Recap: Spending and saving in February 2015

I did it! With 40 cents to spare, I spent less than $100 in variable expenses this month!

Anyway, due to me more or less tracking my expenses for the entire month because of the limit, I'm omitting the expenses category for this update if for no other reason than it'd be pretty redundant to do so.

So let's see what my limited variable expenses did for my net worth!


DEBT REPAYMENT: A lot has happened and changed for my debt in this month than any previous month since I finally paid off my credit cards of all consumer debt. First there was the credit swapping I did. Which then led to my student loans dipping under $30,000 owed for the first time ever.

With that said, I still owe someone over $30,000. I still have a debt over that amount. Just that right now I don't owe one person, I owe two people.

What does that mean for my payments as a whole? Well for now, I'm slashing the extra cash that normally goes to my student loans and contributing them to my credit card for now.

So student loans will only be serviced minimally for now, and will depend on various contributing events next month, including taxes and some freelancing and other things. regardless of the expected interest rate on that card, I would like it paid down sooner than later. Mostly because there's a 15 month expiry date on paying back that balance transfer before it hops from the promotional 0.99% owed to my regular 18.99%. And I'm not exactly keen to find out if I will be charged for the full transfer and not just what's left to owe at that time or not.

So essentially, this month to service my debt, I not only paid the minimum in student loan repayment in my own actual money, I also paid an extra $257 dollars on top of that of my own money to pay down my credit card.

I almost paid back more this month than I did last month... with only two pay cheques.


INCOME: Yes I am back to two pay cheques this month, and no holiday pay too, mostly because uh... they forgot to credit my Christmas overtime to me. Again. Whoops!

Anyway, I did end up getting a cheque from my job for some freelance work I did on a different project so that was a nice boost but other than that... nothing special came to pass really this month as far as my earnings went.

In other words, the kind of month I usually plan my spending around. And for that reason have to be more or less careful with my money all the time.


SAVINGS: It was a pretty good month. I saved over $150 more than I had originally planned to, and that is mostly thanks to the additional saving I made by limiting my variable expenses. Because I'm boring as heck and more or less redirected all my extra money into my savings accounts this month, hopefully to make up for my craziness of the previous two months.

Now to be honest, none of that money ended up being directed to my TFSA other than the obligatory $40 I send it's way at minimum a month, even though I managed to succeed in getting a brokerage account within it to actually start doing something in it. But that's another story in which to share.

Most of the extra money went in two other places rather: my emergency fund and my short-term savings account.

The emergency fund because every month I get more nervous as to how small that is compared to what so many personal finance people say it "should" be and so wanted to get reasonably closer to $1000 in that fund and more or less succeed in socking away a full month's expenses for me.

The other place went to my short term spending account, one because I have a birthday dinner to treat in March (my sister's) and I also have that dentist appointment I've been procrastinating but getting more necessary to do.

So what's the damage for the month of February?

CURRENT NET WORTH: $-29,927.91 (+2.92%)

I HAVE ASSETS!!!

Okay, my assets are still relatively tiny compared to what they should be at my age, not to mention that I am still way way way in the negatives when it comes to my actual net worth, but you see that number above?

That number says that despite the fact that I currently owe over $30,000 somewhere to someone, I have enough cash saved and set aside that my net worth value is under $30,000, proof that my new habit of squirreling money is actually finally starting to do something for me that I can see with my own eyes in the fact that, like my student loans, I'm worth negative five digit figures that starts with a two, but not a three!

As for the actual dollar value difference while on my quest for a $15,000 net worth increase by year's end... well I actually only went up around $900 net wise, $100 under my minimum $1000 that I generally need to look for monthly.

Which is fine.

This month was a bit of a lean month for me due to work and earnings. But next month, between my refund, some freelance cheques, a holiday payout not to mention I'm working a day's worth of overtime thanks to the Canadian unofficial holiday known as Trade Deadline Day... I should be getting some extra cash that can hopefully make up for that missing $100 (and perhaps then some) in short order.

And so, on to the next month!

Day 23 of 28: When the ban finally lifts I...

I'm less than a week away from the end of the month and I haven't yet to have broken my self-imposed money "ban" yet! Hurray for me, although I will also admit that it got a little close to being snapped due to an unforseen event that eventually resolved itself on Friday...

