a job to find a new one, even though I've obviously gained experience over the years.

So, I'm looking into bookkeeping and eventually accounting as my next career move. Every company needs someone to take care of their books and everyone needs to do taxes, so this a career that I see a good potential for, even in down economies. I'm hoping that once I'm done with this course (and a Quickbooks course) that I will be able to take on some part-time bookkeeping work and as well translate this into a full-time career come next year. When I was looking for a job before I got this one I saw tonnes of bookkeeping jobs (full-time and part-time) online, so I think this is viable.

This was not an easy decision and one that I've been considering for about 3 years now. With the concern of being unemployed again come January I've decided that now is a good time, even if it wasn't the best time financially. I'm looking forward to the next chapter ...

Oh, and I'm thinking about what to do for dinner for the 2 days I'm not at home, don't want to ruin my No Spend Days by eating out 2 nights a week. This is something I need to consider as well. I'll fill you guys in when I make my decision.

TTYL, Morgaine

Weekly Spending Report: April 11 - 17

2011-04-18T10:04:00.003-04:00

11: No Spend!
12: +$50 (Angus Reid) - $14.50 (debit - 2 movie tickets) - $13.98 (debit - snacks at movies) = +$21.52
13: No Spend!
14: +$50 (Global Test Market) + No Spend! = +$50.00
15: $15.00 (cash - dinner) = $15.00
16: $11.00 (cash - Tim Burton exhibit my portion from Groupon T bought) + $9.00 (cash - lunch) = $20
17: No Spend!
Total: +$36.52!!!

Emotional Tracker: Don't really have one for this week, I didn't spend much money :) It was hard not buying my breakfast on Friday but I pushed through.

I made my goal of 4 no spends this week (7 in total for April so far). If I want to make my goal of 15 No Spend Days for April I need to have 8 more in the next two weeks - so 4 more each week, which from looking at this week, I think its possible.

I got 2 survey cheques this week, why on the same week as a pay week??? Oh well. First positive week since I've started tracking my money so I had to underline and put in 3 exclamation marks, just for the fun of it :)

How was your week?

TTFN, Morgaine

Job Update

2011-04-15T12:56:00.000-04:00

I don't really have too much to write about today so I thought I'd write a little update about my new job. I've had this job since Feb 28/11 and I have to say that it feels like a good fit for me. Its one where you are left to pretty much your own devices but are expected to work efficiently to get your work done on time for a monthly "cut-off". I don't want to get into too many details, but basically I make changes to people's accounts that would have an impact on money they receive on a monthly basis. So, if those changes aren't made on time then they may not get their payment that month.

Its also a job that has enough to do so that you don't feel bored but not so much to do that you feel constantly stressed either. The only possible issue that I foresee is that its not very challenging. I don't use a lot of my brain for most of the tasks assigned to me. However, this job is for a one year contract, I'm not here for the long haul - even if I was offered permanent, I think I could do this job for another year max before getting too bored. I would take another contract or permanent role, however, because the pay is really good and it would allow me to pay off all my debt and save for the wedding and other goals.

I like my co-workers, but we each do our own jobs and leave each other to their work. My boss has done a few check-ins with me to see how I'm doing, but I don't see her regularly.

So, all in all, a good job for me ... for now. I am thinking about taking some courses and making a career change, but that may have to wait for next year as I really am focusing on debt repayment for the time being. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Going to see the Tim Burton exhibit here in T.O.! :)

TTFN,
Morgaine

Projected Budget: Apr 14-27

2011-04-14T12:28:00.000-04:00

Here's the Projected Budget for April 14-27:

As per my post yesterday, I only want to spend $192.32 out of the $322.50 I normally give myself in a bi-weekly period so that I don't go over my monthly budget of $645.00 If I am able to do this it will be the FIRST time since I've made a budget that I've actually STUCK to it! As silly as it sounds, I have never spent on budget or less. As I've discussed with "Makky's Mom" on a few of my comment boards from previous posts that it is certainly a lack of discipline and willpower on my part. While I've been very proud of myself for paying off a lot of debt the last 2 years and saving more than I HAVE EVER saved in my entire life, I still feel that I have A LOT more work to do to improve my finances. Especially since I NEVER want to go into consumer debt EVER AGAIN!!!

Keep your fingers crossed for me, please :)

TTFN,
Morgaine

April bi-weekly update

2011-04-13T12:44:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is payday :) So, here's the numbers for April so far:

As you can see (click on pic to make it bigger and easier to read) I over spent my first bi-weekly budget by $130.18, I had some money come in this month ($48.30 GST and $50 Angus Reid survey cheque) so I went over my actual money by $31.88. This happened because I put the Blue Jays tickets on my credit card and didn't pay it back from my account and the cash that people gave me for said tickets (oops!)

So, my plan is really buckle down for the rest of the month as I would REALLY like to try and stay on this budget even to just to prove to myself that I can! So, the second chart shows the monthly numbers and how much is left $192.32 so even though I will have more money left over after my fixed expenses from my paycheque, this is the amount that I want to "give" myself to work with for the rest of the month.

I'm going to try and accomplish this by doing the following: No clothes, No PC items (except a haircut, but I'm going back to my cheap place, even though is farther away), No books/movies/magazines, No breakfasts/lunches/snacks out (during the week)! Considering how much I've spent so far this month, I can't see how I should come up with excuses to spend more than $192.32 but this is about challenging myself, and I've never been really good at following through :( I'm hoping that I've changed enough since becoming more conscious of my money that I will be able to accomplish this goal.

What will I do with the "extra" money? Basically since I will have $130.18 that would have went to my variable spending ($322.50 - $192.32) I want to make this a "snowflake" towards my debt. Which debt it will be going to is up in the air right now. I haven't actually gotten my credit card from Scotia (my Mom gave me the $3K but its on hold in my account) so my Citi loan is still sitting there, but once I do get the Visa I will need to start making payments on it, and of course, there is still the MasterCard looming over me. Probably the MasterCard will get the snowflake since it will have the highest interest rate once the Citi is paid off - at a whopping 11.4%! :)

OK, this post is now officially long enough ;) Tomorrow I will post what is happening with this next paycheque :)

TTFN, Morgaine

Weekly Spending Report: April 4 - 10

2011-04-10T22:29:00.002-04:00

4: No Spend!
5: No Spend!
6: $10.61 (cash - dinner) + $33.85 (debit - $30.49 PC + $3.36 snack) = $44.46
7: $3.78 (cash - breakfast) + $4.98 (cash - snack before dentist) + $129.20 (credit, to be paid out of planned spending acct - dentist) + $9.03 (credit, paid back by account - ebook) = $146.99
8: $1.98 (cash - breakfast) + $7.76 (debit - $5.60 tea as a gift to a co-worker that's leaving + $2.16 for tea latte for myself) = $9.74
9: $30.00 (cash - dinner)
10: No Spend!
Total: $231.19 (without dentist: $101.99)

Emotional Tracker: 6 - I knew I was going out for dinner on Wednesday before my concert, I needed to kill some time and there was some PC items I needed to get. 7: so tired in the morning of the 7th, I had to get a coffee and I had no more milk for my cereal so I got a bagel too. Ugh, dentist! Put this on my credit card but the money is coming out of my Planned Spending acct. 8: met up with friends before we went to 2 separate shows. I went to see House of Pain! I'm showing my age a bit, but I grew up with "Jump Around" it was fun to see them live :)

Taking out the dentist appointment (which I did plan for and its coming out of my Planned Spending account, not my monthly budget) I spent $101.99 which isn't too bad but considering how much I spent last week, this was still more than I should have spent.

I also didn't meet my goal of 4 no spends this week, but 3 isn't bad, gotta make the 4 this week though!

Hope everyone had a nice weekend.
TTFN,
Morgaine

Balance Transfer

2011-04-08T11:46:00.000-04:00

So, its looking that the Citifinancial loan might actually disappear a lot faster than I had originally planned. I know that I really shouldn't be applying for more credit, but, I got a letter in the mail from Scotiabank telling me about 1.99% interest on their credit cards for 6 months for balance transfers. Well, 1.99% is a HECK of a lot less than 29.9% which I am currently paying on my Citi loan. Of course, I don't see how I can pay this off in 6 months even at 1.99% so I looked a bit more into this. They have a low rate option on their Value Visa of 11.99% for $29 annual fee. So, I applied. I was approved for $5000. But, my balance on the Citi loan is $8000. So, I spoke with my Mom (who by the way was very disappointed in me for taking out this loan in the first place, but knows that I am now working very hard to get rid of this mess I've created) and she is going to give me the rest of the money to pay off this loan. Now, the kicker is that I don't have to pay her back, HOWEVER, this was to be money for my wedding (she was paying for the open bar, since I didn't want to pay for one). So, I have to pay myself back more or less. Its a lot easier to pay yourself and receive interest than pay someone else and pay interest! So, this is the plan. By the end of April the Citi loan should be gone with Bank of Nova Scotia Visa and a "Pay Back the Wedding Fund" debts to replace it. But at least those debts are not at 29.9%!

TTFN,
Morgaine

So, what do you think? Did I make the right choice?

No Spend Days

2011-04-06T13:18:00.000-04:00

So I've been tracking my daily spending for 2 months now. In February I had 11 no spends and in March 12. Both months that averages out to 39% of days in the month or about 3 days per week. That sounds right to me. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday I bring my lunch and snacks. Wednesdays I tend to eat out for lunch to break up the week. Friday I usually end up buying a snack and/or dinner out. Saturdays and Sundays I usually end up buying something or going out to a movie or to eat (or both). So, Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays (or Wednesdays if I know I'll need to buy something on Thursday which is payday) are typically my No Spend days.

In April I want to do better. I want to have 50% or 15 days, preferably more. My ultimate goal is 4 days per week instead of 3. This week is looking good so far. Monday and Tuesday were No Spend Days, today I'm buying dinner out before going to a concert, Thursday no plans, Friday no plans (just gotta make sure I stay away from my "Its Friday, I made it through anther week" treat, see last week's spending report for more info), Saturday I will be eating out, Sunday no plans. So if I can avoid temptation for a treat on Friday that will be my 4 days. I'd like to make Sunday a no spend day too as last weekend I went a bit nuts, so we shall see.

I'm hoping that having an actual number of No Spend Days as a goal will help me spend less money on the whole and help me meet my budget numbers. Let's see if I make it :)

TTFN,
Morgaine

Do you have No Spend Day goals?

Making my budget work for me

2011-04-05T12:50:00.000-04:00

For some reason I was thinking that my budget had to stay the same every month. I think this is why I've tried budgeting in the past and have failed. Every month is not the same, so why would my spending be the same?
I'm not going to be as concerned with the categories of spending as I will be my "bottom line". I shouldn't spend more than the $645/mth for variables I have set forth, in total. But I am going to try and look at my budget in a more flexible light. March was a food and gift heavy month. With birthdays and anniversary in this month. April seems to be more food and entertainment heavy. We have concert tickets already purchased and are planning on going out for dinner before the events. However, only 1 birthday in April that I should be able to spend maybe around $20 on and no dinner out. I typically have a fairly small amount budgeting in the "Everything Else" category, however, we have the last dentist appointment and another one on Thursday to pay for. So, I've re-jigged the budget based on what I think April will be like. I've also decided not to spend any more money on clothing for this month at all. So the money left in PC/Clothes/Household is for PC/H uses only.

So, this is the "re-jigged" April budget with the amounts of what I've already spent in April (yes, 2 weeks worth of spending in 1 weekend!). I'm going to try REALLY hard to keep to this budget for the rest of the month:

I will try the same exercise in May. It will be heavy in food, entertainment, and gifts as it will be T's birthday and Mother's Day is also in there. I think this is where budgeting becomes "fun" making it work within your lifestyle.

TTFN, Morgaine.

Weekly Spending Report: March 28 - April 3

2011-04-04T10:16:00.001-04:00

28: No Spend!
29: $7.25 (debit - movie - yeah for cheap night!)
30: $1.21 (cash - Timmie's breakfast w/free coffee) + $8.53 (debit - lunch) + $15 (cash - dinner) = $24.74
31: $43.25 (credit, paid back - concert ticket)
1: $1.21 (cash - Timmie's breakfast w/free coffee) + $5.96 (cash - snack) + $44.06 (debit - CD and 2 movies) + $128 (credit - 4 tickets to Blue Jays game on Sunday, 3 people owe me money for this, so my cost is $32) + $16.77 (cash - 3 USED books, included one for my fiance as a surprise.) = $196.00 (ouch!)
2: $10.58 (debit - pet food) + $17.52 (cash - tea) + $69.27 (debit - clothes) + $10 (cash - arcade games) + $27.00 (cash - dinner) + (+ $32.00 cash - cousin paid me back for baseball ticket) = $102.37 (ouch!)
3: (+$32.00 - cash, reimbursement of baseball ticket) + $30 (cash - lunch and snacks at baseball game)
= -$2.00
Total: $371.61

I had an "epiphany" while reading Cassie's blog the other day: Fritter Fritter. If you read my comment, her post made me think about why I've had lots of little spend days. I think it may be tied to my emotional state at the time. So, I'm going to indulge in an exercise for the sake of my own budget and sanity!

