Because I heart my birthday, I'm going to start it now.
I have allowed a bit of wiggle room. I think I'll continue my Hello Waffle and Glamour Doll Eyes subscription until December before cancelling, and I will be keeping one of my subscription boxes (either Birchbox or Topbox and they both renew in December). I may try to get another Glamour Doll Eyes OTM, but I'm not sure about this.
What I will stop buying as of Today (October 17th) for the next year is:
-Make-up (except for replacements of unique categories like foundation, primer, mascara)
-Nail Polish
-Clothes
-Shoes
-Kitchen items
-Books
-Any of the other millions of temptations I have
I will not intentionally stop buying planner stickers for the entire year, but I do intend on waiting until march before I select more. I am writing this in advance and assuming a certain shop I follow sticks to the release schedule posted I will make one more planner sticker purchase today, and if the Femme Fatale goosebumps part II collection is out, that will make its way to me. I am going to continue to spend the next couple of months monitoring my spending before establishing a formal budget. I also expect there will be slip-ups but I hope not for a while. I think if I reduce my exposure to social media and when I do use it to come with a feeling on contentment with what I have that I can change my feeling of "gimmie!" to one of appreciation without brain altering desire lust.
What is allowed?
-a new planner or two for the next year
-replacement make-up listed above
-reasonably timed haircuts as I forgot how nice this feels
-reasonable replacements for things like shampoo and soap
-savings for a vacation next year
-currently coffee and takeout food but this may change after my couple months of monitoring. I'm currently quite good a limiting my intake and use of these sources
-Two race entries
-Activities for the kids, presents for the kids, and reasonable clothes for the kids
Why?
I want to realign my finances with my values, build an emergency fund, set a good example for my children and force myself to see some areas where I might lean towards hoarding *cough cough indie eyeshadows cough cough*. I also want to be better to the earth, more mindful with my shopping and consumption and build myself back up from the start. I also want to enjoy what I have, and I think that might come from having less. I want gain control of my spending. I want to get my old habits back of exercise, eating healthy, work/life balance and financial responsibility. I want to be the mom my kids are proud of. I am hitting restart. I want to me.
If this sounds nuts to you, and to me it sounds a bit crazy to be internet posting it (doesn't everyone do this sometime?) here's a recent article on how to choose your own financial adventure. In the context f that post this could be my re-declaration of option one as I hope to out of debt by the end. Assuming I get out of debt I'll essentially be renaming my debt repayment plan budgets to low-buy in order to start the saving train. I'm looking forward to it.
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Saturday, October 17, 2015
Friday, July 4, 2014
I did it!!!
A happy pug to represent a happy Leigh!
I posted last week about completing a balance transfer on my credit card, over $10,500 (!) and with my last paycheck and a whole lot of ebaying, I have made that guy "$0"!. And just in time before the deadline of July 7th. Thanks to my government tax return, and some very good fortune, I'm a lot closer to my October goal of lowering my debt to less than $50,000.
I won't lie. I'm absolutely and totally scared it will go back. What if I forget an automatic payment? I don't have a plan to pay my auto insurance next year. What if... What if.. What if.. Unlike my line of credit which I am deeply afraid will go back up, and probably will if my savings expire, I feel more confident that I can control this, and go back to whom I am. Someone who is very good with credit.
A sexy zero balance is a great start!
Have you made any financial accomplishments lately? I'd like to send you a virtual high five to let you know you're awesome if you have. :)
Monday, June 30, 2014
Christmas Budgeting
My budgets are pretty tight as I've set some goals for debt payment and I want to get my savings to $1000 and my EF to $750 before October. One of these accounts is at $0, the other at a very modest $200.
Why have I set October as my deadline?
