Recap: Spending and saving in December 2014

Holy moly this was a phenomenally bad month for my wallet and my budget.

Between planned gift spending, unexpected gift spending, forgotten extra expenses and totally unplanned personal purchases, I not only spent 150% more than I spent in November on just about the same salary, but also went from putting around $200 on my credit cards per month to dumping over $1300 this month on purchases.

Yeah yeah yeah I fell off the wagon big time this December and only have myself to blame here. So let's get the bad news out of the way first as far as my spending went.

EXPENSES: First things first, I blew past the original $250 soft limit on my gift spending for the month by a little more than $100 thanks to some unanticipated spending on my parents.

This was largely due to discovering my mother's true birthday falls on the December 23rd thanks to her being born under a lunar calendar and it only aligning with the Gregorian calendar aligning in her 60th year, thereby making it a massively important day culturally. So there was a ton of extra spending there as we celebrated my mother getting old.

The next thing that hurt this month's budget phenomenally was two planned expenditures: getting new glasses and my G2 test.

The good news is, I passed my G2 test on the first go, saving me the agony of having to conjure up the cash to afford the test again, an expense that costs me $235 while borrowing the instructor's car. But it was still $235 to go out there and with a lesson beforehand as a refresher with my driving instructor.

I had some of that money set aside in my savings for this expense, but of course, I totally forgot about the fact I have to pay for an extension on my five year learner's permit, which dropped me a jaw dropping $80 to do. That number made me choke just a little bit, but it was unavoidable given I was due to expire in April, which won't give me enough time to advance to a full G license and therefore rending the G2 costs moot.

That was the unavoidable extra expense due to government scheduling and bureaucracy. But I could have delayed buying my glasses another month. And yet I decided not to. With the year about to end and my benefits resetting as of the 1st, and me wanting to get the most of my benefits for this calendar year, I went ahead and got them. And that was how another $300 disappeared from my bank account.

Well I spent $300 off my credit card this month on new glasses, but I did get some of it back. But more on that later.

And finally comes the unplanned for expenses, or me swallowing a large case of YOLO and falling completely off the "smart spending" wagon and into the happy denial of consumerist glee. Because these expenses were arbitrary and not really smart.

Expenses for myself that happened this month in the form of a leather jacket, three new pairs of jeggings, a new button up top, some socks and an external USB charger (the last major expense is yet to be discussed here however). All of that went completely unplanned and therefore decimated my savings account in order to pay down my credit card to the tune of an extra $420. I dipped into my emergency fund for these items, which hurt to realize.

At the same time however, I'm not exactly feeling buyer's remorse on any of the items either if for no other reason than I like everything I bought and will learn to appreciate having them.

It's a weird dichotomy actually. 

Throw in overspending on food because I got lazy and ate out A LOT, and that is how I blew the roof off my budget and my month!

DEBT REPAYMENT: Despite racking up a massive credit card bill this month, I managed not to accrue any interest thankfully and paid most of it off in time.

I say most... because I forgot about an extra $50 I threw onto it while Christmas shopping before the settlement date. Whoops.

But I am paying down the limit on a biweekly basis at least, so by next paycheque I should be in the clear for all charges accrued against the balance and avoid the dreaded interest machine.

As for my student loans, well it's going, as in going down one way or another. I managed to put $60 extra dollars on top of the minimum on my student loans for the month, although frankly, it turned out to be money that I didn't have to go to my student loans thanks to my crazy spending after the fact. Therefore it was money that more or less could be said to have come out of my emergency fund to float.

But that's me quibbling over details I no longer have control over. I have no means of predicting my unpredictable impulses. Although maybe that ought to be a lesson in controlling them better for my money's sakes.

Either way, I paid down $401.91 against my student loans when you include the cost of interest for the month. The total owed is still over $33,000 but by next month should be down beneath it. And here's hoping some extra cash will also help supplement the costs as well.

INCOME: First a confession: I spent way more than I made this month on my regular wage.

Not to mention, the holiday pay from Thanksgiving that I had half been counting on since Thanksgiving but still haven't seen paid out to me...  still didn't come in! And it's past Christmas! :(

My boss was notified of it after the last pay cheque at least so hopefully that quibbles itself out. But with Christmas and New Years holiday pay coming up, I will have to keep a really close eye to ensure it gets processed and not mixed up with the rest. Basically, it's now way more work to ensure I get the correct holiday pay credited to my account, something I wasn't exactly banking on here.

I did have a small Christmas miracle though as far as money coming in this month. My benefits claim for new glasses I mentioned earlier when detailing my expenses came through just before Christmas. And I got $265 back on my claim from the $365 I spent upfront to purchase them. This deposit single-handedly gave me a positive net-worth. No jokes.

And as a small aside: I also got a small pay cheque from my freelance gig to help dull the terrible spending decisions I made for the month, though it really only paid for part of the leather jacket and so was money that didn't do much at all if anything.

SAVINGS: So... yeah. About that savings account...

By the end of November, I had $860 in my everyday savings account. By the end of December, I had $327 in that account. 

Although granted, it would have been well under $100 if not for the refund I got from my insurance right before Christmas. And plus, at least $400 of that money that was in the account by the end of November was planned spending for the month of December so it's not as if it was total unexpected that I would lose some cash this month in that account. So there is a silver lining here.

Really, the good news here is that I managed not to take any money from my TFSA to make up for any shortfalls in my budget, if only just managing not to touch it. No lie, it was tempting, especially because the limit resets in January so it'd be like a temporary loan. But I couldn't justify it to myself and ultimately didn't pull the trigger. Phew.

And as usual, regular deductions on my pay cheques to go towards my pension, RRSP and employee matched company investment, meant that there was some forced savings made for the month that dented any negatives I incurred by spending lots of money out of my spending.

So what's the damage?

Current Net Worth: -$32,174.47 (+0.19%)

For the close observer, you'll noticed that I cleared myself into the positives only by the smallest of margins... say $60 worth into the positive. Which is not exactly a good look for the month, but in the same breath, at least I managed to keep it positive. But only just thanks to the aforementioned insurance claim refund.

Although really I should be a little ashamed because I should be closer to the positive increase of $400, which was how much I paid towards my student loan repayment and that's without any other contributions towards a positive net gain. 

So ... realizing the fluctuation involved in including my short-term planned spending into my net worth month-over-month and how it can hinder me in terms of whether I post a positive or negative net worth has made me realize that perhaps I should remove them from my net worth value from here on out and really only include my emergency fund towards my net worth. This way I save myself the agony of losing a huge chunk of money when time comes due for me to spend it.

The short term spending account is at zero right now so it won't be too hard to make the adjustment for the new year anyway. And therefore won't make a noticeable differences to my value next month.

Happy new year everyone! Do you have any plans for the new year? I do... some of which are pretty big too.

Taking stock on 2014: You have to start somewhere

So as 2014 is coming to an end and the next year begins, I looked back and wondered how did I end up doing this year as far as personal growth and development goes? The answer I found was quite a bit, but never nearly as much as I'd like it to be.

But hey, you have to start somewhere to get to where you want to be.


1. LIFE WITH A REGULAR FULL TIME JOB is something I'm still getting used to despite having had it for a year and a bit by now. Maybe I just worked too many temporary jobs for too long, but it is a bit novel still to have guaranteed working hours every week as well as guaranteed money, no matter how relatively small it may be to start.

