How I avoided from splurging on... a Tommy Hilfiger shirt dress

So for the last half a year, I've been lusting after and looking for the perfect shirt dress.

And when I say perfect, I mean it needs to be cut to flatter my particular figure, (which many are not) it has to have sleeves, (because I have enough sleeveless dresses to suit me fine now, and something with sleeves is something I can wear to work without raising eyebrows) it has to be made of a soft fabric, (because I've had enough of cheap polyester fabrics) have a pattern that suits me (because I want this dress to be as versatile as possible in order to make it a flexible piece of my closet) and it needs to hit a good inch or so above my knees. (because I'm short and unless a midi or maxi dress, just makes me look shorter!)

Can you see why I haven't yet found or bought my perfect shirt dress yet?

So yesterday I was at the mall, waiting for a meeting with my bank's investment advisor regarding opening a TFSA investment account as well as a Line of Credit. (all things I will discuss later) And... well what do you expect me to do when I'm at a mall a half hour before the meeting time? I browsed at a number of stores with clothes that for the most part makes me want to choke because of the price of the item.

One store I walked into was Tommy Hilfiger, which let me clarify, is a store I have more or less been only visiting occasionally since having worked retail there for two to three years. But it does have some nice things, if often way too preppy for my tastes.

And that's when I saw what I thought was the perfect shirt dress.

Note that I said thought.

An approximation of the shirt dress
I saw at Tommy Hilfiger.

Staring at it hanging from a hanger, it presented really well. It was navy and white which are solid neutral colours, but they were much smaller checks - likely around a sixteenth of the size of the checks of the dress on the right. It was a rayon fabric but very soft and long sleeved. The belt was cheap, given it was made out of the same material but overall, based off the appearance of it hanging from the hanger, it looked pretty good. Perfect for what I was looking for in that style.

And I wanted to buy it. All $80 plus tax of it.

Now at the point of finding it, I was close to meeting time. I wouldn't have enough time to try it on and get to the meeting on time. And I contemplated just buying it based on the look.

I didn't buy it off the rack. 

Rather I chose to leave it, go to the meeting and then come back after and try it on.

When I tried it on I thanked God I didn't just walk out with this purchase without trying it on.

First of all, trying it on made me see that it was WAY too long, like an inch below my knees too long. And the smallest size (XS) may actually be too big for me based on where the shoulders hit me plus the fit was rather boxy. 

It looked wrong. It made me look matronly and short.

Now look, trying something on isn't always the right idea when you are clothes shopping. When I worked retail, us sales associates were actually encouraged to have shoppers head to the dressing rooms and try on the things they are picking up. This is because if something looked good on them, it generates a feeling of ownership and belonging and it increases the likelihood of the patron purchasing the item.

But in this case, I was already at that point with the item. It was simply a matter of figuring out if it did make me look as good as I was dreaming it did. And the answer was no.

It did make me sad in the sense that I'm still on the search for the perfect shirt dress, but ultimately if it doesn't look good and make you feel good, it's not worth buying and it's certainly not worth keeping.

Not to mention, I've kind of spent a touch too much money over my usual budget for the month anyway so I really should not have been looking at spending more money on something that I didn't need anyway.

Why I'm considering ditching the metropass...

Every year it is getting harder and harder to see transiting as a more affordable option. I mean, it is still cheaper compared to the costs of maintaining and owning a car (something I'll broach upon later) but lately the savings seems to be less and less every year to the point that if just for the convenience, a personal vehicle doesn't sound like such a bum deal in comparison now.

So recently the TTC announced that as of March 1st, the price of fares is going up again. It's a yearly tradition for this system it seems. And while the $3 cash fee will remain the same, tokens are going up 10 cents. And yes, while children under 12 are now getting on free, I don't have children in which could benefit from this change. Rather, I'm one of the people being slammed because I buy a metropass.

