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.

Raise and Semi-Annual Bonus! SWEET!!!

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

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.

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.