The other thing I'm getting used to in my life? The option of benefits as a full-time employee and not a contractor of some sort. And as I found out this year, having various expenses paid for as a result of benefits is a magical thing to have.


2. FINALLY GOING AND GETTING MY G2 turned out to be far more expensive and costly than I ever expected it to be and I don't even have car ownership to speak of impacting my finances! Between the lessons and the classes and the testing itself, I paid the equivalent of the university full credit course by the end of it.

But with that said, I was always somewhat aware of the costs to get the license and for that reason procrastinated it for as long as I did not to mention my stubborn resolve that living in a city with regular transit generally signifies a limited need for a car.

But in the end, driving is a skill and is a skill that I lacked until now. And I'm really glad I did manage to earn it. It was a huge goal to get the licensing to drive a car (if not a full G licence yet) and it ultimately does open various doors for me as an individual. And it's a big step to gaining a sort of independence in my life. Even if it does open me up to sisterly abuse of my new-found skills.


3. GETTING MY CREDIT CARD BALANCE DOWN TO ZERO, ANNIHILATING THE INTEREST COSTS ended up being a big big thing for me this year. I mean, the goal of completely paying it off has always had lingered in my head as something I would like to accomplish at some point, but it was always a day shrouded in the distant future.

Really, I had no excuses for waiting as long as I did to pay off my credit card anyway. I mean, by the time I started I had no uncertainty of employment for well over a year and the money I made was enough that I should be able to pay it down while still getting some what I wanted every month and pay my bills. I didn't really have to pinch too much to get it done in a timely fashion.

I may have done it quickly, but it wasn't easy. Seeing those big pay cheques from working like a dog basically paying off for things that I don't even remember spending money on was a hard pill to swallow.

With that said, nothing made me smile or was a bigger relief than seeing the account in the positives for the first time since getting the card. A moment worth remembering for the year.


4. FINANCIALLY AND MENTALLY I AM ACTUALLY STARTING TO FEEL POSITIVE ABOUT WHERE IT IS ALL GOING. 

Sure I still have mountains of student loan debt and sure I make a pittance against it. But in the same breath, I feel as if I have my money actually working for me now whether it is retirement or other things. But there is a positive to be gained in what it is I am looking to do going forward. There is a path to move towards and I strongly feel there is a chance whatever is holding me back now won't be an issue in the near future.

That isn't to say life won't throw me a terrible bone in the future (in fact, there is a chance I may get a less than desired bone in the not-too-distant future) but I feel better prepared to face it now that I'm aware of what options I have. I just now have to get things done about it.


So that's it. That's 2014 in one big nutshell for me as far as development goes. I can't say I really go into the new year with much regret. Not that there aren't things I could work on, financially and otherwise, but I'm in a good place that I can build on.

And it's a start.

Why I splurged on... Bluenotes soft skinny jeggings

Happy Boxing Day everyone. Or at least those of you who celebrates it in Canada by letting your inner impulse shopper loose and to buy stuff you otherwise would never need!

Me? I don't celebrate Boxing Day anymore. Well I say anymore when honestly it's never been something I celebrated to begin with but the point is I don't believe in it. Mostly because Boxing Day is a farce. As I had mentioned in my last splurge confession post, life in retail taught me the best sales around Christmas time actually happen the week before Christmas or the first week of January.

And nowhere is that more clear than the trio of Bluenotes jeggings I bought the previous Thursday.

Well here's the first confession: when I bought that leather jacket last Thursday it must have unleashed the inner impulse shopper in me, or a strong case of clothing desire, because for whatever reason, I didn't stop there. I went to Bluenotes to see if there was anything else I liked. And there was,

Now the history of my pants search begins when I finally wore a hole into my favourite pair of black jeggings because I wore the damn thing so much in late spring. And since then I have been trying to find a replacement pair with zero luck. This is after getting a pair from Dynamite and a really expensive pair from Jean Machine. None of them worked despite my best attempts. They were all too high-waisted and too goddamn uncomfortable to wear.

The quest was getting very expensive by that point.

But when I walked into Bluenotes, I noticed that they had a pair of black jeggings that were low-waisted and sat beautifully on my petite frame when I tried them on. And they had other jeggings in the same style but in different colours.

So I bought three of them in grey, black and khaki. Because I'm nuts like that and my impulses were out of control at that point. But hey, I told myself, I could justify it because they marked it down in a special sale to $20 tax included for each pair of jeans from $29.99 before tax. Clearly a win-win here.

The story isn't over. After the fact, it turned out that the size I bought when stretched out was a touch too large for me, a fact I discovered after two wears of the grey pair, This prompting me to exchange two of the pants (the black and the khaki - thank God the blacks weren't the first one I tried out) for a smaller pair on the 23rd of December.

Bluenotes at that point had already posted their signage of for their Boxing Week sale. And the pants I had paid $20 each with tax only a few days before were now getting BOGO'd. That is to say, buy one, get one half off.

The $40 exactly on the pair I bought that Thursday would have been something like $50 with tax on the Tuesday before Christmas and Boxing week.

And that is why Boxing Day/Week is a farce and if you really want to save money on sales during this time of year, do it the week before Christmas or the first week of January.

Be thankful and make your peace

Merry Christmas everyone.

I know there is a holiday called Thanksgiving in October in Canada and that that time is ostensibly when we as a collective society are supposed to get together and be thankful for this, that and the other thing...

But Thanksgiving is honestly just another day for me. Partially because as a city girl (AKA notafarmer) celebration of the yearly harvest is such a foreign concept for me. Frankly, my harvest is  an all-year-round thing that it hardly needs a special day to celebrate the number of times I went to the supermarket to purchase a bag of apples.

But mostly the reason is that most of my looking back and finding things to be grateful for happens around Christmas, when I gather the list of people I care about and express my gratitude for their friendships or love by way of a gift.

Honestly, what other day of the year can you share your appreciation and joy of association to those around you all at once, even if the all at once part of it is why most of us go broke during this time of year?

Yes, this time of year can be tough on the wallet and often said wallet is being taken advantage on by the monster that is consumerism, but with a mindfulness on who I am spending my money on, I'm often at peace with it. Because for me, the act of giving and showing a strong appreciation for those I care about far outweighs the cost of doing so. And the fact there are people out there worth making such an effort for is precious, especially in a time when the world is increasingly becoming individualized and more about the self than the collective whole. 

This attitude is increasingly making people very unhappy as a result. And we're all guilty of contributing to that behaviour.

It's so easy to find something to be ungrateful and unhappy right now. Trust me, as a negative thinker I often become mired in the worst and the fear associated with it all the time. 

But it is so much more fulfilling to find something to be appreciative about. It makes for a better life. And it makes for a more balanced you in everything you do. 

Sometimes, the happy stuff is small consolation for the scary. But the point is, not everything has to be or is scary. You don't necessarily have to embrace the good (although it is better that you do, sometimes you simply cannot) you do need to accept the existence of good in order to know that it's there and take some comfort in it as best you can.

Be thankful and make your peace with reality.