Emotional tracker:
30th - breakfast - free coffee so I bought a bagel too. I've decided to go back to buying my lunch once a week for sanity sake. Dinner, celebrating the fact that the fiance is now debt free! 1st: its Friday so I thought I'd treat myself to a coke and chocolate bar *I HAVE to STOP doing that, just because I "made" it through another week doesn't mean I deserve to eat junk. This is bad for my wallet and my waistline! Oh, there was also gum in this purchase - when did gum become so expensive??? I haven't bought any cd's, books, or movies in a long time (at least boxing day) so I was downtown and ... yeah, don't really need to explain this one!

2: I bought a Groupon for glow-in-the-dark mini-golf way back in January. Well, it expires on Apr 4th so we had to use it this weekend. That was a lot of fun for $20 for 4 people! I also spent another $10 on arcade games because my cousin loves them and she hardly ever gets to go to a place where she can play but we all had turns trying out different games. We also ended up getting 165 tickets so my cousin was able to get some fun stuff too. Then we ended up at a mall (dun dun dun!) the only purchase I actually regret was the tea. I didn't realize that you had to pay for the tin too! At the very least I should have gotten a smaller quantity (or none at all!) but once she told me the price I didn't say "umm, can I get less, actually" I need to get better at stuff like that! The clothes were 2 cardigans and 2 t-shirts which are staples of my wardrobe, were nice spring colours and they were on sale. I know I'm justifying my purchase, but as long as I don't spend any more money on clothes this month, I should be ok. Dinner was at a Chili's, there is only the 1 in Ontario and none of us had ever been, so of course we had to try a drink, and apps, and desert! So, a very spendy day but very fun. I almost felt like I was on vacation for a day, now back to reality :(

3rd: at the baseball game. I should have ate before we went, its way too expensive to eat there. Lesson learned.

So, I basically spent my 2 weeks budget in one week. Obviously I still have a long way to go in the self-discipline department when it comes to money. The next two weeks will be a spending lock-down. The only costs I am anticipating: 4-10: dinner out on Wednesday (going to a concert), dinner out on Saturday (going to a concert), 11-17: nothing so far.

Thanks to Makky's Mom for giving me a kick in the butt! If Gail is not around to do it, I'm glad someone is :) I will try to do better. Thank you for your support.

TTFN, Morgaine.

Quarterly Goals Review - Q1 2011

2011-04-01T12:42:00.000-04:00

On Jan 1, 2011 I posted these goals:

1) Have at least $2000 in my Emergency Fund

2) Have at least $5000 in the Wedding Fund *joint savings with fiancee

3) Have at least $7000 in RRSPs

4) Pay off Visa (for good, dammit!)

5) Have MasterCard down to at least $8000

6) Pay down Citi (no goal, because the interest is so high, but make regular monthly payments)

7) Not go over my budget more than $100 in any month

1) Right now its a FAIL. If I was 25% done towards this goal my EF would be sitting at $500, its currently sitting at $411.52 (I had to take some money out to cover my glasses). However, I have increased my contribution to $200/mth. 9 months X $200/mth = $1800 plus $411.52 = $2211.52 So, barring any major emergencies coming up between now and end of the year, I will still achieve this goal :)

2) ON TRACK. Actually, we will probably be closer to $6000. Right now this account is sitting at $1980 with me contributing $150/mth and fiance will start contributing $300/mth starting in April (was contribution $100/mth but now that he's debt free! he is upping his contributions). So, $150 X 9 =$1350 plus $300 X 9 = $2700 = $6030 plus interest :)

3) ON TRACK. Currently sitting at $5470.66 I am making $250/mth contributions X 9 = $2250 = $7720.66 I'm leaving the goal at $7000 because of market fluctuations. My RSPs are invested in mutual funds.

4) DONE!!! Paid off Visa on March 17th and CLOSED IT on March 18th :)

5) EXCEEDING When I wrote my goals I didn't know I was going to have this new job with the significant pay increase so I didn't know if I would be able to put big chunks on my debt. Well, my MasterCard is currently sitting at $8500 and I'm making $500/mth payments. $500 X 9 = $4500 = $4000 So I am now making this goal $5000 to account for interest and maybe a month where I can't make the extra payment. Of course, I will still try my hardest to exceed this goal :)

6) ON TRACK Well, since there was no goal per se on this one, I'm going to say I'm on track. Also, I made a $1098 extra payment in March and I am planning on throwing any extra money I make this year on this sucker (overtime, GST, surveys). I think I will now make the goal for this loan to be $5000 too.

7) COMPLETE and UDDER FAIL!!! I don't know why I put that as a goal, I should've known that there would be no way I could keep that. January I was over by $546.89, February $256.59; March $339.24!!! So, I don't know what I should do as a replacement goal. Or maybe I should just try harder? Now that I'm making more money and I've given myself more room for variable spending, maybe this is a possibility? Let's see at mid-year review :(

So, not too bad, 2 fails out of 7 but the first should actually not be a fail by the end of the year. I'm fairly content with this. I'm thinking next year I should add in no spend day goals and personal goals too. I may add them in starting mid-year. We'll see.

TTFN, Morgaine.

BTW, how are your yearly goals going so far? Are you on track?

March was such a weird month!

2011-03-31T13:40:00.000-04:00

Because I didn't get my first paycheque at the new payrate until the 17th (and got 3 paycheques at once) I thought it would be best to also post my bi-weeklies but a bit different. I made March 3-30 with 3 weeks of variables instead of 2. The second one is more for April. I've paid all the fixed categories today but I haven't spent any variables yet so I can't put anything in there yet. But I figured I would include it here so that its understood how my fixed expenses worked for this month.

Although I went over in almost all my variable spending categories I still feel that March was a good month - although it felt SOOOOOO long and just plain weird! But as you can see from the $0.00 at the end of the 1st "bi-weekly" budget, I actually managed to track my money DOWN TO THE PENNY! To me that is just amazing :)

I got my tax refund! I paid off my Visa AND closed it! :) I still managed to make a $1098.00 payment to my consolidation loan and $526.15 to my MasterCard. I didn't accrue any new debt this month as any purchases made to my MasterCard where paid back by the cash in my account. I started my new savings account this month, added $150 to it, increased my emergency fund contribution to $200/mth (up from $150/mth) and increased my RSP contributions from $100/pay to $125/pay.

I'm starting to feel like I may be able to actually achieve my goals and it won't take as long as I thought :)

TTFN, Morgaine

P.S. How was your March? Was it a good money month for you? Was it just me that felt March was a long and weird month?

Weekly Spending Report: March 21-27

2011-03-28T16:05:00.001-04:00

21: No Spend!
22: No Spend!
23: $11.60 (credit to be repaid from bank account ASAP - ebay bb cream) + $22.01 (cash - my share of dinner) = $33.61
24: $1.21 (cash - Timmies breakfast w/free coffee) = $1.21
25: $10.51 (cash - $3.99 magazine + $6.52 snack) + $10 (cash - dinner) + $20 (cash - theatre ticket) =$40.51
26: $25 (debit - pet supplies) + $7.00 (cash - lunch) + $10.15 (cash - coffee for my coffee machine) + $1.58 (cash - Timmie's) = $43.73
27: $20 (cash - dinner) = $20.00
Total: $139.08

So, only two no spend days :( But I am ok with the amount spent. Definitely a few items that I certainly didn't need. We ate out as more than normal and I bought some snacks and a magazine. Dinner out on Friday was with my Mom and then we went to a local theatre company play. We hardly do these kind of things together so I don't regret that. We went out for dinner and a movie with friends on Sunday (free movie because of a 2-4-1 movie deal) so that was fun. But dinner on Thursday was one of those "I don't feel like making anything" days. We've made progress on having less of those than we used to but there is certainly more room for improvement in this area.

I have $20 to make it until payday on Thursday, I don't foresee any issues, more no spend days this week is what I need :)

TTFN,
Morgaine

Bi-Weekly Budget

2011-03-24T13:31:00.000-04:00

Since I am now back to being paid on a bi-weekly schedule (I LOVED being paid weekly, this is the one of the downsides to this job, along with no benefits and no vacation) I have decided to bring back my bi-weekly budgets. I will still continue to report my weekly spending and monthly numbers but my bi-weekly numbers give a good indication of where ALL of my money goes, not just the variables. Plus if I'm tracking bi-weekly it will help me get my monthly numbers together quickly.

So here they are:

Click on them to make them more readable.

So, I'm going to work with these numbers and see how it goes.

TTFN,
Morgaine

What makes me Fabulous? (Entry Post)

2011-03-23T12:32:00.000-04:00

This is my entry into the "Win Tablet2" contest being held at Fabulous Savings.

First person in my family to go to University
Made my way in the financial industry without any help from friends/family
I can speak Gaelic (Irish)
I am insanely proud of my Irish background
I can play the flute
I am extremely loyal to my friends; they know they can count on me when they have problems or need someone to talk to

This is something I'm not used to doing, I'm more the type that puts herself down a lot rather than pumping myself up and feeling good about myself. I think this is something I need to work on more.

Those are what I could come with for my entry.

TTFN, Morgaine

St Paddy's Day Party - What I spent

2011-03-22T11:00:00.000-04:00

Had friends over for a St Patrick's Day party on Friday (ok, so it was 1 day after, but I wanted to have a get-together with my friends). We had 12 people (including T and myself) and we had a blast! I put my collection of Irish/Celtic music on our computer (playlist ended up being 10 hours worth of music! Can we say obsessive???) and had Irish movies on in the background (Boondock Saints, The Commitments).

There was SO much food!!!
We made: Guinness beef stew, cottage pie, cupcakes, cookies.
Brought: butter chicken, curried lamb stew, soda bread, Guinness and cheese dip (super yummy), and salad.

I spent (some costs were split with T): $40 booze; $51.71 food; and $18.08 on plates/cutlery/etc and decorative items. Total: $109.79

I think T went a bit crazy on the booze (I know its St Paddy's day, but really $80!) so we have a lot left over and we don't drink very much so I hope at least some of it will stay until either our next get-together or even better, next St Paddy's Day!

All in all, I will be doing this again next year, it was too much fun :)

TTFN, Morgaine.

Weekly Spending Report: March 14-20

2011-03-21T11:50:00.001-04:00

14: No Spend!
15: No Spend!
16: No Spend!
17: $176.50 (email money transfer to fiance - as follows: $123.25 food + $53.25 entertainment) + $92.72 (debit - clothes) + $67.79 (debit - anniversary gift) + $11.29 (debit - umbrella) + $30.00 (cash - dinner and drinks) + $32.66 (debit - 2 CDs of Irish music - what can I say, St Patrick's Day put me in the mood!) =$410.96 (ouch!!!)
18: $1.35 (cash - breakfast) + $18.93 (debit - personal items) + $6.20 (cash - lunch) + $4.00 (cash - snack) = $30.48
19: $20 (cash - brunch) + $4.00 (cash - snack) = $24.00
20: No Spend!
Total: $465.44

Obviously not a typical week for me (even back when I used to be a lot more carefree with my money), I basically had to pay back a week's worth of spending to the fiance to cover March 11-16 and then I went a bit crazy buying some stuff I had put off for a while (new work pants, anniversary gift - March 10 was our anniversary, and an umbrella) I suppose some of it could have waited but I figured since Thursday was going to be spendy anyways due to money being transferred and going out for St Paddy's Day then I may as well go "crazy" in one day rather than spread out the craziness. This is the way my mind works.

Anyways, back to being more cautious with my money for the foreseeable future.

TTFN, Morgaine

Updated Side Bars and Exciting Net Worth News ...

2011-03-18T12:31:00.000-04:00

After my windfall of moola yesterday ;) I updated my side bars and totaled up my Net Worth. Not only am I under $10K negative net worth but my net worth has increased by over $10K since January of 2010! Not too shabby for just over a year's work if I do say so myself :)

The only downcast part of my financial picture is that my RSP is losing money :( I've lost about $300 so far, but I'm in it for a longer term so I should (hopefully) get at least some of that money back by the time we are buying our home. If it continues to downslide too much, I may sell the funds and put the money into moneymarket, but I'm a "wait and see" type of gal, I hate locking in my losses.