Half of the commuters that use the TTC regularly are metropass users. They range from teenagers to post-secondary students all the way to young and old professionals. The added convenience as well as the tax credit adds to the encouragement to make use of these cards.

Now the metropass for adults (not students or seniors who get their own discount) is currently $133.75, or the equivalent to 49 tokens. (and 44 cash fares) This means there and back again, you need to make around 24 trips. So basically it's worth it if you ride the subway five times a week (per regular work week) in a four week month plus nine more single trips here and there. And given that every week I am guaranteed to make at least one more trip it's worth it for me to pay the full price, but only barely.

But with the metropass hike to $141.50, suddenly the cost of this convenience is 51 tokens. (or
47 cash fares) And yes, while that's only two extra tokens compared to as of old, how many of us makes 25 there and back trips in a month? How many of us uses the bus on all but five or six days in a month?

If the currently priced metropass was barely worth it for me making a guaranteed extra trip, what about those that only uses it to get downtown to work on weekdays? Basically you're paying 11 tokens a month for just convenience now. As far as dollar values are concerned, 11 tokens is about $30 people are whittling down the drain just for convenience.

I don't think the tax credit from using a metropass can get me back the $30 I could potentially waste each month just for owning a TTC metropass. And tokens at least carry over their value over time when you don't use the total by month. But if you don't have the required rides by the end of whatever month you own the metropass, that's it, you're out of the money.

Which is why I say now, thank GOD I don't pay full price for a TTC metropass.

Nope, I don't pay full price for a card. I actually get a discount I work for a company that offers VIP metropasses to their employees. How much less? Around $15 less. Add in my parents wanting to subsidize and I pay $100 of actual money for my cards every month. Which is actually brilliant value for my ride.

Still, my roommate does purchase his own metropass, and this is something I will bring up with him when next we get to sit down and talk. Because in some ways, this price is no longer worth the convenience for him as a five day a week guy.

And if that's how I'm feeling as a non-full price user, how about all of those that do use it?

Sorry (not sorry) TTC. But stop making some of your amenities into luxuries and maybe I wouldn't be itching to drive a bloody car instead.

Me and everyone else even really.

Don't get blinded by the brand

If there was a phenomena I never fully understood and often looked upon with a healthy amount of disdain for most of my life, it's the need of people to spend an absurd amount of money on brands. 

Because you know... slap on a logo and suddenly the shirt made in China is made of better fabric and better constructed than the stuff from Walmart and justifies you spending 20 times the price, right?

The history of fashion has always been about creating a visual status symbol, an indicator of wealth or power that separates you from others. In the old days that used to be velvet and silk fabrics due to the high cost of import, rarity and its high maintenance. The colour purple was also a huge status symbol due to how difficult it was to manufacture the colour with natural dyes. 

Today it's all about the brand as a status symbol. The bigger, the better.

But that's just it; sometimes you're not paying for a better fabric, a better constructed piece, a better item. Often times all you're paying for is a logo. And why? Because it makes people think you have a lot of money and it makes you feel good inside?

Why spend more money on something that is just as cheaply made as something from Walmart just because it has a Club Monaco logo attached to it?

You aren't earning distinction when you are wearing brand clothing you can't afford. All you're buying into is your own delusion and a delusion that is often encouraged by retailers and advertisers. It's not good for your health and you can bet it's not good with your finances.

According to the CBC, the middle class retailer is dying a slow death. This is mostly because the middle-class is actually shrinking, but it is also because the people in the middle class are either taking on one of two personas; the poor or the rich. That is to say they shop at Walmart either to buy more or because they prefer to, or else they shop as if they're rich and regularly peruse the likes of Holt Renfrew.

And given the rise of consumer debt in Canada, you can guess which side most people fall upon. Heck, even those who can't afford to call themselves the middle class are even shopping like they're rich.

Listen, I have nothing against buying clothing that are well made, of good fabric and will last a long time. It's why I was able to swallow (barely) spending $250 on a real leather jacket from Danier. I'm all for investment pieces.