And now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

How I choose between savings and debt repayment (Hint: I don't)

Congratulations! You have made the time-honoured decision to do well by your money and your finances. High-fives and cookies for you.

But now that you've made the very easy decision to do something... exactly what are you supposed to do? What's the first step in doing well by your money, particularly as someone dealing with debt?

"Pay off the debt!" one may shout from the heavens. "The math supports it and you save more money!"

"Save for your retirement!" another may cry from the trees. "Compounding is the golden goose and starting now means you have more later!"

"What about that awesome pair of shoes you wanted?" temptation may whisper in your ear from the grasses. "Wouldn't it just be better to be happy now than miserable?"

And so on.

All of it are simple decisions, and yet can become very overwhelming. I mean, the math does support the idea that by paying down debt faster, especially the high interest variety, you just save so much more in interest costs. But the earlier you start saving for retirement, the less you have to save overall in order to retire with a lot of money. 

And those shoes are so pretty! And on sale!

Ultimately one of these many options as far as savings and debt repayment goes has to be the best for you to place your money with, right?

So what's right? Where is the best place for my money to go? Where will it do the most for me? Why is this such a hard question to answer?

Well mostly because there is no right answer to the question. Personal finance is ultimately a personal endeavour and decision because the money you make is yours, or half of it is if you have a spouse. So what works best for you may not work best for me or John or Ann or Mohammed.

But that answer does nothing to help anyone figure out their money. In fact, it leaves you more lost and confused in some ways. And you're still left holding your cash wondering if you're not just better off buying those shoes just to save yourself the second-guessing.

So for those who are looking for answers, here was the one I went with: do what feels right for you. Whether it is throwing every bit of spare change you have into your debt repayment so that you get rid of it as soon as possible or you build up your nest egg as much as you can early, it's down to your own priorities right now or in a couple of weeks from now how you want your money to work for you.

Having been left with a relatively low interest student loan (though the minimum payments are still fairly astronomical) after I got rid of my high interest credit card debt, I don't find debt repayment to be as urgent and pressing a matter for me and my money. Especially since my student loan problem is so big and unwieldy right now, to the point that focusing everything on it currently feels like I'm punching a brick wall. All I end up achieving is a sore hand and more frustration than I can probably deal with.

Right now, I'm in the beginning stages of building a proper emergency fund, putting money into a pension and RRSP and setting up my TFSA for extremely long-term savings. And I am eager to find a way to speed up the process at least until I reached a certain stage where the money can actually be doing stuff for me. But accelerating the process for any of these, particularly my emergency fund and TFSA due to them being much higher priorities as far as my savings goes requires that it requires a bigger chunk of my available extra monthly cash. 

And you know what? I'm okay with some of my money going elsewhere other than towards my debt.

So right now, instead of shuttling all my extra cash one way or another, I tend to just split it down the middle, with half being put towards my student debt and the other half sprinkled among my savings accounts. This way I can gain the benefits of dealing with both priorities and also because this allows me to feel progress in all areas, though spreading myself out means that I see significantly smaller steps.

Some may say I'm spreading myself too thin. Others may point out that mathematically I'm not doing it right. I don't feel as if my money is spread out in too small portions and if anything, right now any positives is taken with some joy of accomplishments in my savings. And it is that happiness that I am focusing on right now to affirm that what I am doing is right for me.

Time may change things however. Rising or falling interest costs, the stock market or any number of other things may see me change gears in my quest. But for now, I like what I'm doing. And that's really what matters.

Current Distraction: Raging at Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy (Part 1)

So last Friday, me and some friends went to see the final Hobbit film.

That alone isn't much of a statement, at least until you find out that firstly, I hate The Hobbit trilogy up to that point but secondly, going to see the movie was my idea.

Why do I even hate the Hobbit trilogy up until that point? Because I'm a purist. I'm the loser that has not only read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings - and more than once - but also The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales and even The Children of Hurin even though it was basically a retelling of a story in the Unfinished Tales.

When it comes to my research and frankly, my obsession with this series, I'm thorough and well-versed in not just the mythology of Middle-earth, but also the weight of meaning behind certain relationships and decisions within the mythos. There is a whole history of everything for everything, from why Galadriel's gift of hair to Gimli was far more monumental than any gift ever (a story that dates back to before the creation of the sun of all things and actually, Galadriel's hair was the catalyst of what became the biggest battle ever in the history of Middle-earth) to the why Arwen and Aragorn's romance was both parts sweet and saddening.

The Hobbit thumbs it nose at pretty much everything in the mythos of Middle-earth. And it drives me craaaaaaazy.

And the thing is, the Lord of the Rings was perfect to me. It struck a solid balance between honouring the history and mythos that came before it but also making it an entertaining movie. While I can't say I didn't wince at various decisions that went against canon (like sending the elves to Helm's Deep. Uh... nooooo) I understood it as necessary forgiveable given it's need to appease the non-initiated by making the movie entertaining.

The Hobbit's choices to go against canon however were awful. And just completely and utterly avoidable to the point of being able to write a thesis on how Peter Jackson ruined it!

For starters, the dwarves, a subject I broached awhile back but will reiterate in short here. I understand the concept of trying to create different dwarf cultures due to their diversification across the land after being chased out of first Moria and then Erebor, but generally, they still all have beards. And yet some of them had beards like Aragorn had a beard, that is to say they didn't have a beard but a five o'clock shadow. You know, for a race that prided themselves on their facial hair, the fact some of them looked like they shaved it off every morning (or trimmed it like a hipster) drove me nuts.

But oh right, they needed someone other than Legolas to be a heart throb in the movie. Ick.

Secondly, keeping four dwarves behind in Lake-town while the other dwarves went to the Lonely Mountain because Kili took a black arrow to the foot that brought upon the Black Breath sickness similar to what Frodo and Eowyn and Faramir suffered in Lord of the Rings? Well, the latter two suffered it in the books anyway.

Here's the thing, pretty sure that's a special ability limited to the likes of a Nazgul. If common orcs had access to such poisons on their blade, no one would survive a mere slash of the cheek by any of the big bads in Middle-earth let alone a battle of ten against one.

Oh and the Kili/Tauriel OTP? ARGH!

Why? Because it flies in the face of the very long history of the animosity between Dwarves and Elves goes all the way back to the First Age when the two races first encountered each other in Middle-earth and basically looked down on the other for how they chose to live their lives.

Despite this, at first some of the interactions was cordial (if a little rude and cold) to begin with between Doriath and the first dwarves in Nogrod; at least they were up until the king of Doriath was murdered by the dwarves, perpetrating a war between both that destroyed both Nogrod and Doriath when it was all said and done by the end, pissing off everyone that was either elf or dwarf in Middle-earth. And given how long lived the elves are, that is to say they live forever, they haven't ever forgotten the treachery.

As for the dwarves? They never did like those hoity-toity tree-lovers anyway. You can say the dwarves gave back as much as they received from them elves.

But what about the friendship between Gimli and Legolas in The Lord of the Rings? Though it wasn't directly broached upon in either book or movie, the truth is that that friendship was actually seismic shifting when it came to the relationship between the elves and dwarves because not since Eol before the fall of Doriath that any of the two races could call each other friends. The friendship was so highly unusual in Middle-earth that it actually was a massive symbol of a new understanding.