Yesterday, some money "slipped" out of my fingers: $410! Well, some of it was money owed to T because I couldn't pay for some things during my 2 weeks without pay, the rest, well Once you open the floodgates ... I knew I'd be spending money yesterday and I had been keeping myself pretty tight in spending for the last little bit, I may have went a bit "crazy". I just have to make sure this is a one time slip and not a falling into old habits/behaviours. If I start spending like crazy and thinking that I'm richer than I am, please, someone out there yell and scream at me in the comments! I beg of you! :) The breakdown of the money will be included on my weekly spending report.

We are having friends over tonight for a St Patrick's Day get-together, there's gonna be lots of food (and, ok, lots of booze) and we should have a tonne of fun. I want to tally up everything I spent on this party and hopefully have an update on that on Saturday or Sunday.

Until then, have a great weekend everyone! TTFN, Morgaine

Happy St Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T11:14:00.000-04:00

Man, I certainly have the "Luck O' the Irish" today! I got paid for 3 weeks at my new rate AND I got my tax refund - sweet! I had almost $3500 in my bank account this morning when I logged in! Unfortunately its almost all gone now, but most of its going to good causes :)

Here's the breakdown:

$3446.58
- 1098.17 citifinancial
- 100.00 RSP
- 75.00 Wedding Fund
- 75.00 Planned Spending Fund
- 100.00 Emergency Fund
- 997.27 Visa (paid off!!! - calling later today to close it!)
- 200.00 Mastercard (going to make another payment at end of month)
- 69.00 cell phone
- 176.00 (T for money owed, breakdown in my weekly spending report next week)
- 200.00 Extra Emergency Fund payment!
= $356.14 variable spending money for the next 2 weeks!

Whoohoo! These Irish Eyes are Smiling today! :) Have a Happy St Patrick's Day everyone!

TTFN, Morgaine

P.S. Going to see the Cheiftains tonight - awesome Celtic band from Ireland :)

New Budget! :)

2011-03-16T15:10:00.000-04:00

I got my payslip today and I have to admit that its been hard working on my actual work because all I've wanted to do was update my budget and put it up on my blog!

I worked on it during my lunch break and now that its afternoon coffee break I'm posting it :)

It's Gail's budget but I tweaked it as I don't have as many categories (no car or children). I put $0 for Visa as I am planning on paying it off (and closing it!) with my tax return.

For those who weighed in on my debate on what to do with my tax return, I have decided to pay off the Visa. HOWEVER, I did make a $1000 payment on the citifinancial loan that will go through tomorrow! So, I'm kind of killing two birds with one stone - well two stones - but it doesn't sound as good ;)

I think this budget is way more flexible in terms of variable spending and is way more in line with what I actually tend to spend on a weekly/monthly basis. With more being put towards savings and debt repayment - Huzzah! And, of course, any "extra" money I make doing overtime will go directly on the debt as well. I really want to make a big dent in this in 2011. :)

What does everyone else think? Is there something I'm missing, do you think I will spend more/less in certain categories???

I can't wait for tomorrow when the $$$ is in my bank account!!! :)

TTFN, Morgaine.

Weekly Spending Report March 7-13

2011-03-14T10:24:00.001-04:00

March 7: $15.36 (credit - taxes online)
March 8: No Spend!
March 9: $2.89 (cash - Timmie's coffee and bagel - one of those mornings!) + $50 (debit - gift card) + $11.29 (debit - lunch bag - lost my old one) + $4.80 (debit - birthday card) + $8.46 (debit - lunch) = $77.44
March 10: No Spend!
March 11: No Spend!
March 12: $5.00 (cash - Timmie's breakfast) + $24.26 (debit - personal items) + $32.21 (debit - $5.09 gifts + $9.04 entertainment + $18.08 household) + $5.85 (debit - food) = $67.32
March 13: $20 (cash - lunch)
Total: $180.12

Ok, a bit over what I should've spent this week, I went a little insane at the dollarstore ($32.21) but now that I don't live next to one :( I have to think of all the things I want to get from one and get it all in one shot. I picked up a gift bag and wrap for my friend's birthday (also explains the $50 gift card). I bought some plastic containers for my soap supplies and molds and I bought all the items I need for my St Patrick's Day get-together on Friday (i.e. plates, cups, napkins, etc) plus a pen holder for my new desk at work. I only have $20 left until Thursday but I have no planned spending until then anyways. However, I do owe the fiance for dinner on Saturday and a few groceries that are specifically for the party, which I will promptly pay him for on Thursday and will mark all this down on this week's spending report (when the cash leaves my hand).

I'm very glad that the birthdays are going to settle down for a while (cousin and 1 friend in late April, fiance in late May) and then none in the summer! But there is Mother's Day in May too. Does it ever end?!?

Can't wait until Thursday!!!!!!!!
TTFN, Morgaine

What would I do with $100,000???

2011-03-11T11:35:00.000-05:00

I got this idea from Money Rabbit who in turn got her idea from Give Me Back My Five Bucks. Like Money Rabbit I thought to do $100K since I can't even begin to think about $1M at this stage :(

1) Pay off Debt $18,291.73 (approx, not considering interest). Amount remaining: $81,708.27
2) Max out unused RSP contributions $34,291.20. However, I will not deduct all this amount, I would save some for when I'm in a higher tax bracket. Amount Remaining: $47,417.07
3) Max out Emergency Fund $10,000 (1 year expenses). Amount Remaining $37,417.07
4) Down Payment $25,000. We would like a place of our own, the house we are currently renting has so many issues with it! With the amount we already have saved we could put 10-15% down on a nice place (approx $350K). Amount remaining: $12,417.07
5) Planned Savings account: $5,000. For bits and bobs - mostly gifts and medical costs - instead of coming out of monthly budget. Amount remaining: $7,417.07
6) Wedding Fund: $5,000. I still would like to have the wedding I have planned. I know a few people who probably would've spent the whole $100K on their wedding, but that's not our style. Also, the fiance is still expected to put in his share ;) Amount Remaining: $2,417.07
7) Buffer for Chequing Account (rest). I HATE paying bank fees but I love my bank and the unlimited transactions. It would also allow me to purchase what I need to (maybe emergencies or planned spending) without transferring from ING first, I can transfer the amount when I get home. That would be a nice change :) Amount Remaining: $0

So much of that money went to debt it makes me sad :( I need to get rid of that crap ASAP!!! I can't wait to get the raise, I am so excited to put more money towards the debt starting really soon :)

TTFN, Morgaine.

Spending "Freeze" and Taxes

2011-03-08T12:21:00.000-05:00

So, I started a new job on February 28th which is about half way through the pay period - the first pay was March 3rd. But, since I started 3 days before pay day I didn't get paid on the 3rd, my first pay from this job will be on the 17th. My last job owed me for my last week at the old rate which was paid out to me on the 4th. So I basically need to go from the 5th to the 16th with one week - at the old rate - pay. As it stands at the moment, I still have $200 left. Since I don't spend much during the week, its going to be the weekends that are going to be my real challenges for the next two weeks. And, having my anniversary and friend's birthday in this time period means I have to be extra careful with my money.

But, on the 17th I will be getting 3 weeks of pay at the new rate - hooray! And then I will get my refund - hooray! So, it'll be tight for a bit but then I should be ok. But, I hope I am learning the lessons of spending wisely in lean times and this will carry over to when I have money. I think I've changed ... only time will tell.

Taxes update - I got my last T4 last night and after entering it the amount of refund changed, but only slightly, I will be getting $1187.42 back. So really close.

Anyone else want to pipe in on how I should "spend" this refund? Please feel free to comment on this or my last Tax post with suggestions.

TTFN, Morgaine

Weekly Spending Report: Feb 28 - Mar 6

2011-03-07T12:31:00.001-05:00

Feb 28: No Spend!
Mar 1: No Spend!
Mar 2: $58.26 (debit - Old Navy: $22.52 gifts, $32.19 clothing, $3.55 household) + $7.22 (debit - dinner) + $11.29 (debit - snack) = $76.77
Mar 3: No Spend!
Mar 4: $1.85 (cash - breakfast) + $3.98 (cash - food)= $5.83
Mar 5: $6.78 (cash - dollar store gift stuff) + $30.00 (debit - movies and snacks) = $36.78
Mar 6: $3.16 (cash - tim horton's)= $3.16

Total: $122.54

All in all not bad. I certainly could have done without the Timmies on Sunday and had 4 No Spends instead of 3. I went to a friend's baby shower on Sunday and I felt that I spent a reasonable amount ($25) on the present (Old Navy was having a sale!) this is something I need to do more. I feel that I try and not look "cheap" when I give presents, but perhaps I just need to be on the lookout more for good deals for gifts I know certain people would like. I will have more spending to do in the gifts category this month, that's for sure. My bff's birthday is today and we are getting together on Saturday so I have until then to get her something. My and T's (dating) anniversary is Thursday and we will be going out for dinner. I will be getting him something, but not until the 17th (more on this in tomorrow's post). We've agreed to keep gifts to each other small for the next 2 years as we have wedding savings to worry about, but I'm sure I can come up with something within budget :)

TTFN, Morgaine

P.S. Still waiting on my last T4! Grrrrrrr! :(

Taxes Practice Run

2011-03-04T12:47:00.000-05:00

I am still missing 1 T4 but I did have my last paystub of the year so I went into TurboTax and ran the numbers. It looks like I am getting about $1200 back. Compared to the $300 I got back last year, that's a big leap. Because I worked 2 different jobs last year and the second job paid lower than the first, the first job took more in taxes (based on that salary) plus I made regular RRSP contributions.

The problem is, I'm not sure what's best to do with this money. Now that I am going to be paid at a pretty decent rate I know that I can maintain my goal of $1000/month to debt repayment and $500/month to savings.

These are the possibilities:
1) put all on citifinancial loan (29.9% balance $8100)
2) put all on mastercard (11.4% balance $8900)
3) put all on visa (10.5% balance $980)
4) put all in emergency savings (current balance $350)
5) split it amongst debt repayment and savings

I'm thinking about 3 and 5 the most. I know that the citinfinancial loan is the loan with the highest interest rate and of course I should be paying this one off as top priority. BUT I am planning on paying $800/month starting in March which will have this loan paid off mid-2012, and according to snowball calculator, all debt to paid off by December 2012 which would be great. Also, since the interest rate of that loan is so high, interest will pretty well eat up all of that extra payment. So, I don't think this is the best use of the money.

#3 If I put all (actually $1000 since that's the Visa limit) on my Visa that would pay this off. Now, anyone who has followed my blog from the beginning would know that this would be the 4th time that I pay off that balance with the promise that I would only use it in emergencies and NEVER let it get back that high. So, if I do go with this option, I will close the card. Not just chop it up (I've done this and then re-ordered it) or leave it at home (use at home or know the numbers off by heart) I will close it. Cross my heart, I promise I will close it. The extra to go into my emergency savings.

Or 5 I could put say $700 on the Visa and $500 in the emergency fund. This would put the Visa at a more comfortable level (with the goal to pay it off and CLOSE it asap) and have my emergency fund at a level where if an emergency happened I could pay for it out of that instead of using credit. I've been good with this at least, I haven't used my emergency fund for friviolous purchases. So far I am leaning more towards this idea since its more of a balanced approach but I am tempted as well to just slap it down on the Visa and close it. This would also allow me to add approximately $200 to my emergency fund as well.

So, I would love imput on this. If you were in my situation what would you do?

Have a great weekend everyone! TTFN, Morgaine.

Monthly Budget Update - February 2011

2011-03-01T22:20:00.001-05:00

So, I went over in every category and about $250 overall. Ouch! I didn't "technically" overspend, any amounts put on credit were repaid. I met my savings goal of $500 BUT I didn't pay the $1000 towards my debt = FAIL! I actually only put the minimum payments on my debts. The good news is that as of yesterday I got my raise! :) From my preliminary projections, it looks like I will be able to actually pay the amounts I want to savings and debt AND be more realistic with my variable spending. I tried really hard to reign in the spending the last few months, but it just didn't happen. Mostly, I ate out too much and my new hobby cost me quite a bit in start up costs.

Here's to more money! :)

TTFN, Morgaine

Spending Report: Feb 21-27

2011-02-28T23:00:00.001-05:00

21: $20.74 (debit - dinner for 2) + 25.50 (debit - movie for 2) = $46.24
22: No Spend!
23: No Spend!
24: No Spend!
25: $1.40 (cash - Tim Horton's breakfast and free coffee!) + $40.00 (cash - food and drinks after work) = $41.40
26: $20 (cash - lunch) + $4.92 (debit - birthday card) = $24.92
27: $3.45 (cash - $2.32 gift wrap and plastic sandwich box $1.13) + $10.09 (cash - Timmie's breakfast for me and T) + $10.00 (cash - dinner) + $6.20 (debit - pet food) = $29.74
Total $142.30

Not too bad, I'm pretty happy about the 3 no spend days. Monday was a holiday and we went out for dinner and a movie. Friday went out for drinks and apps after work, $40 was a bit expensive but it was nice to unwind and celebrate the new job with my co-workers. Saturday I went to an "Ice Festival" with ice carvings. I've seen them in pictures but never in person before. They were neat! Pictures below. Sunday it was a friend's birthday: we went to Denny's for dinner (I've never been before, had chicken fingers as I'm not much of a breakfast person) and glow-in-the-dark mini-golfing. That was fun, but we definitely ate out too much this week, hopefully this week will be better.

