March Goals Update

March Goals

1) No breakfast/lunch/snacks/coffee during the work week - FAIL I started off fairly strong (I think the first 2 weeks there was none) but I lost control during the second two. Went out for breakfast 2X, lunch 2X, one drink, and 2 teas.

Financial:

1) Shopping ban - FAIL - I purchased a bathing suit, a spring/rain coat, and 3 tops, 1 cardigan.
2) Savings goals - Check - My RSP is over $25K and I put another $700 into other savings accounts this month.
3) Debt goals - Check - I paid $1300 off my debt, closed one credit card, and now my total debt is under $4K!
4) Increase my Net Worth - Complete - up +$14,511.01 (goal = $10,000) Hmm, how much should I increase this to?
5) Track spending and post budgets - Check - I need to verify the numbers but I'm pretty sure I kept track of everything.

Lifestyle:

1) Lose weight -FAIL - ??? I don't even want to know, so I'm not weighing myself yet.
2) Do something physical at least 4x a week - FAIL - Gym, what's a gym? With all my time and energy going into OT this month, the gym definitely took a back burner.
3) Eat better - FAIL - Stress eating, that's all I'm going to say about that ...
4) Read more books - Pass - Finally finished "The Kingmaker's Daughter" by Philippa Gregory.
5) Make more things - FAIL - OT, need I say more?
6) Sell/donate more - Check - I sold 3 wedding items this month and I've posted some more items online.

Blogging:

1) Post my weekly spending and bi-weekly budgets. - Check
2) Post at least one other post a week other than #1 - Check
3) Comment on other blogs and become more of the community - Check
4) Use twitter more (@morgainemoney) - Check
5) Post updates on my progress with the Shopping Ban and these goals. - Check - unfortunately :(
6) I will update my blog and sidebars with these goals (other than the Closing Costs since this is mostly T). And if I'm on pace or not. - Check

April Goals

All of the above PLUS ... Actually, stick to these goals! The diet and exercise especially. I feel so tired, lazy, and lathargic lately. Hopefully Spring is here and we can do more things outside :)
How about you? How did you do on your March goals? Was March a crazy busy month or more relaxing?

Morgaine

Payday! OT Edition

The last two weeks (Mar 8-21) I worked 89.75 hours and it paid off ... literally :)

I made an extra $666 net. And its practically spent already :(

Hmm, $666 is this a sign this money is cursed or something?

Here's the breakdown:

$275 rent
$40 share of groceries
$50 share of parking
$500 to T to partially pay back $1000 borrowed to go into my RSP
$400 to my aunt to partially pay back loan
$100 share of renters insurance
$100 to EF
$500 to Planned Spending (want to purchase a bike this month and need to pay for taxes for flight to Alberta)
= $1965 out of $2308 = $343 which is around what I typically leave for myself.

You may notice that I didn't put any money towards debt repayment. I feel like I'm spinning my wheels a bit. At the same time that I really want this debt gone, it is at 0% (balance transfer) and the amount (just under $4K) isn't causing me stress or causing me to lose sleep.

But, anytime I have to make a large purchase, if I don't have savings, I have to put it on credit. So, the goal right now is to not accumulate any more debt than the $4K I have and then pay it off. That's why I decided to put the $500 in savings (planned spending) rather than on debt. That money's going to get spent eventually.

Hopefully that makes sense.

What about you? What would you do with the extra money? Would you pay down debt even though its at 0% or would you put it in savings for future purchases that would avoid adding to debt?

Morgaine

Why I don't play the lottery

If you read my post about What I Learned about Finances from My Family you'll have read that my father was a perpetual optimist and part of that optimism became his obsession with lottery tickets.

I actually have very fond memories of sitting on my father's lap helping him pick out lottery numbers and filling in the bubbles on the lottery sheet. He would tell me about all the things we would buy when we won the lottery. We'd dream together of a nice, big house with a swimming pool, being able to go on vacations, and living the high life. Of course, this never happened.

I think my Dad won a few little prizes here and there and maybe we went out for dinner or he used it to buy something he/we needed but we never won anything big. That never stopped him.

He bought every lottery going, including the big charity lotteries (which do have better odds but he still only ever won his money back), and scratch tickets. His job included a lot of waiting around (he was a courier) and he would also wait in the car anytime my Mom went shopping. You can bet he was in the car with a coffee scratching his scratch tickets. For him, it was entertainment.

For me, I think its a waste of money. I'm in debt so I feel that I shouldn't be spending my money on things that won't do anything for me immediately. Its in my best interest to use my money for things like paying off my debt, savings, or for things that bring some value to my life. I'd much rather spend my entertainment money on spending time with friends and going to see a movie with T.