In short, a dwarf and an elf falling in love in The Hobbit during a time of very high hostility between the races? Never could happen. Never did happen. And it trivializes all that came before and what came after.

And while we're at it, why couldn't they have simply left Tauriel to be a strong female character ala Galadriel rather than create bloody stupid love triangles for her everywhere she turned. Were they that insecure of her creation that they needed canon characters falling in love with her in order to justify her existence?

But that's for my next rant.

TBC

Why I splurged on... a black leather jacket

Well this is a little embarrassing...

So around September of this year, I realized that I had basically worn out my little pleather jacket to little shreds in certain areas and making it close to unwearable (well it's wearable, but it's not professional-looking because of how worn it was). This coat has been a go-to for me all year long for the last three years, so I wasn't surprised that I had worn it down at all, but I was sad at losing such a big-time piece of my regular wardrobe.

This wasn't the first time either. This was actually the second pleather jacket that I had worn down through the pleather cover in about three years of ownership and constant wearing and running around in it. 

Basically, a black leather-like jacket is one of the huge wardrobe staples of mine that I can't live without and would style and wear with just about everything.

So I made a decision: I need to bite the bullet and get myself a real leather jacket.

The math behind this decision is simple. Both pleather coats were around $50 - $60 and averaged around three years of regular use each. So all told I spent $120 for six years of use, or $20 spent per year that I owned it. A real leather jacket however, with proper care of the material and provided I don't gain a lot of weight in the ensuing years can last up to 15-20 years of usage. At the right price tag, the savings potential is far greater than me continuing my pleather jacket cycle and it's by far less wasteful as far as rampant consumerism goes.

Two things delayed the purchase however: finding the right style and then finding the right price to go with it. And then there was the issue of setting aside the money necessary to afford said purchase. 

I had a leather jacket fund with a modest amount saved within it up until December when I decided to amalgamate a bunch of my planned spending accounts into one big account for planned spending that essentially became my Christmas gifts budget. So technically, I didn't have the money available to buy the jacket this month. But having been severely underwhelmed by the current style of leather coats while perusing the vendors I was contemplating purchasing it from (basically... Danier and just Danier) I had thought I had about two more months before I would find something that would prompt me to make a purchase.

Err... I was wrong.

Silly rabbit! Consumerism does not happen on your schedule!

One of the things not enough people know and need to realize in Canada that Boxing Day "sales" are about as big as a sham as Black Friday "sales." Working retail and in malls for most of my university career, I soon realized that Boxing Day is absolutely not the best day in which to score a deal on most of your desirables and even then, what savings that you might be able to justify is utterly ruined by the prospect of having to fight with fellow customers who have flocked to the malls alongside you. 

And no, I'm not saying that as a disgruntled former retail monkey who had been made to work one too many Boxing Days.

Truth is, the best times to shop for the deals are right before Christmas and the first week of January following New Year's Day. Seriously. I walked around the mall yesterday and I'd say at least a solid 60% of the stores, particularly the clothing ones, are already advertising and running their Boxing Day sales with amazing deductions before the mad rush of impulse purchasers during actual Boxing week madness.

And guess which store was part of the 60%? Yep, Danier is one of those stores running a Boxing Week sale before Boxing Day, advertising a 50% price reduction on coats. Which prompted me to go in, but nothing more was expected given that I had perused their selection a little over a month ago and walked out thinking I didn't like any of their jackets regardless of the price. 

Except on Thursday, On Thursday, I found a style I did like in terms of its classic style and appeal. And it was 50% off, down to $200 from the original $400 price tag.

I don't have the money I don't have the money I don't have the money... And that's how my emergency fund ended up paying my remaining credit card balance for the month of December in order to help me cover the cost of a leather jacket from Danier (and other things, but that's a later story). 

My bank account is currently furious at me and I don't blame it. I'm also in for a spot of trouble as far as my net worth and spending for the month as a result of how expensive it has suddenly become as far as covering various large costs to close out the year.

With that said, I did ultimately save $220 (taxes included) on the original price of a leather jacket I really really like and am already fawning over and getting excited about getting to wear. And the money I am saving on this purchase should and will be directed towards my TFSA.

At least they will be once I get my emergency fund out of the black hole that was my credit card expenditures for the month. No lie, that has kind of taken a front seat to well... EVERYTHING now.

Oy vey...

Product placement: U by Kotex pads, I don't like you very much at all!

This is not a sponsored post and I am not being paid to discuss any of the products mentioned below. This is simply an individual's perspective on a particular brand and product. All views and opinions are mine and mine alone.

Advance warning: This post is about women's sanitary objects, specifically pads.

Let's be honest and up front, as a woman, we all use them, we all need them, and yet it is certainly not a task we enjoy having to put up with every month. But given that we ultimately do have to use them for a little less than a week every month (and because you are not the type that likes to incur huge and costly damage to the clothing and fabric furniture around you, not to mention gross out everyone) it is kind of important to find a sanitary item that not only meets your err "flow" needs but most importantly, your needs for comfort.

Comfort is a huge factor for me in sanitary pad selection.

Now first of all, why do I use sanitary pads? Because sleeping with a tampon scares me in a "I'm concerned about possibly making myself sick due to toxic shock" kind of way. Also I find that tampons can also at times exacerbate cramping for me. So while I do utilize tampons enough, during particularly unpleasant flows, I genuinely prefer pads because counter-intuitively, it's more comfortable.

Problem is, pads can be bulky, can end up being fairly damp, even sticky and even the shape of it can turn the experience of wearing one extremely uncomfortable. And the thicker they are, the more they feel as if you're wearing a diaper, and the more they tend to poke and prod into your skin and aggravate it.

And U by Kotex's pads have every single one of these problems.

I'm sure you've seen some of those stupid commercials by this company for its pad line how it's a more hip product, but seriously, it's so bad. 

The top layer seems to be made of some kind of plastic that makes it very sticky and wet while wearing it even when it is dry. As if that isn't enough, the pad is unbelievably bulky as well, with very odd lumps in different parts of the pad that I'm sure was designed but does nothing for me at all, in fact it makes it even more uncomfortable. 

Also, I'm petite, a size that most pads are not made for and as a result, I also genuinely need pads with wings in order to minimize damage to my clothes. The version I bought had wings, but it was designed so wide that the wings almost didn't do anything to keep the pad in place. And this was the extra thin brand. 

Ergo, big mess.

It's actually like wearing a diaper. A really really bad and unsuccessful diaper.

I've used Stayfree for years and while they sit on the bulky side, they don't come with the sticky and wet problem for the most part. 

And last year I tried and fell in love with Always Infinity's line that had seemed to solve every issue I have had with pads for years. Not only is it soft and dry feeling, it is also extremely thin and small, sized for a petite body with wings. It's to the point that it doesn't even feel as if I'm wearing a pad!

Always Infinity has since become my go-to pad brand.

But if I had a pad I knew I liked, why try U by Kotex pads? Well first they make great tampons (although it seems my sister has developed an allergy to the grip part of the applicator, so that's something to keep an eye out for) but they're easy to use and far more comfortably than anything else I've used. And second, I had a coupon for U by Kotex. So why not try it?