Tomorrow, February's monthly numbers :|

TTFN, Morgaine

New Job :)

2011-02-27T23:03:00.000-05:00

I start the new job tomorrow! I can't wait to update my budget with my new numbers :) It seems from my February weekly spending reports that $150/wk seems to be a more realistic amount of what I spend on a weekly basis so hopefully I can be a bit more realistic with my budget with the new salary. I won't get paid on the new rate until March 17th. I will get one more weekly cheque at the old rate on the 4th so I won't have to go too long without money, but I will get 3 weeks of pay on the 17th, which is nice :)

Ok, time to get to bed, gotta be fresh for my new role tomorrow :)

TTFN, Morgaine

New Blog: 10K Wedding

2011-02-26T13:04:00.000-05:00

I started a new blog to document my journey to my wedding in 2012 for $10K or less :)

I have some post scheduled once a week for the next few weeks, I hope to blog on that site more as it gets closer to the wedding and I start to actual plan and book/buy things.

Check it out and let me know what you think: 10K Wedding

TTFN, Morgaine

Cash vs Debit

2011-02-24T15:05:00.000-05:00

Debt Ninja at Punch Debt in the Face had a very interesting post that put into words something that I have thought about myself for quite some time. Contrary to what a lot of pf experts (Gail Vaz-Oxlade, Dave Ramsey, etc) think, I find I spend less when I spend using debit or credit than with cash.

I will, with out a doubt, spend $200 in cash faster than with my debit card. I'm not 100% sure why I'm wired this way. I do remember my Mom saying that cash "burns a hole in my pocket" I certainly have memories of going out and spending cash given to me as a child as fast as possible before it went away or was stolen by my younger brother.

I think it may be that I am more conscious of when I have cash then the fact that I have money in my bank account. Don't get me wrong, I know exactly how much I have in my bank account right now ($127.45 - without checking!) but I'm not as conscious of it because it isn't physically there. I am a visual person. I need to see something in front of me to know that its there (or to understand a concept I've never learned before) so that may be a part of the reason too.

Also, when I don't have cash I don't make as many small frivolous purchases. One of the reasons why I've had a lot more no spend days recently is that I don't have cash to go to the convenience store (I refuse to pay a surcharge to use debit at a convenience store!) so no little purchases that would make the difference between a no spend day and a $1.50 or $2.00 spent day. Those little purchases add up!

I also track my purchases more effectively and have more of an idea of when I need to "stop" spending because my bank account is low or I've already spend X amount of dollars on stuff this month. I've only recently started tracking cash spending too and since I don't want to track a lot of purchases, spending no cash most days appeals to my lazy side ;)

I think what we all have to do is find out what works best for us and perfect this method by tracking and budgeting. I think this is what works best for me, despite what others may say.

How about you, do you spend more when you're using cash vs debit/credit? Do you think that in general people spend more when they use plastic?

TTFN, Morgaine.

Savings Goals - Realistic Edition

2011-02-23T21:10:00.000-05:00

I'm the type of person who makes up a lot of goals, but rarely follows through on them. Most of the time it is because I don't have enough motivation (i.e. losing weight without a vacation to look good for) or because I don't have a concrete plan. With my weight loss I now have a motivation (wedding) and a concrete plan (weight watchers plus 3 days/week at the gym). With my money goals I definitely have a motivation - debt free! but I didn't always have concrete plans on how to get there. This blog has certainly helped me with tracking and trying better to control my spending :)

I have been doing pretty good with savings as well (especially in the wedding fund - see, motivation!) but again I didn't have a concrete plan for a lot of savings, it was just for when I needed the funds and I didn't have an idea of when I would have enough saved for a particular goal of mine. So, I decided to create a new sheet on my budget spreadsheet to track my savings goals on at least a semi-yearly (hoping for quarterly) basis. I am a bit behind having started in February, but its the thought that counts.

Anyways, here's my new Savings Goals spreadsheet:

So, in March I will be starting my Honeymoon and laser eye surgery funds and I will increase my RSP contributions. For the wedding fund, its actually the fiance that needs to increase his portion of this savings goal but he wants to wait until his debt is paid off (as soon as he gets his tax refund). I may need to increase my portion too depending on how much he is willing to put in and what that would mean to reaching our goal in time. I can't wait until I start the new job (Monday) and get my raise, I'm really looking forward to the dents I can put towards my debt and savings goals with the extra money :)

TTFN, Morgaine

BTW, what does everyone think of the new banner? I'm planning on making a few more changes to the design of this blog to make it more personal to me. Can you guess I like fairies?

Updated Blog Roll

2011-02-22T22:45:00.000-05:00

Just a quick note that I just updated my blog roll. There are a lot of blogs that I have been reading through my blog list on blogger but I didn't add them to my blog roll. So, now its all updated with the blogs that I read regularly and I've taken off some that I don't read or they don't post anymore :(

Today was a no spend day, here's to 3 more this week :)

TTFN, Morgaine

Spending Report: February 14-20

2011-02-21T12:27:00.001-05:00

14: No Spend
15: $2.00 (cash - chocolate, damn co-workers!) + $28.74 (credit - amazon.com for soap molds!)=$30.74
16: No Spend
17: No Spend
18: $8.69 (cash - lunch) + $21.10 (debit - personal care items, damn cold!) + $31.00 (cash - dinner) + $22.13 (cash - personal care: contact lens solution and some other things) + $3.78 (debit - entertainment: 2 books)=$86.70 (ouch!)
19: $14.72 (personal care: BC pills) + $12.58 (cash - dinner)=$27.30
20: $6.00 (cash - tea that my Mom is going to reimburse me for)
Total: $150.74

I'm happy that I had 3 no spends (almost 4, in fact since my Mom is going to reimburse me, I would like to count that too, but anyways) but Friday I went overboard! There was some personal care items that I had been putting off buying for a while (hair ties and clips) but I knew that I was going to have to buy the contact lens solution since I had just bought contacts and the BC pills. The hair items could've waited. I HAVE to do much better on controlling my spending than that!

On the 18th I went out with my Godmother to the show I had bought tickets for her for Christmas: "The Man in Black: a Johnny Cash Tribute" which was a really good show. I didn't really know much about Johnny Cash before the movie "Walk the Line" but I did enjoy the movie (Joaquin Phoenix TOTALLY got robbed of an Oscar on that one!) and I found that his music was one that I could appreciate even though it isn't my usual style of music. Anyways, we went out to a nice dinner and so that put me back $31 but it was a place that I really enjoyed, I had a nice glass of wine and we shared a desert, so it was a very nice evening :)

Savings Goals

2011-02-20T14:15:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I stole this idea from hklover86 over at My Money Journey (if you haven't checked out her blog, you should, I loved her posts on the 7 deadly sins of personal finance).

I know I have the sidebars, but I think I'd also like tracking my savings on a spreadsheet too, it does keep me a bit more honest on my savings goals. As well, it has some categories of wants that I haven't actually started saving for but hopefully soon. I want the Efund to be at least $1K before worrying too much about the other stuff.

So, most are not until mid 2012 because they are wedding related (wedding, honeymoon, eye surgery) but I hope to at least start saving for them soon, even if its only $10 per pay. I probably should run one of those savings calculators and see how much I need to set aside to reach those goals. I know the wedding one will be on track soon, fiance will be adding more per pay once he receives his income tax return and pays off ALL his debt (I'm soooooooo proud of him!) and I am hoping with the new job to increase my contribution to this fund as well as at least the emergency fund.

You know what, I will run those calculations and update the spreadsheet. I will write another post (hopefully not too long from now) and try and keep this updated.

TTFN, Morgaine.

Soap!

2011-02-17T18:53:00.000-05:00

I mentioned in a previous post, that I have taken up a new hobby - making soap! So far, I've spent around $200 and have made a few presents. I have a lot of birthdays coming up so I will be making soap for my friends. I am also making soap for my wedding favours! I think it will help keep cost down since it is DIY and its personal and totally goes with our Celtic theme. So, here are some pics:


Wedding Favour Soap! Teal Celtic Heart with "Atlantic Seashore" scent

Gingerbread scent with Oatmeal

Grapefruit dual layer

Heart Soap for Valentine's Day

Raspberry body scrub

Pacific Seashore scented with sea salt scrub

Love Soap for Valentine's Day! Bottom layer is clear glycerin with real rose buds and the top is goats milk with hearts stuck into it. All scented like roses :)


Side view of the love soap so you can see the layers and rose buds

Stars - using ice cube trays from Ikea!

Stars embedded in the bar


"Tutti Fruitti" bar - bits of soap embedded in the bar

I'm hoping to make some more really special bars to sell on my Etsy store. More on that coming ...

TTFN, Morgaine

New Glasses!

2011-02-16T11:55:00.000-05:00

Just got my new glasses from clearlycontacts.ca and they are great! I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wears glasses and/or contacts. They were almost $300 less than my last pair of glasses and they are nicer and way lighter! It only took 2 days for shipping and shipping was free!

Today, I am home sick with a cold. My finance thought it would be a great Valentine's gift to give me his cold! I think I would have been able to go to work but I didn't get much sleep last night as all we had for cold medicine was daytime formula and I find it keeps me up. This is bad for my budget, though as I'm still temp and I won't get paid for today :( But the thought of being on the phone queue all day was too much for me to bear today. The next couple of weeks are going to be tight, but soon I will be starting my new job at my new pay rate and that will help a lot towards my financial goals.

Ok, time to get more rest and make some soup!
TTFN, Morgaine.

Spending Report February 7-13

2011-02-15T10:17:00.001-05:00

Feb 7: $0.75 (cash - coffee)
Feb 8: No Spend!
Feb 9: $0.75 (cash - coffee)
Feb 10: $8.46 (cash - lunch)
Feb 11: $0.75 (cash - coffee)
Feb 12: $14.73 (debit - gift) + $25 (debit - gift card) + $14.38 (debit - $12.68 gift and bag $1.70 household), $70 (cash - reimburse from planned spending - eye doctor), $25.25 (debit - Valentine's Day gift) + $4.52 (cash - gifts) + $14 (cash - bingo - for friend's birthday celebration) =$153.88
Feb 13: $20 (cash - lent to brother) + $3.00 (cash, conveince store) + $164.18 (credit - to be reinmbursed from planned spending - eyeglasses and contacts) =$187.18
Total =$351.77-$234.18(from planned spending acct)=$117.59

Notes: friend's birthday caused me to spend $58.25 ($12.68 gift for another friend's birthday later this month, I saw it and said this is PERFECT for my other friend so I had to pick it up - last one!) Plus $25.25 for Valentine's Day gift for the bf. We decided not to spend a lot of money on Valentine's Day for two reasons: (1) we are saving for wedding (2) our anniversary (1st date) is March 10th so we tend to celebrate this day more than Valentine's anyways.

Glasses are EXPENSIVE! glad I planned ahead for this purchase! And, I will be reimbursed the $70 eye exam fee from bf's medical plan, so it can go right back into PS account. Although, this time I ordered them from clearlycontacts.com which was a lot cheaper than my last pair of glasses which were over $400! I also ordered some contacts to wear on special occasions.

They just made the move from free coffee to $0.75 for coffee at work, but rest assured, I have now brought in my own tea and will use the hot water from the machine for free from now on :) So, there may be more no spend days in my future ...

TTFN, Morgaine

Spending Report: Jan 31 - Feb 6 - Finally!

2011-02-11T15:06:00.001-05:00

In my efforts to ramp up my budgeting by tracking my expenses more effectively, I am tracking my cash purchases in a notebook and regular purchases from my debit/credit card weekly on the blog. I'm hoping to put this up every week on Mondays, but this week I wasn't feeling well at the beginning of this week. Well, without much further ado:

Jan 31: $1 (cash - snack) + $12.19 (visa - ebook) = $13.19
Feb 1: no spend!
Feb 2: $2.48 (cash - snack)
Feb 3: $7.98 (cash - lunch) + $8.99 (cash - magazine) = $16.97
Feb 4: $8.80 (cash - lunch) + $38.02 (debit - personal care) + $16.70 (debit - $13 clothes, $3.70 food) +$2.15 (cash - snack) + $7.10 (cash - snack) = $72.77
Feb 5: $22.30 (debit - hobby) + $15.32 (debit - $9.13 hobby, $6.19 food) = $37.62
Feb 6: no spend!
Total: $143.03

Wow, the 4th was a really bad day for me! Why are vitamins so expensive? Also, I bought a pair of those portable slip on shoes because I had an interview and I was wearing my winter boots. But since they have multiple uses (and I am interviewing quite a bit lately) I figured it wasn't a really bad purchase for $13 (even though I didn't get that job :( ) But, I do have 2 jobs that are checking my references, so that's a good sign, right?