Either way, one week left and $5 to live on. I think I can make it!

Although, no lie, being this close to the end of the month and knowing my ban is soon to be a thing of my past, I have already started a running list of things of tasks and other stuff that I have put off doing this month, but will now 'need' to spend money on in March.

Such things like:


1. I have about four-five loads of laundry that desperately needs some doing. (~$20)

My apartment building uses a laundry card that can only be loaded by credit or debit, hence being unable to do it in February as all my transactions were in cash.

Granted, it was also because it costs about $3.25 for the washers and $1.75 for the dryers too which after that ill-fated taxi ride, wasn't in the budget to handle even one load.

It is something that must be done, but at this point due to the sheer amount of stuff that needs doing, it is going to cost a pretty penny. So even though I'm not planning to put some of my clothing through the dry cycle anymore, it's still going to be an expensive chore.

Not to mention... I may also need to buy some fabric softener, because I'm unsure if I have any and that's rather important when you're avoiding the dry cycle I find, at least for me. Thank you sensitive skin!


2. I owe a friend a night out (~$50)

While this won't get to the extravagance of that $150 night in January that basically blew my entertainment budget into the stratosphere, I do however owe a friend for paying a meal or two while hanging out. It's really only the fair thing to do and is how you can keep friends in the long run.

And I'm all about returning favours even if it means taking a hit to my wallet as a result.


3. I owe my roommates an awesome meal (???)

They didn't notice, or barely did, but they do deserve something nice to eat for next month, so I've got a recipe to cook something awesome in a slow cooker!

Why couldn't I do it in February though? Well, one because one roommate went meat-less for February, and for another, the recipe requires some ingredients that were outside of my "spending limit" on the month as far as... meat went. So there's that.


Among other things that need planning and doing for March, and as a result, likely won't be a very cheap month. However, and this is the important thing I need to stress and point out here regarding March, everything that will happen next month is planned into my budget as far as short-term savings goes and therefore I do have money for it.

Frankly though, living on $5 this week is going to be rough and with a depleting sugar drink store at home, all I can say is thank God this month is close to being over!

The "less than 30K owed" student loan milestone

I finally did it.

With some extra elbow grease and also the credit juggling scheme that I bought into earlier this month I now officially owe less than $30,000 in federal student loans. That's $12,000 I've paid off the principle since falling into repayment in August 2013, or $13,700 if you include the $1,700 interest I paid on top of it (with six months of deferred interest payments).

Now granted, due to the aforementioned credit juggling, while I may owe less to the government, I now owe $3,000 to my credit card company (ironically, the lender is the institution I bank with) so technically I'm still over $30,000 in total debt according to my net worth really, which is to say that progress remains the same as ever: slow and steady.

And yet... it's not the same. Not even close. Because perception can be a powerful thing.

My student loan debt began as a large number, and will remain as a large number for a long while yet. It is five-digit number after all, and not on the low-end of the five-digit numbers either, but a mid-range level.

What more, about $15,000 of that five-digit total is actually largely wasted money due to mistakes made while in university. I'm more or less still paying for semesters in which I didn't get a damn thing for it degree, diploma or career-wise. An expensive mistake that I am now paying for with my actual life; that is to say, it is delaying various life goals because you know... I was an idiot at 19.

While I've (mostly) made me peace with all of the above, the fact of the matter is, the amount I owe to the government is a large enough amount that it's going to take a very long time to resolve. Not to mention that any amount of money that I try to throw at it appears to be making any visible dent to the shrinkage of said debt.

Except now, the five-digit number went from beginning with a number "3" to a number "2".

Suddenly, it's like I have actual tangible and real proof of the progress on my student loans, that the money I'm forced to and voluntarily throwing at it is suddenly making a real and visible impact on my debt.

And all because I don't owe more than $30,000 to the government, I owe under it.

But what about the credit card debt I'm not straddled with in addition to my student loans though? I mean, I spent a decent number of months tossing all spare money at it in order to pay it down only half a year ago so that all I owed was my student loans. Why would I want to put myself through that struggle again, especially now that I have way more monetary commitments than back in August and September?