Well... that was a bit of a waste of money it turned out. I mean, I will probably do my best to work through the pads I'm now stuck with. Maybe I'll save it specifically for when I sleep or don't leave the house. But seriously, not worth the purchase. And something I won't ever spend money on again.

At least, not in its current incarnation of utter suckage.

Hitting Canada's pension plan jackpot

So back at the end of September, a year into the job and as I was on the tail end of paying down the last of my credit card debt, I found out that my full time job offers a pension plan for full-time employees. But unlike some places of employment that automatically signs you up and makes deductions off your paycheque right away into the plan, at our place of work you have to opt into the program, which anyone can do upon working three months at the company.

Which makes sense, I thought. Sometimes people have other needs or uses for the money that is taken from your paycheque and at least this option allows people to choose how they would like to set up for retirement. To be perfectly frank, the money that is now going towards my pension was money that was going towards my credit card, which to me at the time was a much bigger concern for me then retirement.

But then I saw what kind of pension my job was offering to its employees. And then I started kicking myself.

I went with the Draco!facepalm because kicking myself in the butt is anatomically impossible.

In Canada, there are two main types of pension plans: a defined benefits pension plan and a defined contributions pension plan. And while they are both pensions, they guarantee different things for those that are invested into it.

A defined benefits plan is one in which you are guaranteed an income during your retirement years, so in advance the contributor already knows how they are benefiting in advance. You may contribute your earnings, but your employer is in charge of investing your contributions, essentially doing all your dirty work for you in order to ensure there is money available to pay for your retirement within the plan. And what if there is a shortfall or if an investment went south causing a shortfall? Your employer is made to cover the difference.

A defined contributions plan is different. While your contributions as well as your employer's contributions are guaranteed, your retirement income is not. Like RRSPs, it is up to the individual contributor to choose their investments and upon retirement, their contributions and the money earned on their investments becomes your retirement income. But the onus is on the employee to keep an eye on their investments and to ensure growth over that time.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess which one is the better of the two. But the unfortunate reality is that the defined benefits plan is a dying breed in Canada due to the gradual shift from defined benefits to defined contribution plans for most businesses. The reason for this is simple: as the number of people who have retired on the plan goes up and ostensibly the number of people contributing to the plan goes down, the cost of maintaining a profitable pension becomes increasingly difficult for businesses and often forces them to have to dig deeper and deeper into their own bottom line in order to fulfill their guarantees. By switching to a defined contributions plan, employers no longer have to carry the burden of failed investments; the employee is on the hook for that.

So... guess which one my job offered to their employees?

In the words of my supervisor, my employer offers one of the best pensions in the entire country. And I lost nine months of contributions (and therefore future salary) to it due to simple ignorance.

But as they say, better late than never, and arguably speaking, I was hardly truly late on the contributions at all given that it's been less than a year's time that I lost. And it is not as if they had changed the plan between when I qualified for it and when I did finally opt in so really, all I missed out on was a few months of taking part.

Granted, life is unpredictable and who knows what will happen in the next 37 or so years when I retire, and for that I contribute to an RRSP still, if at a pitiful rate. But for now, I can at least take some comfort in knowing I am in a good spot retirement-wise. Which took a huge load off my back and gave me some peace of mind.

Spreading out my bill payments = a less stressful life

Another month, and another chunk of cash has disappeared from my chequing account in order to service my student loan debt.

Unlike most people, I requested and was given the option of having my automatic withdrawals on the 15th of every month instead of the end of the month.

Why? Because my rent actually comes out in the first week of the month, which meant that for awhile, my two biggest, and therefore most burdensome bills were leaving my account at around the same time. As a result, it took a very measured and careful balancing act to keep it from putting me into the negative in my bank account. Which I had managed to not do up until July of this year when I went into overdraft because my student loan withdrawal was late and my rent cheque cleared early. Loosely translated, I got hit with both bills on the same day and I was entirely unprepared for it.

At that point I threw up my hands, picked up the phone and told the student loans centre that I wanted my withdrawals to happen on the 15th of the month, thereby formally putting a paycheque between my rent payment and my student loans.

Frankly, I wish I had done it sooner.

Now your bills coming due at the same time is great if you were paid monthly, thereby allowing you to pay off everything at once and knowing in advance the money you have to spend for the following month. But if you were paid biweekly, like I am, it can become a problem.

Especially if one biweekly paycheque doesn't cover the entire costs of the bills coming due.

By putting a paycheque between my two biggest bills, it has allowed for me to spread out the costs and even out the distribution of money spent and money saved. And it has eliminated the hassle of having one paycheque carry all of the burden of my bills, but leaving me with no money for food or other things afterward. Which is not a good thing.

All in all, this allows for me to have a much clearer picture of my finances month over month but doesn't leave me deprived, struggling or left with the illusion of having a lot of money due to having a paycheque with very little money promised.

Paying your bills is enough of a burden as it is without you having to struggle to find money to make up for shortfalls. By doing this, it has given me the chance to stay organized but also to keep me far more realistic with my money.

The value of paying down debt ASAP

In The Smart Debt Coach by Talbot Stevens, he illustrates in laymen's terms why paying down a high interest debt of at least 20% can translate to a guaranteed return of 25% or more on an investment.

Which given that investment returns tend to hover between 5-10% over a long, long period of time (if you're smart and don't choose a poor investment strategy), if there was an actual investment or an actual stock out there that could and would guarantee a 25% return on your investment, people would be trampling each other in the rush to go all in on it. Because a 25% return is impossibly large.

If there was such a thing as a guaranteed 25% return on investment,
everyone would be like this.

But how can debt be equated to an impossibly lucrative investment? Well it all relates back to an individual's net worth.

Your net worth is probably the simplest math available in personal finance; what you own minus what you owe. So count up all your investments minus the debt you have and there's your net worth, a number that is solidly in the red for me. But he takes the net worth discussion a step further by pointing out that a gain of $200 and avoiding the loss of $200 is essentially the same thing to your net worth. Either option results in a positive impact on your net worth.

When you pay over the minimum payment on your credit card, or even pay off the balance completely, you are not just paying down the debt you owe against your net worth, you are also avoiding the interest fee that you would have accumulated if not for paying down your balance.

For instance say you owed $2,000 on a credit card that charges an annual interest rate of 20%. That means that every month that you owe $2000 on the card, you will pay $33.33 in interest alone. That's $33 extra you owe every month and $33 against your net worth every month.

But say you have $2,000 and you use it to pay off your debt. Suddenly, you not only owe $2,000 less against your net worth, you also save $33 in interest costs, therefore the return on your net worth is actually $2033, which is basically an immediate $33 return on investment.

But say you can't pay down the $2000 right away. Say you can only pay half of it one month and the other half the following month. What's the return like then?

If you pay down half of the $2,000 in the first month, you will save $16.66 in possible interest costs but also get charged $16.66 on the $1,000 you didn't pay down, basically your net worth has not been impacted, positively or negatively, which is great given how badly debt and interest can impact your net worth.

The longer it takes for you to pay down a debt the more time you allow for interest to creep in to negatively impact your money.

By paying down the debt as quickly as possible, you not only positively increase your net worth by owing less, but in the long view, you also positively increase your overall net worth by not having to pay whatever extra interest you would have otherwise have paid.