TTFN, Morgaine

New Job!!!

2011-02-10T16:56:00.000-05:00

Wow, 2 posts in one day!

I got the job that I REALLY wanted hooray! It is for the same company I'm working for now (pension industry) but not the same job I'm working at now - which is temporary anyways. I've already admitted that I don't like the job that I am doing now but I love the company. Basically the job I'm doing now is practically call centre (on inbound phone queue from 9-5) but I also have cases assigned to me that I have to work on during the day. The combination of these two with very little time to follow up and get in touch with clients has been making this job very stressful for me. I also have to tell someone when I'm going to get water or coffee or even if I have to go to the bathroom! I can't eat when I want because a call might come in.

So, the new position I will be off the phone queue (Thank God!!!) and processing requests for a different department and answering email questions. It is another maternity contract until Dec 31st but who knows, maybe she won't come back (unlike the last contract) or I make a good enough of an impression that they find some way to keep me - fingers crossed! The job is a significant raise in "salary" - $23.60/hour which is actually the highest salary I've ever gotten :) Downsides: no vacation - boo! and I have to "earn" sick days - I get 1.25 of sick days for every 1 month that I've worked. I don't take many sick days so that shouldn't be too much of a problem. I didn't have any vacation planned for this year (next year - wedding and honeymoon!) so I can't be working a contract then, please, please! But, I also get 8% added to my pay to compensate for this, so that's not too bad. Oh, and I will be part of a union (union dues, boo) but I can also contribute to a pension! I'm not sure I will do this yet, actually, I might wait until the contract is up and see where I stand then and then possibly do a non-contributory buyback (pension terminology has already creeped into my brain!!!)

So, I will be updating the budget yet again with new numbers as soon as I get paid. So looking forward to it!

TTFN, Morgaine.

January Numbers - Finally!

2011-02-10T11:18:00.000-05:00

So, I've finally gotten around to posting my January numbers. I really need to make budgeting more of a priority, and I think I've gotten to a decent start in February with tracking better. But, anyways, here are the numbers:

So, I was over in pretty well all the categories! Bad PF blogger, BAD! February definitely seems that it will be more in line with what I SHOULD be spending, more on that later.

The notes there are hard to read, so I will repeat them here (I just wanted to be able to see at a glance when I look at my Excel reports what happened in that month).

Food and Entertainment: I could be way off as I didn't track cash purchases. So, I could have spent more on entertainment than food or vice versa, not really sure. But I have been tracking my cash purchases since beginning of February so February numbers will be more true.

Clothes and Personal Care: bought a new pair of winter boots ($150) and got a haircut ($42.50 - never going there again!) Soooooooooo glad I bought those boots though, its been quite the snowy winter! I will have to go back to the place I usually get my hair cut because its only $20! I was trying to find a reasonable haircutting place in my new neighbourhood, but that one certainly isn't it! And, I joined a new gym. Its close to my new neighbourhood and it is a LOT cheaper than the gym I was a member of last year. This gym had a new year special: $69 for 3 months and then it will still only be $32/month from April to December! My last gym membership was over $100 per month! Now, I just have to start going regularly ...

Hobbies: I started a new hobby - making soap! So, some start up costs are included here that won't need to be repeated, but I will be replenishing supplies as I go along, of course. I hope to have some pics of my soap up soon as well. I will be revamping my Etsy store to include the soaps too.

Tomorrow, I promise I will have the first week of February's numbers up too!

TTFN, Morgaine.

MasterCard Limit

2011-02-09T12:18:00.000-05:00

So, today I lowered the limit on my MasterCard down to $9000 (from $10,000). I am doing this every $500 paid off to eliminate the temptation to spend on it EVER again! I want to get it down to $2500 and leave this as my limit FOREVER and close my Visa as well. No more using credit to fill the gaps for me! I am done paying interest, I am done with debt! Its just gonna take time to pay it off, and I'm working on it ...

Also, I realize I haven't posted my January numbers yet, I haven't been feeling well, but I hope to have that up tomorrow. I've been tracking my cash spending in a notebook for the last week, so I should post that too, again hopefully tomorrow. I feel better now than I have in a while, but I think I need new glasses and that's gonna put a strain on my efund, again! Well, that's what its for, I suppose.

TTFN, Morgaine.

The Job Situation

2011-02-04T23:32:00.000-05:00

So, I lost my job early October last year. It was a maternity leave contract, so I knew it would mostly come to an end a year after I started but of course, one always hopes that the company will find them a spot once the contract is up. This didn't happen.

I was out of a job for almost a month, while applying EVERYWHERE I could think of in my industry but it took me almost the whole month just to find something (and had to take money out of my Efund to pay for rent in October!) Luckily I picked up a decent paying temp job ($18.50/hr) it was only supposed to be until Jan 1st but they decided just before Christmas last year to keep me on until the end of April (tax season).

I really don't like this job. I felt it was better than being unemployed and would give me time to look for full-time employment while having a job. Lately, its been getting quite stressful, so I have stepped up the job hunting. In this past week I have had 2 telephone interviews, 1 recruiter interview, and 2 company interviews. Talk about stress! I HATE interviews!!! I find too that my industry (financial services) seem to take a lot longer than other industries (my fiance works in computers - software development - and found a new job within a week of looking for one and they hired him the same week!) it works a lot slower in my industry and I'm just hoping I can find something I like that's not too stressful but pays what I think I need (and deserve) to be paid.

So, hopefully soon I will be able to say I have a new job and I have to rethink my budget (again!) Oh well, if its more money (fingers crossed) then I won't mind rejigging the budget anyways ;)

Wish me luck! TTFN, Morgaine.

Rethinking Budgeting

2011-01-20T09:33:00.000-05:00

One of the main issues that I have, and I think most people (anyone can correct me, I won't be offended) also have this issue, with budgets is that I create my budgets this way:

Income
Fixed Expenses
Variable Expenses
Debt Repayment
Savings

Which means you decide how much you think you have to spend in the Variable Expenses categories before getting to Debt Repayment and Savings. Not to mention that "Planned Spending" isn't in that list at all. Of course, we are still supposed to plan for these "unexpected" expenses in our budgets, but realistically, how many people actually do this when creating a budget? I always think, 'what do I typically spend on X in a typical month?' and enter this line on my budget. This, of course, doesn't take into consideration that you may only spend $40/month typically on eating out, but, oh, February has Valentine's Day in it, planning on eating out that night? Not to mention large clothing items (coats, shoes, etc) that need to be replaced and birthdays.

So, my budget for 2011 was worked out this way:

Income
Fixed Expenses
Debt Repayment
Savings
Planned Spending
Variable Expenses

I decided ahead of time what my Debt Repayment and Savings goals where first before looking at what is left over for the "spending" categories. I've never budgeted this way before. Its always, 'let's see what's left over after the spending is done' Bad Budgeter, BAD!

Income $2232
Fixed Expenses $418
Debt Repayment $1000
Savings $500
Planned Spending $80
Variable Expenses $234

The budget I posted yesterday doesn't separate out the Variable Expenses vs Planned Spending because the Planned Spending is worked into the Variable Expenses. Like Gail's jars, whatever is left over in a Variable Expense category in any month is added to next month's Variable Expenses. But, since I'm not doing the jar method (I'm lazy, I'll admit it!) I'm using my 2nd chequing account (its technically a savings account but there's no charge for transferring in and out from my 1st chequing account online) for my Planned Spending account so that when I need the money to add to my Variable Expenses in any category, I can. I am REALLY hoping I can make this work. Like I said, I've never budgeted this way before. Also, I'm leaving myself with very little play money $234 a month works out to $58.50 per week, but I've been living on about $40 for the last month and a bit, so I think I can do it. More frugal fun to be had this winter!

TTYL, Morgaine

2011 Budget

2011-01-19T21:39:00.000-05:00

Here's what my 2011 budget sits at right now. This is subject to change - maybe sooner rather than later, since I'm only temping right now and applying for permanent jobs, but none yet :(

Since I am currently being paid weekly, I will be tracking weekly and hopefully this will make it easier to budget. So far, I think so. But time will tell ...

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T13:04:00.000-05:00

After a way too long hiatus, I am back! I REALLY slacked off on my money management for the last quarter of 2010 mainly because I lost my job, used up all my savings, and I'm now working a temp job that could end at any time :( But at least I'm working and bringing in some money :)

So, with the New Year comes new resolutions to be more careful and conscientious with my money.

My Money Goals for 2011:

Have at least $2000 in my Emergency Fund
Have at least $5000 in the Wedding Fund *joint savings with fiancee
Have at least $7000 in RRSPs
Pay off Visa (for good, dammit!)
Have MasterCard down to at least $8000
Pay down Citi (no goal, because the interest is so high, but make regular monthly payments)
Not go over my budget more than $100 in any month

2010 was a pretty good financial year for me despite losing my job in October and slacking off in the management department for the rest of that year. I will do an analysis in a later post. But looking at my numbers right now compared to Jan 1/10, I am up $6000 in Net Worth. That's pretty good, if I do say so myself :)

So, Happy New Year's to all and may 2011 be a year of happiness, fulfilment, and sound money management! :D TTYL, Morgaine.

Updated Sidebars

2010-08-15T19:31:00.000-04:00

Hi,

Sorry again that its been so long since I posted. I'm just not finding myself all that motivated lately to track and post the numbers. I have been saving and paying down debt with the same intensity, so its not debt fatigue, its more budgeting fatigue. Although looking at my numbers I haven't been living outside of my means. I haven't touched the MasterCard in more than 2 months (other than paying it down!) and I've paid off the balance on the Visa before its due, so no interest is charged (only purchasing things that can only be purchased online - like tickets). I am still imputing my debit transactions into a tracking program, but I haven't imputed the numbers into excel or my "virtual jars". I'm just not motivated, I will admit it. Hopefully with September, my Gail Club will be in more full swing and will give me the push I need to keep doing what I should be doing to be in better control of my money. Until then, I will use the excuse that its summer and I'm going to be lazy!

TTFN, Morgaine.

Sorry!

2010-07-28T21:46:00.000-04:00

So sorry I haven't blogged in forever, I've had a lot on my mind! I'm totally in wedding planning mode! Even though its at least 2 years away! Of course, the main thing for me is doing it on a budget! So, I will share with the blogosphere my journey to a budget-conscience wedding.

All ready I've had offers for a friend to take our photos (he's semi-professional, he did our friend's wedding 2 years ago and I saw the pics and they were terrific!) we haven't discussed financials yet, maybe at the engagement party. And another friend offered to do our wedding cake, again no financials, I just sent her a pic of what I'm looking for and we'll see.

We're looking at venues that will be $6000 or less for about 80 people. This weekend we're going to Fantasy Farm in Toronto, I think they may be out of the price range, but I'm willing to talk to the coordinator and get prices and what not. The great thing about doing this now (ie 2 years ahead) is that I won't feel pressured to make a decision. The fiancee said the other day: "I don't want you to fall in love with a place and want to book it right away, we don't have a deposit yet!" I find I really make the worst impulse purchases when I feel rushed so that's why I want to give myself plenty of time.

Also, I bought a book: "The DIY Bride" by Khris Cochran and its got lots of ideas for DIY projects for the wedding. I'm hoping to save some serious cash by doing the following myself (and/or with my Mom and wedding party): invitations, centerpieces, boutonnieres, favours, place settings, guestbook, jewelry, programs, thank you cards, and bouquets! Maybe more. Again time is on my side here :)

As for rest of my money, I will admit that I've fallen off the tracking wagon, however, I haven't gone overboard in my spending as of late (even on the trip, hooray!) except on a few wedding books and magazines. I hope to get caught up by the end of this weekend. Oh, and a tally of what I spent on the trip as well.

Ok, back to wedding planning! TTFN, Morgaine.

In Alberta and . . . Engaged!

2010-07-15T01:54:00.000-04:00

This is the first time I've been able to post since getting here to Alberta. Right now we're in Banff and its seriously beautiful! Today I got a total surprise, my boyfriend proposed! I totally wasn't expecting it! So, the planning and saving will begin! I hope to post again soon, we've been doing a lot of driving and traveling. More details to follow. So excited!!! :D

Gail Picnic!