And yet, compared to that number, a $3,000 debt to my credit card seems not just small, but manageable. It is made further manageable by the fact that I have overcome close to a $3,000 debt at 18.99% interest (and the reason I wanted out of it ASAP) on useless, disposable items only half a year ago, and defeated it comparatively quickly. I can therefore, visualize paying it off in such a fashion that I can't yet do for my student loans. Not for five-to-six years yet anyway.

It's all about progress, one way or another. And about throwing me as many debt victories as possible in the intervening years in order to stave off as much debt-fatigue as possible. But doing it intelligently and with an eye towards what I can handle and what I can realistically succeed in.

All-in-all, I'm a happier person because of this.

Yes, my net worth is still the pits, but that's somewhat expected. And frankly, it won't be this pithy for long.

And I've got a great couple months coming up in terms of work, money and life. Lots of things to build towards and lots of things to work on.

Here's to this milestone, hopefully the other isn't too far away from now.

Day 18 of 28: The "I forgot my lunch at home" edition :(

Man. I was doing so well with the whole cook and pack my lunches routine too.

So last Friday, I... well I forgot my lunch at home. It was a combination of procrastination and running late while getting ready to leave that led to this sad little reality. One that I only realized upon popping up above ground at the subway stop about five minutes from work after a one-ish hour's commute.

Now normally, it really is no big deal. It used to just mean that I'm grabbing a take out dinner at some fast food outlet for the evening and is a big reason why my phone case includes a pocket for my credit card for easy access.

But with me being down to my last $20 for the month and still half a month left to go, suddenly $10 for even the cheap meal at McDonalds seemed like a hefty fine to pay for leaving my large pasta (again with the pasta) dinner at home.

With that said, I had a 10 hour shift ahead of me to deal with and starvation for 10 hours, even though work supplies us with water and free dirty water that's a weak substitute for coffee, is not an option for me. Not without jeopardizing my health and my ability to do my job that night.

It's like being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

And this is where I thank every deity above that a grocery store opened up near my offices at work.

On one hand, having a grocery store near my place of work is not exactly good when one is trying to limit money spent on food you don't need. It may lead you to visiting it one too many times and buying food and stuff that you don't necessarily need.

But in this case, it was pivotal in solving my missing lunch problem and proved invaluable as a solution for my food problem.

It was brilliant. Whereas before I would have had to pay up to $10 for one takeout meal, on that day I was able to get a quick microwaveable meal and two apples as a snack ... for $3.25, a fraction of the costs of a meal on the go.

And it was enough to keep me going.

In some ways, this was valuable in that it forced me to think outside of the lazy box. In the sense that it's so easy to just get takeout when things like me forgetting my lunch or even just me sleeping in or not making a meal for myself at home, when the solution for food can be made much cheaper.

Day 11 of 28: Of logic and inconvenience... in laundry

It had come to my attention last week that not only was my laundry starting to build up, but I was running low on clean underwear. The latter of the two was a far more critical issue however.

Usually this situation results in this reaction: "Well, time to do some laundry." 

Not this month however. And it's all because of an empty laundry card.

Here's the thing. Last month, my rental building changed laundry card providers, meaning that for awhile, our access to laundry was restricted due to the changeover. I ended up switching the card when I paid our rent for February, after I started this new regime of limiting my spending to $100 this month. In cash.

The laundry card can only be loaded up using debit or credit card however.

Not to mention, a wash and dry cycle at my building's laundry costs a solid $5, which on its own is beginning to really make me regret that $30 cab ride on Saturday. Not that I didn't already regret it. That could have looked after my laundry problem easy, alongside my food math as well.

Either way, that was in the past, and no amount of regret was going to fix the fact that I was down to the last few pair of underwear that are worn so infrequently they are its own built in warning system for when things get grim in the lingerie department. And buying more obviously is not an option with only $30 left to spend. (True story: buying more was actually once an option for me)

Really there was only one solution to this problem that didn't involve me stealing money from my roommates. 

I hand-washed every pair of dirty underwear I could find this week. Because I can do this for free + the cost of the detergent I used. And the time to wash and wait for it to dry.

Okay it wasn't a huge revelation nor was there really anything magical behind me coming to this decision. Years ago, when I lived with the parents and doing laundry meant I needed change, I hand-washed my underwear all the time out of general necessity. (Made necessary by the reality that my mother pilfered my loonies and quarters and I had none when I was running low of clean underwear)

What got me however is the fact I don't do it anymore.