But when people become so focused on a brand name and the status and power it seems to evoke is when the trouble begins. Suddenly, an item that is constructed just as well as the brand piece isn't good enough because it isn't a brand name - even though it should be good enough as a purchase.

Don't let brands blind you. Keep in mind what you want when you shop and why you spend what you do for a particular item.

What else could I be doing with the money that's paying my student loans?

Welcome to another edition of me having to watch and lament as another $479.83 is automatically withdrawn from my bank account in order to service my student loan debt. Yay! *sigh*

In this edition, because this is a three pay cheque month and I need to give myself some extra encouragement to kick some of that extra money into my student loans as an extra payment... what else could I be doing with that $479.83 I earn but is not mine because post-secondary education is not priced for the poor.

1. I could be putting most of it to my TFSA.

Did you know that $450 a month will get you within $100 of the contribution limit on your TFSA?

Okay likely yes, but whether or not you know wasn't the point of me asking this question. The point of the question was to point out that my minimum payment to pay down my student loans is about the same as I could be putting towards my TFSA to max out the contribution. I also have about $31,000 of space in my TFSA that has been carried over from previous years so technically I could put the full amount every month and not worry about over-contributing for the next many many years!

Actually, now that I think about it, it's kind of nuts that my monthly student loan payments only add up to $5500-6000 dollars paid down a year.

Right now I contribute around $50-100 a month to my TFSA, which is a fraction of what I could be doing otherwise and really doesn't amount to much year over year. But it is better than nothing. Still... it hurts not to max it out.

2. I could afford to finance and pay for gas, parking and insurance for a new vehicle.

Don't recoil and gasp all at once anyone. The point I'm making is that unlike right now in which I can't afford a car because I can't reasonably afford it within my current budget, the money freed from my student loans suddenly mean I can not only afford it, I can pull all the stops and go full luxury option here.

Now I understand the general disapproval of financing a brand new car, and I more or less plan on buying used when I do purchase a car and am trying to save as much as I can so if I do end up or needing to finance, it's something I can get wiped out quickly. Ultimately the point is is that money opens a whole new possibility for me life-wise.

3. I could be saving up for a down-payment to own my own home.

Sure it'd take me six years to save up the $30,000 needed for a half decent down payment on a house in an overly-priced Toronto market but better towards something that can increase my net worth than fatten up the government's coffers amirite?

Realistically, I can't afford the home on my income without a partner paying it with me, so I'm kind of more or less resolved to the idea of renting if needed. But I can't help but dream about owning, renovating and caring for a home sometimes. But then I think about owning, renovating and caring for a home and realize that I must be crazy too.

There are definitely upsides to just renting in the sense that damage is not my responsibility and particularly if I have kids, I can move to better school districts if I wanted to.

But that last point is another story.

4.  I could afford to travel twice a year.

Not that I necessarily aspire to travel or have any kind of travel bug inside of me, but it would be nice to have the opportunity to explore new places and experience new things and really just change things up and get out of my own rut. I do have a small list of places I would like to see in my life and all things considered, do hope to be able to experience them at some point in my life.

5. I could buy all the pretty things!!!

Or I could add $500 to my general spending and splurge on the stuff I've always lusted after in an entirely frivolous way. Because I actually do have a list of "Oh I wish I could afford that" stuff in my life that well... I wish I was rich so that I could afford it!


And that's it people. The five things I could be putting my money towards if I didn't have to pay down my student loans. But hey, my student loans did end up getting me a good job and some real happiness in the end so I can't really complain because ultimately, it wasn't a complete waste of money for me.

But it is still hard to see that much money disappear from my bank accounts every month.

Getting sick is veeeery expensive for me

So in the final week of December, I woke up with a sore neck.