Nowhere is this more exemplified than when I calculate my interest costs on my student loans. Not only does paying an extra $50 a month shave off the number of years in which I'll be paying down my loans by almost a year, but it will also save me up to $850 in additional interest costs as a result which is still way more than any amount of money I would get back from the government in the form of a tax credit on the interest I would have paid otherwise.

That right there is a massively positive increase on my net worth and a hugely positive investment to my future self.

Now granted, my student loan interest is a 5.5% compounded daily annual interest rate, which may justify putting more of my money towards investing due to higher returns on some investments in the stock market. Plus, my interest payments comes with a tax credit from the government, standing to reason that my loan interest costs are even lower still than even a small return on investing year-over-year.

And that's justified reasoning. However, my student loan payments offers a guaranteed return within the next five years whereas most investments do not. In fact, investments can be quite volatile within that timeframe.

Though it may be boring... and may not equal the best returns on your money, it is the safest means of guaranteeing a return on any money you can and will make.

Having bad eyesight is kind of expensive!

It's been nearly six years of since I got my last check up at an eye doctor and six years since I got a new pair of glasses, and all of it was done under the care of my mother's benefits at the time. So I couldn't tell you how expensive it was to do all the way back then, but I had a vague idea it wasn't terribly cheap to do.

Which is what led to me spending something around two months hemming and hawing over whether I need to update my prescription and my glasses.

But six years is too long between check ups on my eyes -- three times too long in fact -- and with the possibility of getting behind a wheel on the horizon and another bloody test for my new driver's license on the horizon, it had come to reason that I had put off the process for too long.

So I went to the eye doctor and then got not one pair of glasses, but two new pairs of glasses. An heir and a spare so to speak.

Thank God for my work benefits, because swallowing the full costs of these items would have hurt. Having bad eyesight can get really expensive.

How expensive? Even after shopping around for preferred prices in both desired frames and a check-up (both of which saw me land at a little boutique near where I worked) the grand total amount came to $364 dollars all told, and that's with me being extremely cheap about it! I've seen the costs being twice as high as what I paid out.

How cheap was I with this? Well, I bought economic frames, largely because they were on a two-for-one special that also did not see me go for a pair of designer frames. It also excludes the cost of contacts, which I've been waffling on only because I don't see too many occasions coming up where I'll be needing them. So there's that.

I was lucky however, in that I did have the option to shop around and find a place that doesn't charge the exorbitant prices that the main retailers did. It also helps that due to the shape of my face and the extremely low bridge of my nose, my frame size selection is extremely limited (I can't go for large frame glasses because my cheekbones would actually jut against my lens!) and generally kept me away from the designer stuff. So what I saved on the frames therefore mostly went towards my lenses.

And I have benefits.

The benefits will swallow about half to a bit more than half of the costs at least so I will be getting paid back the money I've already put into it up front at least. But ultimately, it is pretty unbelievable how something that is more or less a necessity for the poorly visioned really comes at such a cost all the same.

It also makes me ask how isn't it at least partially subsidized by the universal healthcare system, although for all I know, it might just be and the prices we pay are the subsidized pricing. Which makes the whole cost even more alarming.

Discovering the magic of time and compounding

As a 20-something year old, I will openly admit that in prior years like the majority of people my age, retirement and saving for it was pretty much out of sight, out of mind for me. I would even grumble about mandatory CPP deductions on my wages. I had figured that given that retirement for me was more or less 40 years of gainful employment away, I had time on my hands to more or less worry about it later.

Then I got smarter about my money. Or rather, I read up on saving my money and happened to stumble upon the magic and math behind retirement savings.

As it turned out, the fact I have time on my hands is a major reason why I should start saving for retirement right now rather than wait.

The earlier a person begins to save for retirement, the easier it will be to afford retirement. This is especially true for those who are at a stage in their lives when financial obligations are few and there are no dependents in which resources must be committed to. Sure one's earnings in the early stages of their lives are generally lower than your middle years which means that the amount that one can contribute is also somewhat limited.

But as it turned out, the early years of retirement investing and savings are far more valuable than the dollar value you are able to contribute yearly.

My starting age of 28 is because 28 was when I started investing into my retirement. Also because seeing how much more I could have made if I began a year earlier is a touch too depressing for me to want to calculate it. 

The math might be a bit funky (in that while it looks kind of right to me, the formula I found online may still be off enough that the inflation rate is too high) but the gist of the point is there in addition to a million of similar charts on the internet basically illustrating the same thing, even with different numbers.

It is utterly astounding how two years extra of investing and compounding your money makes a huge difference in how much you will have by retirement. And this is even if you were to deposit extra cash later to hypothetically "make up" for lost time.

In fact, the amount an investor who is 30 years old would need to invest year over year in order to properly catch up to the 28 year old investor is around $1,300 yearly, or $45,500 invested into your retirement in actual cash by the end of it. Which in dollar terms is not a whole lot over 35 years, until you compare the fact that a 28 year old investor basically retired with the same amount of money having only directly contributed $37,000 when it is all said and done.

And don't even ask how much a person in their 40s or 50s will need to catch up to the 28 or 30 year old; it will make most normal people's eyes water.

Ultimately, what won me over on creating a habit of saving for the distant future now is this: don't underestimate the value of time when planning to save or invest, in that a longer timeline given for your money to mature and grow, the greater the returns.

It may be at some cost of this or that nice thing or even accelerating student loans payments right now, but ultimately, it is important to create that base value in which time can then help me build on for a happier and independent retirement.

How I paid off my credit cards

So back in July, I made the very important decision to pay off my credit card balance of around $2,000 after realizing I was paying $50 a month on interest costs, an amount that still makes me annoyed today. Mostly because I can and have done a lot with $50 in my life that doesn't include paying for the right to own a credit card.

But I don't make a fortune here. Actually, $2,000 was a month's salary at my regular job and I wasn't exactly in a position to go an entire month without paying bills or other expenses in order to pay down that card immediately at the time. It's one thing to pay down debt, but not at the expense of paying for the basics like shelter and food at the very least. Although granted I did pay for more than just those two things.

When paying down a credit card, the first and most important step really is deciding to pay off the card. In doing so, you become more conscious of how you spend money using it, but most importantly, you are now keeping a careful eye on the balance as well. This way, whatever money you do spend should be paid down in addition to the extra money you put on top of it to pay down the existing balance.

Although the smart thing to do is really to stop using the credit card you're paying down and either switch to cash or debit, or maybe just use a different or get a second credit card. This is mostly because for most credit card companies, an existing charge means interest begins to accrue on new charges almost immediately rather than give you a 21 day grace period.

Anyway, the original plan was to cease spending money on it while also pinching out $200 a month out of my monthly earnings to pay down the balance, which meant that it would be more or less paid off within a year. Simple and manageable.

But then I turned around and paid it down in two months.

No, I didn't end up dropping $1000 of my monthly earnings into my credit card out of sheer overeagerness. Well not all of it. Part of it was because I had some fortuitous timing at the time.

One of the first things I did was picked up the small wad of cash of $900 that had been slowly accruing and amounted to a pseudo emergency fund and dumped most of it into my credit card. This is something that is not highly recommended. While I did save on interest costs in the short term and therefore netted some money in the process, in the same breath, if I ran into a real emergency in the time it took for me to re-accrue the money, guess where the spending would have ended up? Back onto my credit card.