Underwear is about the only thing that subscribes to the one-use only rule with my clothes (socks are case-by-case). Everything else, I can usually get a solid handful of uses out of them before staining, smells or dirt becomes an issue. Not to mention, I own enough clothing that I can more or less go about three months without getting into serious trouble with clothing availability. Maybe even more. So when it comes to my laundry, my underwear is usually the ones that takes the most abuse from the dryers and washers and for that reason, is the first to wear out on me.

And dryers and washers as a general rule are actually pretty brutal on your clothes and often does impact the quality and longevity of your items. As a whole, hand-washing is much more gentle and even sometimes more thorough and therefore better at washing your clothing than the machines.

It's like the difference between using a dish washer and hand-washing your dishes. One is always going to be more reliable than the other. So why don't I do it more often? I already hand-wash dishes (though mostly because there is no dishwasher in this unit) so why is hand-washing my clothing such a foreign idea?

Ultimately it comes down to convenience. It's really easy to just throw my clothing into a washer and dryer, underwear included, than to handwash each individual piece of clothing. It's less labour-intensive and time-consuming. And all of that is worth about $5 of my time working.

Going back to hand-washing my underwear made me think about that money I spent for the convenience. I also thought about the damage it does to my clothing in the meanwhile. How much more money has those machines cost me in the long run thanks to the damage done to my clothing as a result of them? 

When this month is over, I will need to do a huge amount of laundry. My sheets are in desperate need of cleaning not to mention the aforementioned clothing that is still waiting this month. And it will need to be done, and I will do it.

Except while my sheets and my towels and some other items will hit the dryer run, the rest of my clothing will not. I thinking of moving away from the dryer cycle in part. Not only will it save me money in the short term to the tune of just under $2, it will also save me some money in the long, in that I will no longer be subjecting my clothing to the torture that is a dryer. And hopefully extend the life of my clothing as a result. 

Day 9 of 28: The biting reality of late shifts, winter nights and an inefficient transit system

I love my job. But it does come with a massive downside, and that is having to work way late into the night for about half of my shifts.

How late? Later than 1:30 AM EST, which is the cut off time in which I must leave in order to not only catch among the last subways in this city, but also my last bus out of the station. Otherwise, it's the night buses for me, one of which only shows itself every half hour.

Now after about two years of this, I've pretty much figured out the late night schedule in terms what times are best to leave in order to catch so-and-so bus, transfer to the half-hour bus all the while leaving me with as little time as possible standing on the corner waiting. It is as much a precise math as it is a science.

And this schedule is especially important during the winter, where a cold wind can easily kill any resolve I possess in my body as far as enduring a wait longer than ten minutes.

Hitch-hiking is not an option I have used getting home late at night.

However, things happen, especially since we're talking about a bus that can be held up by anything and everything including rowdy drunks, bad weather or just poorly timed traffic lights, which is sometimes the case of my first bus. 

And this past Saturday, it was a solid combination of all three, in that we had a really nasty snow fall that day (and basically all weekend), a bus full of loud people and... well the lights are as usual, badly timed.

I left at a time that should have allowed me to catch a bus that would have deposited me at my transfer spot about five minutes before my second and less frequent bus. Except as I mentioned above, all three of those problems conspired to screw me. The bus basically took about three times longer than projected to get to my stop.

By the time I got on the bus, I was going to miss my second bus by around two minutes.

Now sometimes, things change, the second bus could slow down or the transit predictor could be wrong, or even the first bus could catch up. But it didn't. I got to my transfer stop, and looked at the stop I was meant to wait at for my second bus, hoping to see the usual small crowd of people waiting for my bus. 

There was no one there. And the next bus? About 39 minutes away. Argh!

And here's the thing. If this was summer, I would and have had the patience to curl up on a spot next to the station with a book or my phone and accepted the reality of waiting a half hour for a bus. It's just not really as much of a problem in warm or temperate weather. 

But winter? Forget about it. I've stood one too many winters in the freezing cold to put up with it lately. And it is something I have far less tolerance and just general stamina or ability to deal with. Not to mention, it was the middle of the night and we were in the middle of a bit of a nasty storm system that while not whipping snow in your face was certainly doing its part to make you uncomfortable.