The remainder of that day and the following day, both of which included a bus ride to work, work and back home again, my body made sure to remind me constantly how much it hates me. Not to mention, that first day I got a full lesson on just how often one uses their neck and back, particularly when one is trying to get out of bed in order to make one's way to said workplace. Or simply put on a sweater in order to not be naked and such.

Okay I misspoke when I just called it a sore neck. It was more like a really sore upper and lower back, shoulders and every neck muscle I have seizing up and deciding it had enough of life for the moment.

It was not fun to say the least. But the real consequence of my suffering was my wallet. Because it killed any so called plan I had for the week that involved me trying my best to save money.

Getting sick or in this case, sore to the point of not being able to move, is really very expensive for me. Mostly because 95% of the time, I still end up in my desk chair, but I'm miserable being there and whatmore, had no energy prior to or during to really make an effort on bringing or making food to keep me alive.

So I buy takeout. And not the cheap kind either. I dine out on good stuff, all for the sake of convenience and limiting my overall suffering for me. Plus, delicious food while sick helps you get better than gross stuff, right?

And before you say well it's because I'm dumb enough to show up at work sick, this reality is not excluded when I'm at home because just the fact I'm sick makes me miserable basically anywhere I am at. Unless I'm the nauseated and throwing up kind of sick (which actually happened twice to me last year. Yeah, twice. Both times due to the flu. Aren't I lucky!), I generally end up buying takeout from home as well. Because I'm sad and need expensively priced comfort food.

But sometimes this doesn't stop at me being sick. Now we come to the chronic problems, namely my allergies and now the sore neck.

Now the allergies are an extremely severe problem. And they come with a $500 price tag give or take for medication every year, not including allergy shots, which are a luxury but an increasing necessary luxury for me. This is more than just a permanent sniffle problem however. I suffer from hives if I'm not careful. And not the usual kind of hives. We're talking four to six weeks of them constantly irritating both arms and legs until steroids become necessary in order to remove them. Those kind of amazing hives.

Baby elephant!

And it comes with the same above issues as me getting sick. I'm a miserable bundle of human flesh during said time incapable or unwilling to make efforts to save money.

As for the sore back a few weeks ago... it happens once every few months due to what I like to call "sleeping bad." Either way, this last time was severe enough that preventative measures have become necessary especially since it has appeared to have become chronic. Luckily, benefits do cover some of it. So I'm setting in motion the opportunity to see a massage therapist. While hoping it doesn't cost me more than I'm able to pay.

Yeah getting sick is expensive. Being sick is expensive. More so than preventing a means to keep from getting sick in some respects.

Is there such a thing as "painless methods to pay down debt?"

Let me be forthright with the answer here: Yes.

And no.

Okay yes that isn't much of an answer at all and frankly doesn't much help those of us that are trying to figure out, slog through and wrestle with how to pay down debt right now, including myself. And trust me, there is nothing more I want than a 'painless' method to get rid of my outstanding debts.

And I'm not the only one that has asked and wondered at this possibility. A very general survey based on Google indicates that just about every personal finance blogger, website, chat board and advisor have discussed or listed 'easy' methods of paying down your debt. To the point that I won't even link you to any of them because they are utterly ubiquitous on the internet.

This thing that strikes me about these lists are that most of the how-tos of debt repayment are fairly homogenized. The recommendations are generally all the same: make a budget, figure out your earnings and if you need to make more money, know your debt load, figure out how much is the minimums of your debt, figure out how much more you can contribute on top of the minimums towards your debt, pick a payment strategy, and then it is balls to the wall by executing it and now oh look I made my own how-to on how to pay down your debt in as painless a fashion as possible!

The order of the above varies based on who you consult and who you read (and how utterly complicated they want to make the procedure while discussing it) but the end result is basically all the same when you get down to the nitty gritty core of the matter.

And that is where the "Yes" answer comes from. Debt repayment is a pretty simple construct with very little variation as to what method can be considered 'best' in paying it down. Debt repayment is what it is and is supposedly painless in its straight forward nature.