2010-07-10T12:09:00.000-04:00

Going to see again my own personal heroine, Gail Vaz-Oxlade! If you don't read her blog and are interested in personal finance, you are missing out A LOT! Til Debt do us Part is one of my favourite shows on TV (also, Big Bang Theory, How I met your mother, and Big Brother) I've watched every episode at least twice (some maybe 4-5 times!)

Anyways, the followers of her blog get together (mostly through the help of Saver Queen) at High Park in Toronto and Gail shows up too! It was a great time last year and I'm totally looking forward to it!

Anyways, time to head out! :) TTFN, Morgaine.

Where the Money Stands - Mid July 2010

2010-07-09T20:49:00.000-04:00

Here's where my money stands this month:

Own: $607.56 TFSA ($507.56 emergency and $100 gifts fund)
$3469.59 RRSP
Total: $4077.15

Owe: $8457.00 consolidation loan
$9575.00 MasterCard
Total: $18,032.00

Net Worth: -$13,954.85
Change since Jan 2010: +$5,315.60

Its very exciting to see that my Net Worth is now under the negative $14K mark, hard to believe it was almost -$20K at the beginning of the year! Also, my total debt is almost under $18K which is good as well. Keeping track like this is definitely motivating me to keep on truckin' with my debt repayment and savings.

TTFN, Morgaine.

Bi-Weekly Update - June 24 to July 7

2010-07-08T16:21:00.000-04:00

Here are my bi-weekly numbers:

So, as you can plainly see, I was REALLY bad last month!!! Over in both Clothing (no gifts in there! OUCH!) and Entertainment. I feel like I wouldn't be spending money in clothing if it wasn't for losing weight. Not, that I'm going to stop my weightloss challenge (I refuse to say diet!) just so I can not spend money on clothes, but it just feels frustrating. Entertainment was over because of a $120 share of a new camera, plus, its summer, its fun time! Oh, well.

This month will probably also be a spendy month since we are going on a vacation. Now, I wouldn't normally even think about going on a trip while in debt, but it is for the bf's sister's wedding, so, its kind of a must. Also, the bf realizes that the only reason we are making this trip is because of him, so he's paying for most of the expenses (hotel, car rental, food) and I paid for my flight (in cash with a travel fund!) and spending money - no more than $200 (I hope!) So, the financial impact for me isn't as huge. It will be really nice to get away from the stifling heat of Toronto right now too (33 degrees Celsius plus humidity). I am looking forward to the time away from work - which has been SUPER stressful right now (only 3 more months of this contract, then I'm FREE!) This is a good time mentally to go away, probably not the best time financially, but everything is booked.

I will try and post again before the trip with a rundown of what we are doing (I have to go over this with the bf since he booked everything) and then of course how it went when I get back. I may be able to get a post or two in from Alberta since I'm bringing my laptop, but it will depend on free internet and how tired I am.

Hopefully things will get better in August! TTFN, Morgaine.

HST - Boo!

2010-07-02T18:26:00.000-04:00

Well, the HST is officially in effect here in Ontario, and all I have to say is - BOO!!! I have to change my budgeted amounts to compensate for the fact that my gym fees are now being charged HST. They went from $109.52 to $117.85 which is way to much to pay for the gym (it includes nutritional counselling, which I finished months ago but they prorated it over the year). Once my membership is up (end of September), I will NOT be renewing it. Yes, I was using it an average of 2-3 times per week for most of the year, but its just way too expensive. The bf and I discovered a rec centre a couple of blocks away from our apartment that has a pool and a gym that is $52 for the whole year!!! We thought it was one of those little family centres, so we hadn't put much thought into looking to see what they had there, but I will definitely be joining up there as soon as my gym membership is gone. That will give me a bit more wiggle room at the end of the month, which will be awesome.

We don't drive, so the HST attached to gas won't affect us that much, except when we go up north to visit the bf's family. It won't be on groceries, so that's good, although we are anticipating a rise in groceries anyways - as my bf puts it, "the groceries are brought in by trucks, the trucks have to buy gas, the gas will now have HST, therefore groceries will be more expensive". I'm not sure how else the HST is going to affect us, but I will post here when I find out!

In other "bad" news, I spent $82.48 on clothes today! Oops :S Its really only because I'm losing weight and I need to replace key pants in my wardrobe, otherwise I wouldn't be bothering. Yesterday I couldn't keep my pants up! I know it would be cheaper to buy belts than new pants, but I really hate belts, and its not just in the waist. In fact, the waist is still a bit tight in some pants (which should mean I can wear these pants a bit longer in the weight loss process) but the butt and legs are extremely droopy in most pants and it looks horrible. I think it was because I was buying Reitman's 16 plus (petites) pants and now regular 16 (petite) fit better, so the plus must have had extra room in the butt and legs, which is now annoying. At least I got everything on sale! A pair of jean capris for $22.99 (regular $45), a pair of work silver capris $30 (regular $36), and two lace camisoles (to wear under cardigans or v-neck sweaters) for $10 each.

I also realized that I didn't put any money on my MasterCard last month! Again, something I've been working on getting under control for quite a while now. I put $22.45 on the Visa, but paid that off before the billing cycle ended. I just have to keep this up and I will feel like I may have finally got the credit monkey off my back. We'll see.

This weekend, I will be going to a street festival tomorrow (maybe $20 in spending?) and then a Renaissance festival (yes, I am THAT geeky!) on Sunday - $22.65 for the ticket and maybe $10 for food? Should be fun, though! TTFN, Morgaine.

EarthQuake!!!

2010-06-23T22:52:00.000-04:00

So, I was at work today and around 1:30 pm we all feel our building moving! Now, I work in downtown T.O. and we all thought at first that it might have been a bomb, considering the G20 is happening in Toronto this week. Well, I think we were the only ones to be relieved to hear it was an earthquake instead!

As for the G20, I haven't been affected directly yet. The only strange thing is a bit less people (more people than I thought, actually) and WAY more police and security. We have a back up plan in place in case we can't get to work tomorrow or Friday. And, of course we are planning to stay as far away from downtown during this weekend as possible. I, personally, have not seen or been to a protest. So, it still seems business as usual to me.

In money related news, not too much to talk about lately and work has been extremely busy so I haven't had much time to budget, blog, or even read other people's blogs. I'm way behind. I'm hoping to catch up this weekend. I need some downtime :S

TTFN, Morgaine.

Mid Year 2010 Review!

2010-06-13T10:54:00.000-04:00

So, its mid-June, half of 2010 is gone! I decided now would be a good time to see how far I've come this year in my savings and debt repayment goals. I'm about half way with my emergency fund goal for 2010 ($1000) - I will be adding more to this in the upcoming years until I have 6 months of essential expenses tucked away. I've also had to deduct money from this account to pay my portion of the trip to Alberta in July, but from now on it will be devoted 100% to emergency fund. After the emergency fund is at $1000, the $100 a month that is going into that account will be diverted into my "Christmas and Gift" fund, which I hope to have $500 by the end of the year.

My RRSP isn't showing a big difference even though I've contributed over $500 to that account! Oh mutual funds and stock market, how you make my life more difficult! (In more ways than one! - my career is in the financial industry, BTW). I may be looking into some different options for my money in the upcoming year, right now I will stick to it.

Student Loan and Visa are PAID OFF!!! I've put $3800 towards my consolidation loan, but its only gone down by $2200 - damn 29.9 interest rate :(((( I've put $1200 towards my MasterCard, but interest, and the fact that I still sometimes use it - I know, bad pf blogger, bad! - it hasn't gone down much at all. But, overall, my debt has gone down by about $5000 so I think that's not too shabby. I just REALLY need to leave that MasterCard alone!!! I'm hoping that at my next review (December) it will have actually gone down by the amount I've put on it (less interest of course, boo). Credit Gods, please give me strength! ;)

TTFN, Morgaine.

Bi-Weekly Report May 27 - June 9

2010-06-11T22:15:00.000-04:00

Here is the bi-weekly numbers for May 27 - June 9

Again, most of the spending happened at the end of May: bf's birthday present and dinner. June is definitely going to be a month where I will be reigning in the spending - big time!

I've decided to start a "Christmas" fund (really = "gifts fund") but I won't be putting any money into it until after we get back from our trip in July. I have a tentative goal of $500 but I don't think I'll have that by Christmas if I'm only putting $25 per pay in this account, but at least it'll be something. Luckily, there won't be much more in the way of gifts for a while, besides my share of the wedding gift ($50) in July. September I have two friend's birthdays (they're twins), October is my Godmother's birthday (she's my favourite aunt, more like a second mom to me, so I always buy her a present), November my Mom's birthday, December my brother's birthday and of course, Christmas. I'm hoping to be a bit more prepared for these occasions hopefully next year, but at least, I can make a start of it this year.

BTW, I hope everyone likes the new blog look and layout. I was wanting a 3 column look for a while since I thought things were just a bit too squished. I really like how it looks now :) TTFN, Morgaine.

Rolling in the Dough - Well, not for too long . . .

2010-06-10T12:19:00.000-04:00

So, today is THE day: raise, monthly bonus, semi-annual bonus, oh and HST rebate (didn't even know about that one until today!) and guess what, all of that is already almost gone :(

First thing, my raise equalled an extra $6.97 per paycheque - oh well, every little bit counts! The monthly bonus was low as the markets sucked last month and it was slow in general $184.80 net. But, the bonus hurt, why? It was $1200 gross, and I had assumed about $300 would be taken off for taxes, giving me about $900 to put on the debt. But oh no, the bonus came to $783.53 net!!! $416.47 taken off for taxes etc. So, I had to rejig the debt repayment to $1250 instead of $1500 that I had planned :( But still, the balance for the consolidation loan now sits at $8,542.72 so it is coming down.

I'm going to wait until all the bills have gone through the account before I update the bi-weekly budget and post my new numbers. I'm also going to do a mid-year progress report once all the numbers are updated, and see how far I've come.

BTW, I HAVE to leave my Mastercard alone!!! It is not going down, because I keep putting stuff on it. If I had not put any purchases on it since the begining of the year it would be down by about $1000! Instead its down $300. Do NOT touch this card! Do NOT touch this card! Do NOTTTTTTTTTTTT touch this CARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have to say this many times I think. Actually, the worse thing is that it is the same bank as my bank account, which allows me to do balance transfers = cash advances. Oh no, bad, very bad. But I really don't want to go through the hassle of changing banks, and I know no one else is going to give me a credit card. So, I just have exert more willpower!

Wish me luck! TTFN, Morgaine.

May was Awful!

2010-06-03T10:30:00.000-04:00

Those are my numbers for May. As you can see I went WAY over in the Clothing/Gifts and Entertainment categories. We went up north and it was my bf's birthday month, so we did a lot of spending. Luckily, June is looking to be a lot quieter. I'm also going to try and save, save, save for our trip to Alberta in July. The bf is paying for the majority of the trip (hotels, car rentals, food), I paid for my airfare (well, I paid the bf back) and I will need some funds for some food, entertainment, and gifts. I'm thinking about $250 all in.

I'm also glad that once this trip is over, all the money I've been throwing into ING will be for my efund and not for travel. Once that hits $1000, I'm moving $100 per paycheque to RSP and in the new year I have to see if I have to throw more money in the RSP depending on where my taxes stand at that point. But, that's a while in the making.

I CAN'T wait until my next paycheque, monthly bonus + quarterly bonus + raise = awesome debt payment!!! Since I only have $60 to last me until next Thursday, this week has been extremely non-spending. I actually haven't spend any money since Saturday! If only I could behave like this when I actually have money, I would be in such a better situation. Well, I'm learning. I hope! TTFN, Morgaine.

Raise and Semi-Annual Bonus! SWEET!!!

2010-05-28T12:46:00.000-04:00

So, I get to work today and on my desk is a letter from HR, I got a raise! Ok, a very little one, but considering I'm on contract, I never even contemplated getting a raise. Its 1.48% which equals from $38,000 to $38,562 or from $20.88 an hour to $21.19, so starting June 10th, I will have to adjust my budget again to reflect the new numbers.

But, even BETTER is that I'm getting a semi-annual bonus of $1200!!! Plus my regular monthly bonus - which should be around $300 - its ALL going on the consolidation loan. I can't wait to post the new balance of the loan and my net worth. I'm so excited!!!

On another front, this weekend is the bf's birthday weekend and its going to be a bit costly, methinks. But, considering he usually pays for the fun stuff, I definitely think I should have no problem spending some money on him for a change. I'll post the numbers after the weekend.

I did make a charge on my Visa yesterday - going to see author Roddy Doyle (author of the novel that was adopted into one of my favourite movies of all time "The Committments"). The ticket is $30 - which I paid off the credit card right away - back to zero lickety split! LOVE IT!!! I'm feeling really good about my ability to keep this credit card at zero.