So I broke a cardinal rule for the month: I hailed a taxi and spent $30 of my $100 for the month to get my miserable ass home at a less absurd hour I would have otherwise gotten home and most importantly, in a non-frozen state.

But here's where my rashness and temper may have hurt me. Because there are two buildings near my stop with heating that I could have squatted at with no problem. A bank and an A&W. Sure the later would likely have meant I had to pay for some food, but that's $5 compared to the $30 I ended up spending. That's $30 that could have bought me some awesome food from the grocery store, including a new bag of apples. Now I may go fruitless for this week because I became impatient.

Yes, impatient. It was close to 3AM at night. I was tired and upset about how terrible my city's transportation system functions. All I could think about was the extra half hour that I wouldn't be in my bed. And the cold I would have to put up with. And that night, I prioritized my time over my money, except in this case I lost. For an extra half hour at home, I spent about two hours worth of work.

When I set up my general transportation budget, I usually throw in an extra $50 on top of my usual expenses for this such occasion, either stuck on the corner late at night with no bus on its way or sleeping in in the morning and risking being late for work. Or as a business expense going from one job to another.

Two of these are valid reasons to add extra cash. The other, not really.

But perhaps I need to rethink my winter mantra of "If I miss the bus I planned to catch and get caught on the corner for a half-hour, it's taxi time" and really save that extra cash for those days I do sleep in by accident or I do need to money because of work. Because after I thought of the money I spent on that taxi, I wasn't too happy about having spent it on that. 

It just wasn't worth the time I spent earning it and the time I saved or the sleep I gained by spending it.

Granted, if my transit system just got a better system in place, this wouldn't even really be an issue. And a huge motivator when it comes to how I vote.

Now down to less than $40 of my $100... and three weeks to go. Hopefully life has ceased throwing me new challenges to test me and my money. But I doubt it.

Day 7 of 28: Double shifts make it tough to behave

Do you know how amazing it feels to be able to sleep in after a long day today? It's awesome!

So far, I've behaved and refrained from spending any money on restaurants or eating out this week, which is more than I've managed to do at any point since I started tracking my spending. Mostly because I'm so often a lazy bum that can justify dropping around $10 on a lazy dinner or lunch treat at work as well as claim the money spent in the end... is worth it just for the convenience.

But Friday was a real test for me, mostly because Friday I ended up pulling a double shift at both my regular job and my freelance job. Yes the money I earned from doing a double is and will be great, but when that entailed being out the door by 7AM and not getting home until midnight, and I'm more or less banned from spending my money "frivolously", it also meant I had to pack three meals for my entire day with me as well: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

That I managed is the important part. 

But I can tell you that lugging around all that food the entire day made me appreciate and reconsider the convenience and the luxury of buying takeout or fast food rather than cooking and preparing my meals and then having to transport it... mostly the transportation part though. 

I mean, while the inconvenience of carrying around a lunch bag is relatively small, the fact is, it is a convenience that I am lucky enough to have access to and take full advantage of.

Anyway, why am I writing this? Because it's Saturday, I'm about an hour away from work and I'm down to the drudges of my meal options. That is to say, yesterday I ate the last of my pre-prepared meals and am now left with the drudges that is Kraft Dinner, ramen noodles and one microwavable meal until I can cook up another thing on my next day off.

Meal planning is hard. Especially when how much meal you need on any given day is dependent upon how hungry my roommates or my sister may also happen to be at that time.

On to the next week!

Going (almost) all in on the credit juggling scheme: part 1

I often get a lot of useless junk mail from my credit card distributors, but this was the first time I got one that I actually decided to act upon.

Every once in awhile, my Mastercard does these 0.99% AIR promotional rate on balance transfers that would last for about 12-15 months. But I never before chose to take advantage of it, mostly because my existing balance was enough of a boogeyman for me not to want to put more debt on my card. 

Also having an existing balance basically negates any of the positives of having a promotional annual interest rate due to how the company manages what you pay back on the card. (or so I've discovered, making me more than glad I didn't before make use of said promotion)

But for the first time ever, my card has been paid off in full. And having learned a few things about interest rates, payments and other things... well the offer suddenly became really enticing.