And yet, I and many others would hardly call the process painless all the same. Like those who have never experienced debt in any real measure, a list on the internet can't quantify or measure with any surety the things that makes those of us fall of the wagon or chaff at the restrictions that makes dealing with debt hard on people mentally. They can't tell us how to negate the negative experiences or feelings that comes hand in hand with debt repayment. Things such as deprivation and impatience.

In the same breath, how one deals with those negative feelings is dependent on each individual finding a way to deal with them, because ultimately the only real solution to those negative feelings is distraction. Either distraction from how slowly the months move by on your debt journey or distraction from the fact that you can't go do this or buy that because according to your debt, you bloody well can't afford it.

Yes, you can also focus on the positives such as "watch this debt disappear" and be granted satisfaction from it, but even that in of itself is a distraction; a distraction from the negatives that also plague you at the same time.

So yes and no. There is such a thing as painless debt repayment, but in the same breath, it is not painless. Not unless you earn a generous windfall in the form of the lottery or an inheritance that can cover your wants and your debts all at once, debt repayment is almost never painless to the person paying it down.

But ultimately you will have to try and make the best of it all the same if your goal is to get rid of debt.

Why I splurged on... an external USB battery charger

Yeah I'm a Leafs fan. Sue me.

Of all the unplanned personal spending that I did last month, this one item was likely the most frivolous and least necessary of them all. At least with the other two items, there was real intent to eventually purchase items like it in items. 

But this item I got though was a real luxury want and the fact I bought it at that time meant that it was entirely impulse that led to me acquiring it.

Now  don't get me wrong, I did have ideas or plans to buy this kind of item for awhile. It began with a 24 hour ride on a bus that saw my phone battery die towards the end and discovering how much it sucks not to have a working phone in case of emergencies. And then there was the time during last year's Toronto ice storm when my roommates phone lost power to the point that my laptop ended up being used as an emergency charger to get his phone working.

The potential to travel or be away from a plug for a long time for whatever reason and suddenly having a back-up portable charger doesn't seem like such a bad thing to have, especially during emergencies.

But that's just it; it opens possibilities and it's a nice thing to be able to fall back on, but it doesn't actually add anything to my everyday life. Frankly given my lifestyle, it's not something I will need or use more than maybe once every few months if that depending on what transformer blows up or what have you.

So then why did I buy it then at a premium price of $50 USD? (meaning with conversion, I paid more than $50 dollars) Well it's because I was already buying one. I bought one as a gift for a friend for Christmas and liked it so much that I also bought one for myself as well.

Can you say impulse purchase?

Do I regret it? Maybe a little. But I don't necessarily mind it either if only because of the added security it gives. And while there is a case to be made that it was money better spent elsewhere - and even I'm willing to admit that that's true - in the same breath, I've accepted the purchase and I've made my peace with it.

Even if the price ended up being a little much in the end.

Where should cable, cell and internet be slotted into your budgeting pie?

So back in December when I was writing about managing my debt with an entry-level salary, I presented to you this overly simplified budget pie from Gail Vaz-Oxlade that supposedly depicts how one's spending should be split when making a budget.

The percentages seems to make perfect sense, right?

Yet, I ran into a problem when I was making my own calculations on how my own budget fits into the pie and it relates directly to the other bills I pay monthly. That is to say, where the heck does cable, cell and internet fit into this magic pie?

Personally, when I build my monthly budget and calculate out my costs, I treat them as if they are household costs, that is to say, they are static and required month-over-month. Which given that I get billed for their services every month, they kind of are. And it is from there that I calculate the remainder of my budget freely.

But they're not required spending, really. There is a valid argument to make that these three items are discretionary pieces of my spending in that I can hypothetically live without them if I really needed to and therefore should be categorized under the Life piece of the pie and not the housing piece of the pie.

Which doesn't make me terribly pleased because it pushes my life pie piece closer to 35% of my monthly budget than I would otherwise like.