I'm due to have a baby sometime that month. And while I live in a country that amazing provides unemployment during most of the first year, I still have to prepare for it. As with all EI claims, there is a two week waiting period. There is also an estimated one month processing time. I believe payment also occurs two weeks after the time on EI. i.e. if you started EI on the 15th of a month, the end of that month would be your two week no-payment waiting periods. Then you serve the first weeks you could receive EI payment. I believe the EI office then processes your claim, and you get paid two weeks later, or the end of the month after you first started your EI claim. Meaning for me, if the baby comes near the end of October, or even early November, I might not receive any EI until mid-December. I'm hoping I'll have enough to pay my minimums, I know I'll be running more calculations closer to the date, but most of that pay will be allocated to bills. Not Christmas.
I've always been big on buying Christmas presents early, usually starting in the fall. This helps out spread out the budget, and allow for the ton of unexpected expenses that always occur. This year, I think I'll have to find a way to squeeze all my Christmas shopping in before October. I'll have to revisit the budget I posted, and see if I can find another $20-50 a month to put towards my most important people. I'm sure those who love me will understand. I hope it doesn't come to that ;) I also wanted to go on a short vacation in August that I haven't decided how to fund, or if I can go.
I guess it's a good thing I won't be working in December as I think that understandably cuts about a dozen out of my "must buy for" list.
How do you budget for Christmas (or other holiday events) through the year? w much do you spend on gifts each year?
Why have I set October as my deadline?
I'm due to have a baby sometime that month. And while I live in a country that amazing provides unemployment during most of the first year, I still have to prepare for it. As with all EI claims, there is a two week waiting period. There is also an estimated one month processing time. I believe payment also occurs two weeks after the time on EI. i.e. if you started EI on the 15th of a month, the end of that month would be your two week no-payment waiting periods. Then you serve the first weeks you could receive EI payment. I believe the EI office then processes your claim, and you get paid two weeks later, or the end of the month after you first started your EI claim. Meaning for me, if the baby comes near the end of October, or even early November, I might not receive any EI until mid-December. I'm hoping I'll have enough to pay my minimums, I know I'll be running more calculations closer to the date, but most of that pay will be allocated to bills. Not Christmas.
I've always been big on buying Christmas presents early, usually starting in the fall. This helps out spread out the budget, and allow for the ton of unexpected expenses that always occur. This year, I think I'll have to find a way to squeeze all my Christmas shopping in before October. I'll have to revisit the budget I posted, and see if I can find another $20-50 a month to put towards my most important people. I'm sure those who love me will understand. I hope it doesn't come to that ;) I also wanted to go on a short vacation in August that I haven't decided how to fund, or if I can go.
I guess it's a good thing I won't be working in December as I think that understandably cuts about a dozen out of my "must buy for" list.
How do you budget for Christmas (or other holiday events) through the year? w much do you spend on gifts each year?
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
My debt story thus far
I was raised to be hard working. I think I did an alright job learning how to handle money in high school. I started working at the local coffee and donut shop when I was 16 during grade 11 until starting university. I knew I was going to go to university, or some other post secondary. I would sometimes just say "Maybe I'll take a year off" but I never meant it. I had roughly $2000 in savings (which covered my first semester) when I started my undergrad.
I worked part-time jobs nearly every semester, and for years I had two to get enough hours to bank on. I didn't want to cost my parents a lot of money, so I relied on student loans to pay my tuition and rent. I was good with my money, and tried to build my savings. I made a very large mistake at getting engaged too young, and dutifully playing the "good wife". I would run home between classes or my co-op internship, make him dinner without having time for me to eat and run off to another job or night class. Did I mention he had decided he was only going to work 20 hours a week? I'm still mad at myself for being pathetic. I graduated from my undergrad with about $25,000 in student loan debt and no longer intended to marry that jerk.