I bit. I withdrew $3,000 against my credit card balance of $5,300 at the 0.99% promotional rate on Tuesday. Within 2-5 business days, the amount I withdrew will hopefully land in my chequing account.

What am I planning to do with this money? 

I'm putting the full sum of money transferred... towards my student loans.

What I am doing is called a credit swap. This is when someone moves money from a lower interest credit account into an account with a higher interest in order to reap the benefits of paying less interest over time and therefore saving money. Consolidation loans or taking out a second mortgage in order to consolidate consumer debt within your home's equity works similarly. Granted, you only save if you do make the honest effort to pay off the so-called loan rather than use this new-found wealth as an excuse to spend.

Currently, my student loans accrue interest daily at 5.5% or around $4.30 a day, a sum that is 4.5% more than the 0.99% that the money I currently transferred out will accrue over the next 15 months this promotional rate lasts, or mid-April 2016. 

So what do I save moving that money from my credit card over to my student loans?

Over the life of the loan, I save over $1,000 in interest fees against my student loans and I shave off about six months in my repayment timeline. Right away, right now, I will shave off about $10 of interest every month. Even if you were to add the interest I would accrue from my credit card, I will still save at least $600... granted that is provided I pay back the total I borrowed before the end of the promotional period. And to do that means I have to pay back about $250 a month over the next 12 months to make this really work.

So if I'm saving so much money and this is such a brilliant plan, why didn't I just go all in and withdraw all that I was allowed to against my card?

Because I'm a chicken that's why.

Going a full 100% utilization of my card was something that I felt was too dangerous a total in my mind to try and repay back to Mastercard in a little over a year. Mostly because I'm still going to have to be paying down my student loans so it's not like the hefty sum of money I'm required to set aside to pay my loans can then be turned around and paid to my credit card.

Because of all that, I can't trust myself to pay that amount in time before the promotional rate ends and I rather not test my limits. $3,000 is scary enough a total as it is, but I strongly feel I can pay that back within the year.

This plan will hurt right now as this will really put a pinch on my budget and my monthly expenses. Also in the short term, I will be paying more in the form of interest every month between my student loans and at my newly returned minimum payment on my credit card.

Right now, I'm not 100% certain where the $3,000 I will need to pay back my credit card will come from. For now the plan is that some of it will come from the extra of about $50-70 dollars that I direct to my student loans every month for the short-term until it is paid off, another portion will come from any extra money I make and another chunk will have to come from my income tax return.

I am also icing the card for the time being until that total is paid off. This is due to the fact that any future purchases I make with the card will be charged using the regular interest rate of 18.99%. However, any payment I make will end up being split proportionally between both rates, as opposed to prioritizing the highest rate, meaning that using the card while on this plan could cost me more money in the end. So my second card will be getting the bulk of the action now.

So why didn't I just wait to accrue the $3,000 cash and put it to my student loan account and reap the benefits of the interest savings rather than do a credit swap and screw around with interest rates here?

Because after my last two months, I needed something to scare me and force me to stop blowing my budget all the time on being lazy. And my student loans weren't really doing it because the very size of it meant that it was a long-term thing, and that is easy for me to get complacent on, which I kind of did.

$3,000 on my credit card, regardless of the interest rate, has scared me and does scare me. Especially since there is essentially a ticking time-bomb attached to it in which if it goes off will cause chaos as far as this plan goes,  

But it is a total that I know I've beating down from before in about a year. And it will be a total I can beat back down from again. It forces me to be more conscious of my spending and ultimately, forces me to keep from spending as carelessly as I have been.

This post was brought to you by Liz Lemon, who is like my television twin. Except I'm maybe only half as awesome most of the time, though not even a fraction as cool as Tina Fey. Who is a God. That is all.

Day 4 of 28: Coupons and feminine hygiene products

Only four days into this one-month $100 budget... and I've already blown through over $30 of it like a spending loser.

Clearly, this is not the most notable start in the history of $100 budget months.

Actually, I started off really well frankly. Spent $20 this week on about two weeks worth of food thanks to a 12 pack of Kraft Dinner going for about $10 at Shoppers that also included my usual egg salad sandwich spread purchase. I figured it was money well spent and I was doing well.

Until I remembered a certain coupon that was set to expire tonight.