Then again, that's why this is an oversimplified pie.

Firstly, I will fully admit that cable is absolutely an entertainment expenditure on my part and firmly a part of the Life pie whether I like it being there or not. I've fully accepted that reality and have made my peace with the costs of paying for it. So there really is no argument from me on that front, especially since I'm the only one paying for it.

And the internet? While it can be a discretionary cost in most homes, the truth is the case is not to be made in the one I live in. My roommates all chip in a percentage of their rent costs to pay for our internet bill every month, making it in reality, a household cost and therefore a required piece of spending. I could certainly make a case to opt out and forcing my roommates to cover my portion of the bill... but then that would not be even a little fair if I then turn around and use up bandwidth.

As for my cell phone... I would like to make an argument that it is required spending these days given that the unit I live in has no landline.

Yes, I'm the only one carrying the cost of my cell phone, same as my roommates carrying theirs, and in many ways owning a personal cellphone is a luxury and is not as important as food on the table, roof over my head and heat to keep me from freezing to death. But in the same breath, it allows me to keep all those things available to me because it partakes in my ability to make the money, particularly extra money, much like transportation does.

Which is why I personally choose that it goes into Household costs. Simply because I value it about as much as I value my transportation costs month over month. It may be more entertainment than utility these days, but it's still my primary method of direct communication as well and remains an important part of my job.

It is now hard to fathom a life not too long ago when computers, internet and cell phones were actual luxuries and that we as a society once functioned just fine without any of that stuff on hand. Oh how simple life once was, I guess.

The other miscellaneous goals for the year

I usually hate doing resolutions. As many people say, it's just a way for you to easily make yourself feel bad for being a failure. And as I have mentioned before here, I really hate failure to the point that I'm a wreck when dealing with it.

But I'm not above setting goals for myself, like a task that you set for yourself in an agenda, with a long view in mind that regardless if I reach the intended planned goal by year's end, I at least have something to aim towards and keep in mind. This is not stuff that I have to do or there are no real obligations to meet but these are things that I would like to do or have and will do my best to achieve with dignity.

I already listed what I'm hoping to get out of my net worth and also what I plan to do about some of my clutter problems, but there are a few more things I'd like to work on this year that isn't something that necessarily deserves its own post for various particular reasons.


1. DO MORE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY - When it comes to my physical activity, life has been fairly stagnant in that there's nothing going on in it. And I've basically wasted away all the benefits I earned playing hockey for two years awhile back.

It's been something I've been strongly considering since August of last year, but put on the backburner when I signed up for G2 lessons and classes and was met with the unexpected costs of just how expensive it was to learn and then acquire a G2 in this province.

So now that that G2 saga is done, the task is back and niggling at me. Because I really need to find something like the hockey I participated in to start getting me back exercising at least semi-regularly. Except, I need something that isn't as bloody expensive as the hockey I participated in. Hockey's expensive, like $500-700 I don't have expensive. And that isn't to say I won't one day go back to playing hockey, because I plan to, but not while I'm paying down student loans is what I've realized.

There is one more problem that contributes to my inability to decide on a class to take part in, and it's the reality I live called rotating shifts. I mean, I do weekly allergy shots right now and even that is a bit of a hassle to handle with my allergist because of said schedule. So it needs to be something with some flexibility.

So why look for classes and not just schedule your own (free) physical activity time? Because I'm naturally lazy and those kind of plans almost always fall through for me. At least with a class, it's like my allergy appointments; a commitment was made and I need to know where my money is going.

I may just end up blending both options somehow, but I'm really set on finding a class to fulfill this goal. We'll see how it works out by July.


2. A BETTER NIGHT AND MORNING ROUTINE FOR MY BODY - This goes hand in hand with my decluttering quest, as it directly causes me to focus and use what products I have more. But the truth is, I really need to do a better job of how I prepare my body going to bed and then how I wake up in the morning. Seriously, my behaviour is a bit atrocious at it. I have a really bad habit of sleeping until I almost need to leave and then rushing everything to get out.