Anyways, just watching the clock tick down until this week is over and on to the weekend! Indian food and MacGruber await! TTFN, Morgaine.

Bi-Weekly Report May 13-26

2010-05-26T20:42:00.000-04:00

Ok, so here are my mid-month May numbers:

Again, I fiddled around with the numbers to make it work. I think, I'm really just going to worry about the monthly numbers - and of course, not spend more money than I have. Here, for example, you can see I had $386.33 left over for my variable expenses (after fixed expenses, debt repayment and savings are taken out) but I spent $353.98 so even though I techinally went over my bi-weekly expenses allotment, I didn't spend more money than I have. Phew!

Payday is tomorrow, and its looking that starting tomorrow, its going to be a very expensive weekend! Tomorrow is a work "night out" (i.e. drinking on a patio), apparently the office manager is paying??? But then I still have to eat out for dinner because I'm going to see a friend's school play (my friend is a teacher) right after, also, have to pay for the tickets for that. Friday = eating out again. Saturday = eating out and movie, since its bf's birthday weekend, I'm paying for all that! And, of course his present! $100 for a new suitcase for our trip to Alberta in July. Once this weekend is over, I'm hoping to take it really easy money (and food!) wise. Since we went up north this weekend, we didn't get any groceries. So, I've eaten out a LOT this week, and will continue until Sunday - when we get more groceries. At least, there are some healthier food choices in the local food courts :)

I'll write more about the "damage" of this weekend when its all over. TTFN, Morgaine.

Declined.

2010-05-21T16:16:00.000-04:00

Just heard back from the bank, I was declined for the consolidation loan. Their reasoning: they think its too risky for them to take on my debt.

I'll admit that I'm disappointed but was kind of expecting it. It was a shot in the dark, after all. I still wonder why they made me go to all that trouble just to be declined. CIBC is weird, I guess. Oh well, I just gotta keep trudging on and try again in November.

I'm done work for today, happy long weekend (again)! TTFN, Morgaine.

Happy Long Weekend!

2010-05-21T13:35:00.000-04:00

I probably won't be posting this week's numbers until maybe Monday or Tuesday. But I do have a few updates. 1) I sent away for my credit report from Equifax - they have on file that I had lost my wallet so they can't verify me over the internet, I had to fax them 2 pieces of government ID to get my report. Once received, I will go about "fixing" it. The rep from CIBC said that my student loan isn't showing as paid off and closed, and of course the verifying the ID part is annoying and this is from 2003!!! I'm hoping to get this notice taken off.

Another update, apparently my RSP isn't doing as well as I thought. I thought I had $3700 but I only have $3000!!! Apparently one of my mutual funds have taken a bit of a hit. So, again its a good thing that I've increased my contributions from $50 to $100 bi-weekly. At least when my funds are down, I can buy more units for less and hopefully those more units will be worth more soon!

So, plans for the weekend are we are going up north to bf's home town. We usually don't spend a lot when we're there, except that T has to rent a car since we don't own one currently. On the plus side, T now has a CC that pays for his rental insurance (that used to be an extra $150 a weekend!!!) so the biggest expense is usually food, we pretty well eat out all 3 meals for the 3 days! Although, considering I am on weight watchers, I may at least take my Special K cereal with me so I have at least one meal covered. This weekend shouldn't end up costing me much more than $50.

I spoke with the bank rep again yesterday, still no word either way about my loan, so I guess I have to hold my breath a little longer. If I don't hear anything by Wednesday next week, I'll call again.

I hope everyone has an amazing long weekend!!! TTFN, Morgaine.

Declined?

2010-05-18T11:26:00.000-04:00

So, I went into the bank yesterday to speak to a rep about the possibility of a consolidation loan (one that is not at 29.9%!!!) We went over everything, he told me how much interest (10% fixed for 5 years) and the payments ($203 bi-weekly) and the insurance, etc then he sent it through and it came back . . . declined! All that work for declined? Seems really strange to me. I had applied for a consolidation loan with another bank 6 months ago and they declined me right away. We didn't go through all the paperwork and hoopla wasting my time and the reps just to be declined. Anyways, the reason I put a question mark at the end of declined, is that the rep thought that I should have been approved (apparently my debt service ratio just squeaked in under 40%) so he's going to send a note to the underwriters and see if that helps. He said he'd give me a call in the next two business days to tell me either way.

If I'm not approved, I'll just keep going the way that I have and try again in 6 months. By then I hope to have both the citi and mastercard down quite a bit and my credit score should improve. The rep yesterday said that my credit score was pretty good, so it seems that it has improved since I had checked it in January and it was pretty low - although he did say to call and get my student loan to show as paid in full and closed because its not showing that way on my credit report. So, I may even be able to get a better interest rate than 10% from the bank in 6 months, BUT I will still be paying the exhorbitant rate at citi for the next 6 months.

Please keep your fingers crossed for me! TTFN, Morgaine.

May - Paycheque 1

2010-05-14T22:09:00.000-04:00

May is going to be a busy month! Let's see: bf's birthday, going up north, baby shower, nice weather = bars with patios! I'm budgeting about $100 for bf's birthday present - he wants a new piece of luggage for our trip to Alberta in the summer - and about $50 for his birthday dinner (for himself and I). Around $25 for baby shower gift (splitting it with a friend!) and about $10 for the ingredients for spinach dip (my friend that is having the baby LOVES my spinach dip ;)) This weekend we already got a pizza $5 was my share, and we're going out tomorrow night to a pub with a patio. The trip up north shouldn't cost much as this is to visit the bf's family and friends, he mostly pays - I'll budget about $50 for food and entertainment. Hopefully these things won't break the bank!

Here's where the money stands as of right now:

Oh, and I may be able to get a consolidation loan at a bank, I spoke to a representative and they needed to verify my income and ID before saying if I would be approved - but why make me go through that if they were just going to decline me??? Anyways, it would be a huge relief to not pay 29.9% interest!!!

I've got a money group meeting on Sunday - anyone who lives in the T.O. area and would be interested in joining a money group - email me at morganofthefairies@hotmail.com

TTFN, Morgaine

April wasn't as bad as I thought!

2010-05-12T21:55:00.000-04:00

Ok, try as I might, I just can't seem to fight the clothing bug! So, I've rejigged the budget numbers (yet again) because I just don't spend as much money on entertainment and food as I thought - and more on clothes and gifts then I wished I did!

So, here's the breakdown of April - with new budget numbers (ok, so it seems that I rejigged it to come in balanced in the clothing and gifts category, and I guess that would be correct, but I still spend way under what I projected that I was going to in every other category - so there!) Oh, and keeping in mind that it was a 3 paycheque month!

And here is my goal budget for May:

This is the budget that I'm going to ~~try~~ STICK TO from now on. I think its the most reflective of what I do spend my money on while not going crazy - by that I mean still paying off a lot of debt and meeting my fixed expenses payments and saving. Speaking of saving - I increased my bi-weekly RSP contribution to $100 (up from $50). With the bonuses I've been getting, I'm a little worried that I may have to pay tax next year - ouch! So, I'm going to try and offset this a bit by increasing RSP. By next February I should be able to see if I need to make a larger lump sum to offset taxes by the RSP deadline.

Tomorrow's payday! Huzzah! (I almost didn't make it - $14.16 left in the account today - whew!) TTFN, Morgaine.

Surveys

2010-05-05T10:08:00.000-04:00

Since I started reading PF blogs I decided to start participating in online surveys. So, its been about a year and I've gotten:

$50USD from global test market
$50USD from opinion outpost (although I don't get surveys from them anymore for some reason???)
$50CDN from Angus Reid (just got it today!!!)
Two free boxes of coffee for my dolce gusto coffee maker from Ipsos
$10CDN on amazon from Ipsos

Not bad and I'm more than half way to getting another $50 from GTM, its not too much work but it also takes a long time to get up to the amount of money to cash out. I'm also with survey winnings and toluna but I found those surveys are few and far between (and the points to reward ratios are not that great). So I don't do all their surveys anyways. Oh, and swagbucks - I'm sorry but not really worth my time as far as I can see. Instead of using swagbucks to search I have the airmiles toolbar at home and since the bf and I want to use airmiles for our honeymoon I have to collect as many as I can!

If you're looking to make a few extra snowflakes for debt repayment/saving then its not a bad way to make a few extra dollars without too much effort. Now to deposit my Angus Reid cheque! TTFN, Morgaine.

Emergency Fund

2010-05-04T13:45:00.000-04:00

I'm thinking of changing my goal for my Emergency Fund. Right now I have the goal set to $3000 which I think will be a good "end goal" and I'm thinking to change it for $1000 for 2010 and then concentrate on debt repayment/other savings (i.e. Gift fund). I also really want to hit my $5000 goal in my RSP for this year then $10,000 next year so that I have my $10,000 to put in for a house (I know that I can take $20K out of my RSP for first time homebuyers, but I think that will take waaaaay too long). Also, my aunt has offered to lend us $10K for a down payment as well, so that would be $30K altogether for a downpayment which would be 10% of a $300K home which I think is pretty good.

I'm updating my bars accordingly. I'm also not blogging as often because I'm broke and therefore, don't have much to write about! TTFN, Morgaine.

End of April - Beginning May

2010-05-02T12:02:00.000-04:00

So my last April pay spills into the first two weeks of May, so here's my "End of APril 0 Beginning "May" budgt:

As you can see, there is already a shortage. Because I had to put an extra payment on my Mastercard to make up the $398 minumum payment (OUCH again!!!) and the payment to make up the $1300 payment to my consolidation loan. I basically have $93.85 in cash instaead if the $225 I usually budget myself for my variable expenses. So, I'm making this my challenge: make it to the next paycheque putting as little as possible on the credit card - it will be almost impossible to amke it through without putting anything on, and I already have - I put dinner with my mom on it on Friday (hence the $55 in the food categiorty in the credit colunm). Again I've allocated $0 for clothing and gifts- I will be spending enough on gifts by the end of May though, bf's birthday is on the 28th - at least Mother's Day ais over as far as the gift is concerned. Oh, and there is the May 24 weekend - going up north to bf's hometown - but I usually don't spend much there at all.

So, I'm not really going to give myself anymore challenges for now, I think this will be enough of a challenge - at least for the first two weeks. TTFN, Morgaine.

Huge Debt Payment Month

2010-04-30T12:38:00.000-04:00

In April I have paid:

$1300.00 on consolidation loan (see $5000 off my consolidation loan?)
$398.00 on Mastercard (this was the minimum payment - OUCH!!!)
$127.00 on Visa to pay off mother's day present
Total: $1825.00

Again, though this was not a typical month - I had 3 paycheques and the largest bonus I've gotten yet. Without those things there is no way I would have been able to pay this much.

Next month:
$600.00 to consolidation loan
$200.00 to MC
$65.00 to Visa (signed up for weightwatchers online)
Total: $865.00

Good thing next month's bonus is looking to be quite high - thank you Shelly! TTFN, Morgaine

April Bi-Weekly #2 - Final

2010-04-28T22:43:00.000-04:00

So, tomorrow is payday, thank goodness! I'm all out of money! I did manage to get to the end of the pay period on less than $40 - I had $10 left which I put on the Mastercard as a "snowflake".

So, not much to report spending wise. I did put something else on credit - I joined weight watchers, but I have gotten the money for that from a co-worker all I have to do is put the payment on.

Tomorrow is my THIRD and last paycheque of the month. Its pretty well allotted 100% so I have to be extra careful not to have my credit card handy or there may be dire consequences! More on that tomorrow (or Friday, depending on how busy I am tomorrow night). TTFN, Morgaine.

April Week 3

2010-04-23T20:55:00.000-04:00

Here are my April Week 3 numbers:

And here is the month so far:

Not too much change. I ate out Thursday night and today for lunch. Very bad, I know! I had to buy a battery for our camera - 2 = $29.99!!! Its a "special" battery just for our camera, but I need to take pictures of jewelry to put on Etsy, so it was a must, but luckily the bf is going to reimburse me for it since he usually pays for this and who knows how many pictures each person takes anyways.

Plans for the weekend: gym tomorrow and then my mom's for dinner, Indian food for lunch and movie with friends on Sunday with a roast at home for dinner! The reimbursed money from the battery will be going towards Sunday's outing, but it will be worth it to have some fun with my friends.

Happy Weekend Everyone! TTFN, Morgaine.

April Week 3 so far

2010-04-18T22:30:00.000-04:00

Here's how I'm doing so far this bi-weekly period:

Not bad, except in clothing/gifts category. I'm over in this category for this month. So, there goes two of my goals for this month: no clothing, no going over any budget categories. I suppose I could have waited to purchase a few of the items that I bought, but I'm not very good at waiting! Its at least part of the reason that I'm in debt in the first place. The only good thing is that I'm not using credit to purchase these things.