I got lucky however. No major dilemmas occurred.

The other fortuitous event? My freelance work.

When I budget my money or consider my monthly expenses, I generally do not account for money earned on top of my regular pay - things that includes overtime, holiday pay and my freelance work - mostly because I am never guaranteed month over month when I would earn the extra cash.

It's may be less money to play with when balancing my budget, but in doing so, in months that I do make some extra cash, it can act as a surplus in my life and can go to things like a small treat or reward outside of my actual planned budget, but primarily is meant to be spread between my savings and my debt.

A lot of extra work however usually means the windfall can be generous for the month. How generous? A week's worth of extra work freelancing means I basically add another paycheque to my earnings, and it is all money that is unaccounted for.

That is exactly what happened in September and October and was the cash I used to foist the remainder of my credit card debt out the window, a solid eight to ten months ahead of schedule.

The goal of paying down my credit card debt had existed almost as long as I've been carrying a balance. So there was happiness in seeing that account at zero after so many years of carrying a balance. But mostly, there was a sense of real relief. Relief that I got the burden out of the way so quickly and relief that the extra strain on my earnings was finally gone.

Too bad I can't realistically do the same to my student loans. Now that is a longer term task to tackle. But the point right now is to pay down that balance to a point when a large surplus of cash can realistically eliminate my burden.

It's going to take HOW LONG to pay off my student loans?

Perhaps it was a bit of a morbid curiosity, or perhaps I just wanted to get a better and clearer picture of my student debt repayment future for the next few years.

Although it's more likely that I wanted to know at what point I can free up the close to $500 that is currently going towards my student loan debt, or around 25% of my net income per month, given that I could do so much else with that money. Like buy a fancy dress.

Either way, earlier last month, I sat down and calculated a rough estimate of what my student loan debt repayment journey is going to look like if I made minimum payments on my debt from here on out.

And well... would anyone like to buy a kidney for $30,000?

See how tiny the words are on that line graph? Basically, the timeline for repayment is so long, the table has to be teeny tiny in order to fit in this blog. But for the lazy, here's the underlying theme of that red line in that line graph.

With minimum payments and assuming interest won't go up, I won't pay off that loan until December 2021. SIX years from now.

But wait. What's that blue line next to the red line that hits zero quite a few months before the red line hits zero you ask?

That magic line is for me to track my actual payments made, but to also to illustrate to my sometimes negative-thinking self how only $50 extra dollars a month can shave off a significant amount of time to my repayment journey. How much time you may ask? Try almost a full calendar year. Instead of paying off the balance in December of 2021, it's paid off in January of that year.

It is still not an ideal timeline as far as how far away the final destination seems to look like, but hey, it's all projections at this point and really only accounts for small numbers as far as repayment goes. The goal here is to beat all these projections and be rid of it as soon as I possibly can with whatever means I can afford to lend towards it over time. And who knows, over time, I may suddenly muscle the resolve to simply increase my accelerated monthly payments, something that up until now I've been a touch too chicken to do.

That's what having no real cushion for my finances in my savings or anywhere else does to your ability to confidently set a nice high number to debt regularly.

Anyway, money is fickle and the future is uncertain, nothing in that line graph includes things that I can't confidently account for as far as when and how much extra can be given. For instance, given the interest I pay every month, I should hope to get a pretty solid windfall with my tax return in the form of a credit, not to mention left over education tax credits that I had accumulated over the years. But until I know for certain how much I earn back and the sum of my return, it won't be calculated into the projections, though it would put a pretty solid notch into that line graph. It also doesn't account for money I make freelancing or on holiday, which also adds to nice surprises when I need it.

The point is, there is at least the bare bones of a plan in place to try and pay off the debt that makes sense for me and my money. But six years is a very long time and many things can change in that time. Which I'll take by ear and hope that the news is good.

Recap: Spending and saving in November 2014

So November thankfully didn't end up being as expensive as I was bracing for it to be. This was mostly due to me being allowed to delay the payment of my G2 test in addition to me delaying the purchase of my glasses briefly in order to allow me to shop around.

All of this really changed everything for me in terms of money saved and money spent. But most importantly, I allowed for me to stay under budget this month!

DEBT REPAYMENT: I got charged one cent of interest on my Mastercard this month and it's made me more a little angry! Seriously, it raised my hate for credit cards just a little bit!

And it could have been avoided too. Mostly because while I know the settlement date for the card happens on the 20th, but I made the mistake in assuming that payment is based on the transaction date and not the posting date... which came down the following day.

So the lesson here is... I need to more regularly pay off the balance in order to keep that from happening again. Oh and keep that credit card clear well before the settlement date.

Anyway on to actual debt repayment news...

This month saw me resume the habit of throwing an extra $50 on top of my required $479.83 monthly student loan payment as a means to get the total amount paid (before interest) to the principle over the $500 mark, with this payment happily putting me below the 33K mark, which means I have paid back close to $10,000 since first going into repayment!

I also ended up tossing another $20 extra into my payment as well. Why? Because it was the difference between me owing over $33,700 and me owing under $33,700 in student loans. And because forced perspective is important to me. And this is one way that helps encourage me in making extra payments.


EXPENSES: I did it!!!

I STAYED UNDER MY FOOD BUDGET THIS MONTH!

And that's even with the $51 dollars I spent on dinner with friends going towards food and not what I classified as entertainment! Which meant I was more or less $50 below my actual food budget which makes me super excited about the accomplishment.

Now there were a few overages in the certain categories, namely my clothing and make-up category which was over by about $8 due to an unplanned $31 splurge on my very expensive, but beloved and increasingly necessary brand of facial cleanser. But overall, I still fell below my discretionary budget limit of $400 and not just a little below like last month, but a sizable chunk below it. Which is a solid win in my short-lived budgeting life.

It also bodes well for the upcoming month as well, given that I am fully expecting to run up various costs and ultimately spend quite a lot more money than I have been lately. This includes the delayed but still looming costs of new glasses (a cost that I don't have cash dedicated to at the moment, so will require some scrimping, freelance pay and saving on my part) and my scheduled G2 test (which does have some money earmarked towards it). Also, there's the money I need to spend on gifts, of which I have some amount earmarked but haven't yet had a clear idea how much I may actually need for it.


INCOME: With salary deductions towards various wealth accumulation programs at work becoming a real reality for me this month, money was really tight for me, at least it certainly felt that way. Not that I didn't have enough money for my expenses or struggled to pay bills. I have enough to currently avoid living paycheque to paycheque right now. But it did feel as if I had to account for just about every penny I earned from my regular income in order not to go over or go under my intended spending anywhere.

Thankfully I did manage to receive some money from some freelance work from the previous month which gave me a much needed boost and allowed me to close a bit of a gap I was dealing with as far as paying for my eye doctor appointment and extra driving lessons.

Add in an upcoming holiday payout from Thanksgiving and being able to accept a few more freelance shifts this month than the previous month of which I won't see the payoff until next month, hoping I have some extra cash to play with for next month in order to cover what needs to be covered for the holiday season.


SAVINGS: I was this close to posting a negative growth in my savings this month due to having to pull money from my everyday savings account to pay for my G2 test. This would have therefore cut into the net gains I made in paying down my student loans and therefore shrunk my net worth increase by quite a bit.