Then came graduate school. I earned tiny TA stipend, and my boss funded me for working 15 hours a week on lab work completely unrelated from my degree. This was synergistic as my boss didn't need to hire someone to work on weekends (beside me) and I was able to get some more income. For over 20 months, I had three weekends off, two of which I used to write GRE exams.This funding was never firm, and I was only given contracts for 3 months at time, so I continued to get student loans, using the money to pay tuition and saving the rest in case I was unemployed. Which did happen, but I was able to quickly move into a full-time position while working on my Master's. For the last year and a bit I worked both full-time, saving as much as I could for a down-payment and/or to repay those loans. I graduated with $45,000 in student loan debt.
I had a five year plan to pay off that debt, and I really wanted to buy a home. I felt that graduate school was putting behind on other life goals like having a husband, a family and mostly stability. I bought a reasonably priced, small house for $260,000 shortly after graduating with a semi-aggressive payment plan.
Fast-forward almost two years. My boyfriend and I had accidentally become pregnant. Because of his religious upbringing, he was insisting I have an abortion. My morals wouldn't let me, to get rid of the baby inside me felt like murder (although I strongly fight for the right for a woman to choose). He felt like the baby would ruin his life, and tried everything he could to convince me, being with threatening our relationship to threatening to take his life, to threatening to take the baby, my house and everything away from me. I'm sure I'll have more to say on this but for now, I can sum it up with it was hard. Very hard. Financially, I think I was still okay. I had an estimated 18 months of living expenses saved up, and my student loans were under $25,000. Less than a week after my daughter was born, I was served with papers requesting I pay the father child support (he insisted he was unable to find work as a teacher or a substitute teacher, and that I should go back to work full-time as giving birth wasn't a valid reason not to work), and that he wanted full custody.
The next year was hard. My legal bills ranged from $4000 to $8500 a month. I very gladly paid my lawyer. Nothing was more important than keeping my newborn safe. I moved cities. I took advantage of any programs I could. I lived with family to save on costs so I could rent my house out (which was happening at a loss). I went shopping emotionally because I was already screwed, what did a $80 purchase matter when I couldn't pay the bills I already had? I was back at work before my daughter was 8 months old, and I only made $100 more that if I had stayed on Maternity leave. But I had no choice.
An opportunity to sell my property came, and I decided to take it. Unfortunately, the housing market I had bought was dropping by thousands every month. I sold for over $40,000 less than I paid. It's been a few months, its still emotional and hard, but I've finally been beginning to see progress. I'm also learning that a negative net worth doesn't make me worthless. There are so many around who end up in a similar financial situation to me through events beyond their control like divorces, floods, unexpected job loss, hurricanes. I'm taking inspiration from them, and I'm picking myself back up. I'm trying to move forward. I AM moving forward. I'm going to blog my journey, and probably blog my way through my emotions as well. I've felt like I can't talk about this and I fear how little I will be thought of. I'm afraid others will believe my daughter's father's claims - even though there is no evidence to back them. I'm learning how I got into debt doesn't matter, but how I get out does. I hope I'll be able to give someone like myself hope and to keep myself positive and forward focused.
Here are my debts as of March 2014
Credit Card (balance transfer from two other maxed out cards): $10,149.67
Line of Credit ($3 from being maxed): $9,996.81
Student loan #1: $5,498.87
Student loan #2: $12,640.87
Personal loan: $27,000
Total debt: $65,285.92
Here's an image of my little miracle, after reading a few pages of GoT. I want her to be proud of her mom :)
And one with her big brother <3
-Leigh
I worked part-time jobs nearly every semester, and for years I had two to get enough hours to bank on. I didn't want to cost my parents a lot of money, so I relied on student loans to pay my tuition and rent. I was good with my money, and tried to build my savings. I made a very large mistake at getting engaged too young, and dutifully playing the "good wife". I would run home between classes or my co-op internship, make him dinner without having time for me to eat and run off to another job or night class. Did I mention he had decided he was only going to work 20 hours a week? I'm still mad at myself for being pathetic. I graduated from my undergrad with about $25,000 in student loan debt and no longer intended to marry that jerk.