Sure, I still like to dream about how my life could be different, but instead of relying on winning the lottery to make my dreams come true, I've decided to work hard and save. For me, having my hard earned money in the bank is like winning the lottery and the odds are much better.

What about you? Do you play the lottery?

Morgaine

RSP Savings Goal Complete!

Just a short post to show that the trade in my RSP went through and my first financial goal of 2013 is officially complete :)

Weekly Spending: Mar 18 - 24

3/18 - No Spend!
3/19 - No Spend!
3/20 - No Spend!
3/21 - No Spend!
3/22 - $3.65 (cash - breakfast) + $59.93 (credit - dinner for me and T) + $2.90 (cash - chocolate for me and T) = $66.48
3/23 - $56.50 (credit - Old Navy online)
3/24 - $11.84 (debt - lunch) + $29.61 (debit - Michael's) + $12.99 (debit - movie) + $14.31 (debit - drink and snack at theatre) = $68.75

Total: $191.73

After doing extremely well not spending during the week, I may have gone a little crazy over the weekend. Friday we met up with some friends for dinner and it was my turn to pay.

Saturday - I have no excuse other than I had already broken the shopping ban this month and Old Navy finally has some t-shirts in colours I will actually wear.

Sunday - typical lunch and movie Sunday for me and T. The trip to Michael's was actually to pick up supplies to make something that a friend as "custom ordered" and I will be reimbursed for these purchases and the final product :)

Overall, I'm not disappointed in the amount I spent this week, but I need to shut the shopping down. The Shopping Ban will be back on 100% in April but I'm still going to try and not shop between then and now either.

So, that was my week, how was yours?

Morgaine

Competing Priorities

Now that my RSP is $25K and that goal is complete, I'm going to shift my focus. The problem is to where? My personality type is one that would prefer to focus on one thing and get it done, as it gets done faster and gives me more motivation (which is why I picked the snowball method of paying off debt). But, I may not be able to do that all the time, and I'll admit that I find it frustrating.

Here are my competing priorities (in no particular order):

• Pay my Aunt back the $4K I borrowed for my RSP
• Pay off remaining credit card debt ($3900)
• Save for house down payment outside of RSP (approx $5K)
• Re-establish Emergency Fund (at least $1K)
• Save for trip to Alberta in summer ($200, flight paid for w/Airmiles) - July
• Save for gifts/Christmas/misc (at least $500)
• Buy a bike ($150-250)

Ok, lets add that up (using highest totals and ignoring interest, just for example purposes) = $15,150. I will at the very least pay $400 to my Aunt and probably $400 to the credit card to bring it to $3500. The rest is going to depend on how much my next paycheque is. But let's say I pay off and save a total of $1000 in March, that leaves me with $14,150

After March we have 9 more months in the year (yes, already!) 14,150/9=1572.22 per month that I would need to pay/save (not including interest) each month for the rest of the year. That's pretty much a whole paycheque! Also, since some of those goals need to be completed before the end of the year, that number isn't completely correct, its more for example purposes.

I will have to give my budget a look over to determine how much I will be able to give to each of these goals and how to make the best use of my money.

I will post my budget at the end of the month once I have an average of money spent for the last 3 months. I also get my OT "bonus" at the end of the month so I will have a better idea of the total I have left to repay/save. I will then try to determine how to best fit these payments into my budget going forward. I will post that to this blog.

How about you? How do you deal with competing priorities?

Morgaine

Financial Goals Complete!

Yesterday, I sent my "Investment Advisor" (I picked my own fund, though) a cheque for $5,000 which will put my RSP at $25,155. In my yearly financial goals, goal #2 is to have $25K for down payment of house. That goal is almost complete! I won't consider it actually complete until the trade goes through.

This will also put my Net Worth at $21,202. My net worth at the beginning of this year was $7,261. This is an increase of $13,941 which puts me well over my goal #5 of increase my NW by at least $10K. I will have to increase this one. But, once I take the money out of my RSP to use for down payment, my NW will decrease but I will be adding a house to the NW calculation (and a mortgage).

So, that's 2 Financial Goals completed in the first 3 months of the year! Unfortunately, I also broke my Shopping Ban this month, but I will just keep moving forward with the goal. I also have to bring my EF back up after draining it to pay off my CapitalOne card this month.

But, in more good news, I officially have a higher positive NW than I had negative NW when I started this blog in 2010!

In January 2010 I had $3,000 in savings and $22,400 in debt now I have $25,100 in savings and $3,900 in debt! From -$19,400 to +$21,200 NW. What a reversal in 3 years! :)

Granted, I still have a ways to go, I have to get that last credit card to $0 and pay my aunt back the $4K loan for the RSP, but right now, I'm feeling pretty proud of myself.

How about you? Have you accomplished any of your financial goals for this year?

Morgaine