So, I really ought to work on taking at least 10 minutes to hash out the small stuff before bed and after bed. It'll probably lead to a much healthier life and healthier body overall.


3. LIMIT THE AMOUNT I EAT OUT - Most of last year, meals at work was usually whatever I was in the mood to eat at one of the fast food places around work or whatever I was willing to order in for.

This year, I want it to be different. While I don't want to kill eating out completely in the bud, because then what the heck, but I do want to limit how often I do it. That is to say, keep myself from eating out every day I go to work by planning meals and making them on days off and before work.

Maybe just limit it to once a week and see how it goes from there.

And it really ties into everything I'm trying to do physically and mentally for myself. Limiting the junk I eat will allow for better energy and is better for physical activity. And less bad food means better for my skin and my body every day.

Also I'd probably save a ton of money by eating out less.


As you can see, all of this is pretty well interconnected with each other and is a fair representation of what I'm hoping to do this year for me: better health and peace of mind. Which should all build a certain amount of happiness over the course of the year. Whether I succeed at it is up to me but I'm hoping everything is relatively attainable at least at some small level somewhere.

I may adjust the plan over the year, maybe even add other goals to the list as my priorities change throughout. I mean, in lieu of a hoped for travel date this year, I'm foregoing the usual plan for education this year, but may later change my mind.

Either way, this is not a bad place to start.

My Cosmetic De-cluttering Quest: Taking full stock

Clutter in one's life is always something we as individuals want to attack in the hopes of a life with less is a life less stressful and superficial. And I certainly see the value in such behaviours which is why I do try to emulate that philosophy where I can. I regularly purge my closet and do my best to keep the junk to a minimum overall. I consider every purchase I make and I make sure it is something that I'll use.

And I'm big on everything having its place in my life and my room and as a result, love my organizational options.

Granted, I'm not perfect at it. Often my purges don't go deep enough especially when I get caught up with the money I spent on it previously or the fear that I might need it. Ultimately it comes down to the way I was raised in which we are taught as children to never let things go to waste and always clean out your plate.

It's a good lesson, but when taken the wrong way it makes it hard for you to throw anything out without at least justifying the purchase to begin with. Or as other people may like to call it, hoarding. Or clutter. Either way, sometimes I really do just have too much stuff.

Which is basically what happened to my cosmetics.

For a time in early 2012, I went a little bit nuts buying large quantities of make-up without really thinking about whether I need or want them. This went hand-in-hand with my nail polish craze, which is still going but given that I accumulated a HUGE hoard of nail polish since, has cooled significantly.

All of this basically culminated into me now having a huge collection of make-up I either haven't yet used or only used a handful of times before getting bored of it. And most of them are now all sitting in a box under my bed waiting for me to dig into.

I can't just throw them all away can I? Well I can, but then it goes against my "don't be wasteful" upbringing and I likely won't dig deep enough to throw everything out without my "I might need it" monster rearing its ugly head.

So what did I choose to do? I'm going to force myself to need the items. And if I can't find a use for them, well, maybe I should find someone who will find a use for it otherwise.

Here's full stock on the number of cosmetic items I have in my life:

Not my actual collection but a visual approximation.

Nail Polishes - 62
Foot care - 2

Perfumes, Deodorant & body scents - 7
Face & Body Lotions -34
Bronzer & blush - 8
Foundations, Concealer & BB Cream - 15

Eyeshadow - 17
Eyeliners - 17
Mascara - 7

Lip products - 33

So... a lot of stuff, and this was after my sister helped herself to a few surplus lotions that I had and didn't need because it's not a lotion I need to use or do use regularly, unlike her, at the moment.