Then came graduate school. I earned tiny TA stipend, and my boss funded me for working 15 hours a week on lab work completely unrelated from my degree. This was synergistic as my boss didn't need to hire someone to work on weekends (beside me) and I was able to get some more income. For over 20 months, I had three weekends off, two of which I used to write GRE exams.This funding was never firm, and I was only given contracts for 3 months at time, so I continued to get student loans, using the money to pay tuition and saving the rest in case I was unemployed. Which did happen, but I was able to quickly move into a full-time position while working on my Master's. For the last year and a bit I worked both full-time, saving as much as I could for a down-payment and/or to repay those loans. I graduated with $45,000 in student loan debt.
I had a five year plan to pay off that debt, and I really wanted to buy a home. I felt that graduate school was putting behind on other life goals like having a husband, a family and mostly stability. I bought a reasonably priced, small house for $260,000 shortly after graduating with a semi-aggressive payment plan.
Fast-forward almost two years. My boyfriend and I had accidentally become pregnant. Because of his religious upbringing, he was insisting I have an abortion. My morals wouldn't let me, to get rid of the baby inside me felt like murder (although I strongly fight for the right for a woman to choose). He felt like the baby would ruin his life, and tried everything he could to convince me, being with threatening our relationship to threatening to take his life, to threatening to take the baby, my house and everything away from me. I'm sure I'll have more to say on this but for now, I can sum it up with it was hard. Very hard. Financially, I think I was still okay. I had an estimated 18 months of living expenses saved up, and my student loans were under $25,000. Less than a week after my daughter was born, I was served with papers requesting I pay the father child support (he insisted he was unable to find work as a teacher or a substitute teacher, and that I should go back to work full-time as giving birth wasn't a valid reason not to work), and that he wanted full custody.
The next year was hard. My legal bills ranged from $4000 to $8500 a month. I very gladly paid my lawyer. Nothing was more important than keeping my newborn safe. I moved cities. I took advantage of any programs I could. I lived with family to save on costs so I could rent my house out (which was happening at a loss). I went shopping emotionally because I was already screwed, what did a $80 purchase matter when I couldn't pay the bills I already had? I was back at work before my daughter was 8 months old, and I only made $100 more that if I had stayed on Maternity leave. But I had no choice.
An opportunity to sell my property came, and I decided to take it. Unfortunately, the housing market I had bought was dropping by thousands every month. I sold for over $40,000 less than I paid. It's been a few months, its still emotional and hard, but I've finally been beginning to see progress. I'm also learning that a negative net worth doesn't make me worthless. There are so many around who end up in a similar financial situation to me through events beyond their control like divorces, floods, unexpected job loss, hurricanes. I'm taking inspiration from them, and I'm picking myself back up. I'm trying to move forward. I AM moving forward. I'm going to blog my journey, and probably blog my way through my emotions as well. I've felt like I can't talk about this and I fear how little I will be thought of. I'm afraid others will believe my daughter's father's claims - even though there is no evidence to back them. I'm learning how I got into debt doesn't matter, but how I get out does. I hope I'll be able to give someone like myself hope and to keep myself positive and forward focused.
Here are my debts as of March 2014
Credit Card (balance transfer from two other maxed out cards): $10,149.67
Line of Credit ($3 from being maxed): $9,996.81
Student loan #1: $5,498.87
Student loan #2: $12,640.87
Personal loan: $27,000
Total debt: $65,285.92
Here's an image of my little miracle, after reading a few pages of GoT. I want her to be proud of her mom :)
And one with her big brother <3
-Leigh
Monday, June 23, 2014
Gas Money
Driving home from work one night last week, I heard that gas prices were about to jump up 6 cents. Although I had passed (and checked the prices - still "normal" at 122 cents/litre) the first two stations, not far past home was a third station. I detoured there, filled 30 L, and felt good that I had "saved" $1.80.
Or did I?
