EarthQuake!!!

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!

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

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 . . .

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!

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.