But thankfully I didn't and the account was able to expand a healthy $200 for November, give or take a dollar or two, putting me pretty close to the $1,000 mark for the first time since probably May in my savings account.

Granted, the negative balance is still forthcoming what with the G2 test still be an upcoming expense as well as the money I set aside for gifts in that account being something else that will likely have to come out of my savings account. But with extra money on the horizon for December and January thanks to some work during the holidays as well as extra freelance work, if there is any impact, I feel it will be far more minor and feel less impactful in the long and short term.

As for my wealth accumulation accounts, there isn't near enough money there for my investments to make even a nominal impact on my net worth at the moment that would be more than a few cents either way. Plus, it is only a few months into a really long term process either way.

Current Net Worth: -$32,235.79 (+2.3%)

I got only 75% of the way to making a $1,000 positive impact on my net worth this month, which while wasn't an explicit goal in any case, was something I was keeping an eye on as far as what's possible when it comes to me and my money. The conclusion was that I really like earning extra cash from something. A lot.

Why I splurged on... $30 facial soap

In some ways, I understand the general reticence of some of the more frugal people in this world in having to spend any amount of money on things that are essentially meant to be thrown away or sloughed down a drain. And I can see why they may rather opt to limit the money spent on such purchases. Hey, sometimes I feel the same way.

So for them, me spending $30 dollars on just facial soap would be a huge sin, especially given that I already owned facial washes I haven't yet finished with when I bought it. Which I also understand, sentiment-wise.

But they don't live in my skin. I do.

And let me tell you, my skin in any weather but especially in winter without the right care is a downright nightmare to live with.

I'm allergic to everything. Well no, I'm not actually allergic to everything, but with allergies to dust, trees, ragweed and grasses, we may as well say I'm just about allergic to everything. (I'm not allergic to mold however, which is about the only widely available spore I am not reactive to) Most of the time, it just sneezing and a stuffy nose, something easily managed with but for the last two years, it's culminated into something far less manageable in the winter.

I've been dealing with hives. And not just a little rash either. It's all up and down both my arms and legs, spreads like nobody's business and haunts me for weeks on end. And it is really very expensive to get this problem under control given the prescriptions, the over-the-counter allergy medicine and other products I need to deal with it.

It sucks, and it affects everything in my life when I have it.

So what does this have to do with expensive facial soap? Well... everything. 

Have you ever used a face wash or soap that dries out your skin? I have and it wasn't caused by cheap products either. I've used face washes from Sheishido and Simple and even Clinique and they all caused some level of dryness on my face. And the discomfort it was causing was coming to a head over the summer. 

So in June, after looking over a few suggestions online of different kinds of products, I bought a sample bottle of purity by philosophy for around $13, wondering if it would solve my face wash worries. And it was amazing. Not only was it amazingly gentle on my skin, my face come out soft and smooth and it didn't feel dry or cracked at any point, even after my sometimes inhumanly warm showers.

But as with all good things went, it came to an end some time in late September and I ran out of the product. But instead of running out and buying a new one, I made the decision to try and go back to my other cleansers, at least until they run out. And once they do, I can justify buying and sticking with my one true product afterward.

I survived oh... about two months. That is to say, I survived only so long for the temperature to drop dramatically and the cold air making my skin begin to dry. And as it went, at some point a week ago, I began to break out. And my resolve vanished.

Because zits are not fun, and dry skin leads to hives.

I look at it as a means to help me maintain the health of my skin, and by extension my overall health. And given that we're expected to have an especially cold winter again this year, I need every weapon I can get to combat dry skin in order to stop hives before they start.

As for the other cleansers I own? I will try and mix them in here and there when I can on certain days as a means to try and work through the leftover product I have. Because I hate wasting money and usable items like that... though in the same breath, am none to keen in letting it pile up either. So hopefully they'll get used up over time. If maybe far longer than I originally intended it to last.

The Bookworm's Review: The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller

This review was crossposted from Goodreads.

There was something about this book. Even a month after the fact, I still couldn't tell you entirely what it was that made it appeal to me.

But it did more than simply appeal to me when I read it. I actually really, really enjoyed this book.

When I originally bought The Innocent Mage at a second-hand book store, I didn't think much of it other than the fact that I had seen it on my recommended list for awhile now.

And to be honest, I had bought it under some duress because I needed a second book purchase in order to up the cost of my actual desired purchase to a point when I could pay for my items with a debit card.

I could not even tell you why I would later pick up to read this book over the many, many others that I still needed to read on my bookshelf at the time. But I did, and when I finished, I'm glad I did. But it certainly didn't feel that way when I started.

I found the beginnings to be a bit odious as far as how it seemed to rely heavily on overused and tired fantasy tropes. "The young adventurer leaves home to find glory elsewhere, but little does he know he's actually a special snowflake." Something along those lines. Add in the somewhat juvenile and annoyingly emphasized accent and it certainly didn't do much to win me over in its first few chapters.

And then... I don't know, something changed the deeper into the story I got. I think it was the point that it moved away from the tropes and became less a story about an adventure and more a story about the people in the story, particularly the main characters and especially Asher. Miller did a great job demonstrating personal growth, growing relationships both in love and in hate and the decisions that leads to actions and how actions leads to various consequences. And somehow kept all that from feeling overly wrought and painfully dramatic (well... most of the time).

With that said, this story is heavily dependent on the reader engaging with the characters of whom you interact with the most, whether it is Asher, Prince Gar, Dathne or Matt, but most especially Asher. It is easy to see how people will not enjoy the book if they don't enjoy Asher, and I can certainly see some people finding his personality a little bit arrogant.

But such wasn't the case for me. I really really enjoyed his up-front and sometimes abrasive personality nearly to a fault and as a result, the story soared by rather quickly for me.

Which brings me to my final point, one that is a matter of major annoyance with me when I finished and also one that involves a bit of a spoiler so let this be your warning if you have not yet read this book and are exploring it as an option.

It is not so much that the book ended in a massive cliffhanger (literally) that bothered me at the end, but we never quite got to the point where the title of the book "The Innocent Mage" was explained or revealed at all. Sure there were hints in the form of a prophecy, such that I will allow, but the main character remains in the dark of said prophesy still!

Basically you read this whole novel about a character's personal growth - while hinting at a huge moment where he does more than just grow, he becomes a hero - and... nope. No big moment for you!

I mean, really?

Oh and as for the big bad, it took the author nearly the whole book to introduce him and ultimately while the plot can be called compelling, the big bad remains highly underwhelming in the early parts.

With that said, I should also allow that maybe Miller was hit with the same syndrome as J.R.R. Tolkien and was made to split what was supposed to be a single tome into separate parts - Tolkien into a trilogy, Miller's into a duology. Which in this case, I retract all the criticism above as it's hardly her fault.

Regardless, I still enjoyed the book. Actually, I enjoyed the book a lot. And I certainly do look forward to eventually reading the second part of this duology and discover how this book finally resolves itself. The anticipation and the enjoyment therefore is enough for me to give this fun read four stars.

Oh and the fifth? Well... let's just say, like my teachers in high school, I'm deducting marks for what felt like an incomplete piece.