So here's the deal here. Every month at the end of the month, I'm going to provide a running tally of items I use up, buy and what items I liked and disliked by the end of it. The hope is that when I finally see an end to this madness in total products I own, I will have a list of individual items I loved above other products that will encourage me to purchase it again after the whole fact.

I don't need or use everything that I listed here, but there are some items that I do need to figure out what works for me overall and would like to own after narrowing down my item totals.

And as for the items I don't need or use often, I need to come to realize why I bought it, where I was wrong in making the purchase and then deciding if it earned the honour of being tossed into the trash afterward.

This is not a one year quest. It may have taken more or less a year to accumulate this amount of cosmetics, it's going to take well over a year for me to figure out what works for me. And well over a year to get into a regular habit to use on a daily basis.

It's not a promise, but it is a start to try and get the clutter down in my life.

Taking aim at my net worth for 2015

Happy 2015, world! So if you've been keeping up with my net worth, you'll notice that it's pretty deep in the dumps. Like... seriously, seriously in the red. It's really an ugly number if you ask me.

Keep in mind, all my remaining debt is my amalgamated government student loans that accrues about 5.5% compounded daily annual interest. That's it. Everything else is paid off which means I'm ahead at least in the sheer variety of debt I have or can accumulate. That's a positive spin on debt, right?

But still, even if it's just my student loans, that's a lot of it all by itself.

So what can I do about this hole my education has dug for me in the meantime? Well the obvious answer is pay down the debt, which is something I am working on now that my credit card debt is kaput. But as someone who is incredibly impatient, restless and loves to diversify for no other reason than "Ooh, look at all the numbers!" I've come to the realization that simply seeing my debt number shrink isn't going to be enough for me. I do want to see things grow in the meantime, and not just my emergency fund.

So for 2015 (and hopefully 2016), I decided to set a little, tiny bit of an aggressive goal based on my income and what I realistically think I can do as a means to tackle my overall net worth. Ultimately it's a bit lofty and perhaps a little bit of a stretch, as I've never really accounted for my net earnings for an entire year, but here it is.

For the year 2015, I want to increase my net worth by $15,000.

This is not just through the regular and sometimes aggressive payments of my student loans shrinking my debt over the course of the year, but also in gains from my retirements savings (my work pension plan), investments (TFSA, RRSP and my job's share purchase program) and even my more volatile everyday savings account, an account that includes my emergency fund.

So why $15,000? Because at $15,000 I will essentially halve the total amount of money that is not mine and hopefully put me on track for my two year goal of having a zero to positive net worth to make me feel good about myself with, even if I'm still kicking around a student debt load.

$15,000 is a lot of money for me. It's nearly half of my gross income at my regular job at the moment (never mind my net pay) and with my bills and discretionary spending budget taking up a little more than half my net paychecks a month, the wiggle room is limited to say the least. My freelance income will have to fill any gaps in my life and my savings as a result.

So why do I still feel that this amount is possible and realistic? Because I've come close to bringing it up that much without really trying. My net worth has gone up $10,000 more or less in a little over a year and that's with just doing what I've always done while also spending a ton of money eating out every workday and not keeping a close eye on my money. And now that I am keeping a keen eye on my expenses and savings, hopefully it gives me the ability to find ways to say no or find cheaper alternatives to my time.

Now please note that for now when I calculate my net worth for my pension I account only for the contributions made towards it, and not how much the plan is actually worth. I know that mathematically and realistically this is an incorrect way of doing things. But given that the value of the plan is dependent on the number of years I'm at the company, not to mention future earnings, I'm not about to sit here and predict my future.

And plus, the retirement savings are long term, so it's not like they're going anywhere or losing value. (Well, not unless Western civilization as we know it collapses into a pile of ash)

So there it is. My one and only financial goal for 2015. Well, my overall goal, as any small ones involving my TFSA or emergency fund will inevitably only cater towards the ultimate one. We'll see where I stand after a few months, but I'm hoping it's not a place where I'm ready to dig my head in the sand and cry big ostrich tears.