I have $136 left in the bank account to go the next week and a half and I think I can do it, with some left over to boot! We don't really have anything planned for this week - we even have a week of home cooked meals planned! So, I can't imagine that this going to be a pricey two weeks.

Here's where I stand on this month's numbers so far:

Its really too bad that I didn't do a better job of not spending this month, next month will be more expensive with my bf's birthday and going to his hometown on the May 24 long weekend.

Anyways, I'm off to make my lunch for tomorrow and get ready for bed - tomorrow's Monday after all! TTFN, Morgaine.

April Bi-Weekly Report #1

2010-04-17T10:20:00.000-04:00

Here are my final numbers for the first two weeks in April:

And here is where I stood in my monthly numbers after 2 weeks:

Not horrible, but certainly more than I wanted to spend this month. And, of course the worse is yet to come (I spent $127 in clothes on Thursday!) I will post those numbers on Sunday.

Plans for the weekend: Saturday - my bf and I are going to the gym, probably grab lunch out (something healthy I hope!), watch "Clash of the Titans" (not sure about this one, but the bf really wants to see it and I am a Classics buff), and eat dinner at home tonight. Tomorrow, no real plans, I should clean though! Should get groceries and do laundry. Hopefully I can fit a walk in there as well. If the weather isn't too crappy!

TTFN, Morgaine.

Paycheque 2 of 3 - PLUS bonus cheque SWEET!

2010-04-15T23:27:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post, I spent most of tonight trying to figure out the issues with my money tracking system - fixed!

Anyways, awesome news today - I got my bonus cheque! $353.61 which is the highest bonus I've gotten so far ($501 before they took off taxes - boourns!). It went directly towards my consolidation loan and I also made my "normal" $300 payment and of course $500 from my first paycheque = $1153.61 so far this month on my loan (almost a whole paycheque!) I've decided to just put the extra $146.39 on at the end of the month to equal the $1300 payment I wanted to make this month (see post: "$5000 Off my Consolidation Loan?" on March 29/10). I could put the "normal" $300 but I also want to put $100 on my mastercard to offset some of the interest from last month.

So now my consolidation loan sits at . . . drumroll . . . wait for it . . . $9,989.81!!! Under $10K = AWESOME!!! At the end of the month with my $146.39 the balance will be: $9843.42, so exciting :)

So now both large debts (consolidation loan and mastercard) are under $10K each, my total debt is $19,864.85 - under $20K!!! And, my net worth is now -$15,600.77 that's a POSITIVE difference of $3,469.68 since the beginning of the year. I'm quite happy with this progress. I LOVE my bonuses!

On the negative side - I broke my "no clothing" challenge again. This time MUCH worse than I did last month. I bought a new gym bag, a new laptop bag ($9.99 half price because I bought the gym bag at a BOGO sale), a new pair of jeans (I'll write more about this on my fitness blog Fit for Thirty), two new pairs of work pants (a total steal $11.99 for one and $14.99 for the other), and a sweater. Other than the sweater, those pieces had been on my "want" list for a while. I'll post about that at another time. Total $127.64! BTW, I wore the shirt that made me lose my challenge last month today and its awesome! I buy a lot of clothes, but I do wear 99% of what I buy.

So, my "quick" post turned out not to be so quick. I'll post all the numbers tomorrow.

TTFN, Morgaine.

P.S. Congrats to Krystal @ GimmeBackMyFiveBucks for landing an awesome new job!

Paycheque 1

2010-04-13T20:54:00.000-04:00

Sorry about not posting in about a week - the program I use to track my money (Ascendo Money - if anyone is curious) gave me some weird totals when I tried to sync my blackberry. All is fixed now - except on my blackberry, it still has funny numbers. I'm going to try and get into contact with customer support and see if I can get that fixed.

Anyways, after spending pretty well all of my money in the first weekend, I lived off of $40 for 2 weeks, in fact, I still have $10 left with only one day until payday!

So, since I only have $10 left and I don't think I'll be spending it tomorrow, I can post my numbers and feel ok with it.

Here's the Bi-Weekly Budget #1

And here's the monthly numbers (again, keep in mind that since it is a 3 paycheque month, that the numbers are inflated).

I really gotta stop blowing all my money in the first weekend and try and budget my money out to last me two weeks!

Still no clothes or jewelry spending this month (other than reposting listing on Etsy at $10).

Wish me luck! TTFN, Morgaine.

April 2010 - Paycheque 1 of 3 - Whoohoo!

2010-04-02T10:57:00.000-04:00

Here's my monthly budget for April 2010 - accounting for the extra paycheque, of course!

And here's my Bi-weekly #1 Budget

I also rejigged the numbers here because I wanted to pay off the visa (again) and make the extra payment to the consolodation loan and my emergency/travel fund (that I withdrew from to pay off my student loan in February - another $100 and it will be back to where it was, plus another $100 at the end of the month and its back to where it would be if I hadn't withdrawn).

April Goals:

Pay off $1300 (or more depending on bonus) to consolidation loan
No money spent on clothes
No (more) money spent on credit*
Stay on budget in every category - monthly budget

*For the no money spent on credit goal, I had already put $117 on my Visa this month for a mother's day gift (going to an ice skating show, my Mom LOVES ice skating), BUT its already been paid off! So, no more money spent on credit and I feel that I'm doing OK. Oh, and I had to put this on my credit card because I bought the tickets online and they only take credit cards.

I have updated my bars and I'm very happy to see that since October 2009 (when I started tracking) my Net Worth has increased by $2583.06!!! And $1434.54 just since the beginning of last month!!! All the money I have spent paying off debt is finally making a dent. :)

HAPPY EASTER (to those that celebrate). TTFN, Morgaine.

End of March Review

2010-03-31T19:32:00.000-04:00

March Goals:
-No money spent on clothes - NOPE $16.99 on a top $45.18 on accessories
-No money spent on jewelry supplies - NOPE $20.60 ($17 of this I'm getting back from the person buying the jewelry!)
-No money spent on credit!!! - Well, kind of - See below
-Stay on budget in every category - NOPE In fact, I've decided to make some changes to my budget. More on that later.

So, basically I broke ALL of my March Goals. BUT I did pay off my Visa! Well, kind of. I put $111.17 on it for my mother's day gift - ticketmaster only takes credit cards. This will be added to my April gift budget and paid off in April accordingly. I just wanted to make sure I got good (cheap) seats.

Here's how I did for the last two weeks in March, not awesome, but certainly not as bad as the first two weeks of March!

Only over in Personal Care/Household (one category being changed in April) and Clothes, since I budgeted zero for this category, technically I'm not over if I had put my 'normal' clothing budget.

Here's the full month of March:

So, again over in every category except clothes and other. I have some serious re-jigging to do!

I will post again tomorrow with April's budget and goals.

TTFN, Morgaine.

$5000 off my consolidation loan?

2010-03-29T16:14:00.000-04:00

Next month, since it is a 3 paycheque month, I have scheduled myself to pay $1300 off my consolidation loan.

1st paycheque $300 regular payment + $200 (what normally would go to Mastercard) = $500
2nd paycheque $300 regular payment
3rd paycheque $200 snowball + bonus (this month is will be high, around $3-400!!!) = $500
=$1300 (maybe more depending on bonus)

From May on, the "regular payment" will be around $600 - may fluctuate slightly because of my bonus, but hopefully not much.

April $1300
May $600
June $600
July $600
Aug $600
Sept $1300 - another 3 paycheque month. Even if my bonus isn't as high that month, I will add from the planned spending acct.

Total $5000!!!

Of course, that's not coming completly off the top, there's interest on the loan that I didn't calculate for - too complicated for my blood! But that should be a huge help in becoming debt free!

If my next job doesn't include a bonus, it has to bring me at least $200 more net a month in order to maintain my current payments - hopefully more! :)

TTFN, Morgaine.

Non-Spendy Weekend

2010-03-28T13:05:00.000-04:00

As I thought, this weekend was not spendy at all! All I've purchased was a salad spinner (finally!) and for $12! I think I will be going to Kitchen Stuff Plus for most of my kitchen needs from now on, they are actually very reasonably priced!

The bf buys groceries so even though we had guests over and I made dinner and desert for 4 people it didn't cost me anything. Today I'm staying home, cleaning up and relaxing - I need it!

Here's a picture of the desert I made yesterday - Boston Cream Cupcakes! So yummy :)

I will post again on Thursday - Payday! Or before if I have something to post.

TTFN, Morgaine.

March - Week 3

2010-03-25T22:01:00.000-04:00

So far, so good.

The clothes column includes the sweater I bought last Friday and an umbrella (last one went inside out in a particularly nasty storm a while ago) and an insulated lunch bag - so not really "clothes" per se, but I thought it to be the best category to put it in.

The only plans for the weekend so far are having some friends over on Saturday (making dinner) and going to see my Mom on Sunday, so it shouldn't be a spendy weekend. Here's hoping!

TTFN, Morgaine.

Somewhat Spendy Weekend

2010-03-22T21:53:00.000-04:00

Well, this weekend was less spendy than last weekend, but its definitely where I would like to be in terms of spending.

Friday: $20 for dinner, $16.99 for sweater
Saturday: $30 for dinner and drinks
Sunday: $10 for dinner, $15.50 movie
Total: $92.49

So, just under $100 in one weekend! At least next weekend will be a lot quieter!

So much for "No Clothing March"

2010-03-21T13:33:00.000-04:00

On Friday I went to Sears to buy a salad spinner (Asian Pear http://theasianpear.blogspot.com/ made me think about how I wanted one for a while) but instead I bought a sweater! In my defense, its totally me (and cute), I can wear it to work, and it was $14.99 (on clearance from $29.99).

Here it is!

I'm not trying to justify my purchase, but its hard getting over a clothing/shopping addiction! :S

For the rest of the weekend, the bf and I went out to an Irish pub yesterday with some friends (came to about $30 bucks for dinner and drinks) and we're going to see Alice in Wonderland tonight (probably another $20).

I will try and post on Monday how expensive this weekend is, I hope I don't do too much more damage!!!

TTFN, Morgaine.

2 Down, 2 to go!

2010-03-19T11:59:00.000-04:00

Ok, Visa is officially paid off today! So, I have the biggest debts left: consolidation loan and Mastercard. Next, I am concentrating on the consolidation loan. Mostly because it has the higher interest rate, but also since I want to learn how to live within my means, it is too tempting to put the high amount of payment on the MC and then just spend it when I'm "short" on funds or I really want something. Once the consolidation loan is paid off, I'm hoping to have decent emergency and planned spending accounts established so I don't run to the credit card every time I want something. Also, I'm hoping by that point my commitment to being debt-free-forever will be extremely strong so I won't want to go back in the hole ever again (other than a mortgage)!

Maybe also, I will be over my shopping "addiction". I did something potentially very dangerous yesterday - I went shopping! I went into 2 shoes stores, 4 clothing stores, and 1 bead store. But, get this, I didn't buy ANYTHING!!! I was there to look for a particular bead for someone for their wedding, which is close to a strip mall. So of course, I start thinking about all the things I want (new shoes, coat, etc) but I didn't find anything I loved for a good price ($60 for a raincoat!). And, I didn't find the bead either. I was tempted by other beads, but I held out!!! And, since its "No Clothing March" I didn't buy a shirt that I really liked - if in April its on sale, I may consider it, but I may make it a "No Clothing April" as well, we'll see.

BTW, the reason my consolidation loan isn't on the progress bars on the bottom is because I have to call in to find out the balance (during business hours) and since I'm lazy I don't do it very frequently. However, with the new payment ($600-700/mth depending on how high my bonus is) I will try and get an update at least every couple of months to make sure its going well.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend! TTFN, Morgaine.

Payday!

2010-03-18T22:02:00.000-04:00

Well, here's how I've done in March so far (not so good!)

So, I overspent in every category except other and clothes. But, please note, I did not put anything on my credit card! The extra was covered from a "savings" account - I guess a planned spending account, but not really planned.

I have at least kept a few of my March goals.

March Goals:
-No money spent on clothes - so far, so good
-No money spent on jewelry supplies - so far, so good
-No money spent on credit!!! BIG ONE - so far, so good
-Stay on budget in every category - NOT going to happen!

This is where I stand on my monthly budget:

So, over in gifts category and I'm sure with such small amounts in the other categories, it would be extremely hard to stay within those amounts. Anyways, here is March Bi-Weekly #2 Budget (not amended for the monthly amounts).

Oh, and did I mention I will have my Visa paid off by the end of the month? My bonus cheque plus my "snowball" payment (i.e. what used to be allocated to student loans) paid it off!!! Once the payment is posted, I will update the bars (and savings/RSP bars).

I hope everyone had an awesome (and not too spendy) St Patrick's Day! Slainte!

TTFN, Morgaine.