It took about 0.3 L to return to my house, or around 0.6 L total for my detour meaning my total savings for beating the price hike was about $1.06 (Total saved minus 0.6 L x current gas price of $1.229). I suspect trying to beat gas price increases won't have a big overall affect on my gas budget, especially if I have to drive a fair distance out of my way. But, as I was going to get gas that evening anyway, and I was driving across town where the price changes had already been recorded, I"m going to call it a good move.
I've been doing some other calculations as my fuel gauge has broken on my vehicle and I need to check the gas consumption regularly to prevent running on empty. Calculations completed using $1.249/L
Cost to get to work: Appears to be 2 L each direction, or $5.00 per day.
Meaning my cost on gas to drive to work each month (~22 days per month) is $110
Cost of a monthly parking pass is $95 (I was delighted this was so cheap!)
Cost of insurance yearly is about $900, so monthly around $75
Yearly registration $85 plus taxes, estimated monthly $7.50
The cost of just to getting to work (and given the hours of operation from my daycare and the bus schedule, I have to drive) is at least $287.50. This is just shy of 10% of my income!
And it doesn't include personal use:
Cost to visit a family member (8 L), $10
Cost to go to the park (~6.5L), $8.11
Cost to the closest grocery store (~1.5L), $1.87
Or maintenance.
Some current problems are my gas gauge not working, a loose ball joint, the odometer has ceased to light up, only half the windows roll down, the heater motor is totally broken, the AC no longer works. But, knock on wood, it starts every day. That's what I need, and that's why I love my car.
I've tried to cut the gas part of my budget, and this totally explains why I go over every month. I've tried carpool.ca, posting ads and asking around to carpool. I was biking a couple days a week (and starting to love it) but I can't do that right now, not in the winter. I have to drive, and 10% of my income is the price I pay to access the other 90%. I felt both like a winner for saving $1.06 on gas, and a sucker because for the foreseeable future, I'm going to pay the price at the pump.
Or did I?
It took about 0.3 L to return to my house, or around 0.6 L total for my detour meaning my total savings for beating the price hike was about $1.06 (Total saved minus 0.6 L x current gas price of $1.229). I suspect trying to beat gas price increases won't have a big overall affect on my gas budget, especially if I have to drive a fair distance out of my way. But, as I was going to get gas that evening anyway, and I was driving across town where the price changes had already been recorded, I"m going to call it a good move.
I've been doing some other calculations as my fuel gauge has broken on my vehicle and I need to check the gas consumption regularly to prevent running on empty. Calculations completed using $1.249/L
Cost to get to work: Appears to be 2 L each direction, or $5.00 per day.
Meaning my cost on gas to drive to work each month (~22 days per month) is $110
Cost of a monthly parking pass is $95 (I was delighted this was so cheap!)
Cost of insurance yearly is about $900, so monthly around $75
Yearly registration $85 plus taxes, estimated monthly $7.50
The cost of just to getting to work (and given the hours of operation from my daycare and the bus schedule, I have to drive) is at least $287.50. This is just shy of 10% of my income!
And it doesn't include personal use:
Cost to visit a family member (8 L), $10
Cost to go to the park (~6.5L), $8.11
Cost to the closest grocery store (~1.5L), $1.87
Or maintenance.
Some current problems are my gas gauge not working, a loose ball joint, the odometer has ceased to light up, only half the windows roll down, the heater motor is totally broken, the AC no longer works. But, knock on wood, it starts every day. That's what I need, and that's why I love my car.
I've tried to cut the gas part of my budget, and this totally explains why I go over every month. I've tried carpool.ca, posting ads and asking around to carpool. I was biking a couple days a week (and starting to love it) but I can't do that right now, not in the winter. I have to drive, and 10% of my income is the price I pay to access the other 90%. I felt both like a winner for saving $1.06 on gas, and a sucker because for the foreseeable future, I'm going to pay the price at the pump.
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