You may recall a couple of months ago about my angry post over how absolutely sucky U by kotex pads are. We're not talking a little sucky here either. A lot sucky. And I was stuck with a giant pack of them thanks to a coupon and my own stupidity. Like a huge box of them.

Well the same place that I got my U by kotex coupon offered a coupon for Always Infinity worth quite a bit. This is especially given that I actually use and really like Always Infinity pads, a reality made much more evident by how much frothing rage the U by kotex product created in me.

And I wanted to make use of this coupon. Badly. Because I really do like Always Infinity products and had every intention of using said product on my next *ahem* cycle. It was essentially a disposable non-degradable product that will be used given that I'm quite a number of years away from menopause and likely be used sooner rather than later given my overall moods while enjoy the many perks of being a woman.

However, this was my $100 budget month, meaning that in order to buy this, I will essentially have to cut into this total, which was essentially meant to be my food budget for the month.

But this hardly goes into the crux of the issue with me purchasing this item today or any other day like it. Fact is, I DON'T NEED MORE PADS RIGHT NOW. I had a giant box of perfectly usable if reprehensibly uncomfortable and disgustingly cheaply constructed U by kotex pads that reasonably could last me a good half a year of cycles not to mention a decent haul of tampons to limit overall damages and extend general lifetime.

It's like when you go out and buy a new stick of lip balm even though you have a small collection of lip balms that you have yet to use at the moment. I mean, you will likely eventually get to using the new lip balm but either at the cost of finishing one of your older ones or not for a very long time likely. And why would anyone need so many different lip balms really?

But... the coupon...

So now because of my stupidity and need for a "good deal" I am now... going to have to pinch even more now to not go over the remainder of my $100 discretionary spending budget for the month. Because I couldn't turn down a deal for something that... well I will use and do like, but didn't really need this month.

An important lesson for me to ponder and digest as far as how I spend my money, and my need to value it more in cash than in things, particularly things I don't need now, even if I may "need" it later, as I continue on for this month.

On to the next day.

Recap: Spending and savings in January 2015

So... I'm confused.

As far as spending and savings is concerned for this month, I don't even know how best to describe it to you or anyone else. In the sense, I don't think I did a good job with my spending, however I actually did have a lot of success when it came to my savings for the month. Or at least, when it comes down to the percentages I did a phenomenal job and really need to look at it in that sense, even though frankly I feel as if I failed a little at that too.

As you can see, it's rather contradictory as far as whether I succeeded or failed miserably at my goals at all.

How about a yes to all of the above here?

INCOME: Why is income first? Because for once my income was the big story for the month and the source of my confusion as far as how to rate my month's performance in spending and savings.

Why? It was a triple pay cheque month.

Yup, I got three pay cheques this month. This meant an extra set of contributions to my RRSP, employee shares plan and my pension plan. Not only that, said third pay cheque also finally came with my Thanksgiving overtime pay... finally! All in all, I got a good extra $1000 dollars added to my earnings for the month.

But that's not all!

I also got my final instalment of GST cheques for 2014 and also got my pay cheque from freelancing which also added a cool extra $500 on top of everything else. Score!

All in all, I had a good month as far as earning money went. So... what did I do with all that extra cash?


DEBT REPAYMENT: Student loans, welcome to the $32,000 club, something that I hope we'll both be out of by the midpoint in March.

This is one of the things I would call a big success for the month of January, but mostly because of on top of my minimum payment of just under $500 dollars, I was also able to muscle in another $270 extra on top from the extra money I earned this month, which was enough to make me able to only need two months instead of three months to get my student loans under $31,000 owed.

It really is sad how excited I am to get under $30,000 owed on my student loans. Mostly because it means I owe only my net salary instead of over it.

On the credit card front, I also paid off my Mastercard and Visa in full before the closing date in order to give me as close to a clean slate before starting a brand new credit card regime (involving some weird magic) that I'm aiming at doing in order to best aid my credit rating.

Of course, paying them off in full loosely translated to me paying down a good extra $200 that was left on one of them from spending in December... which is where some of my "extra" money also went towards.


SAVINGS: So here's the mark I'm personally pretty conflicted on.

See, not including the forced savings into my pension, RRSP and work share buying plan, I myself saved around $750 dollars.

$400 of it went to refill my emergency savings after practically draining it in December (and am now roughly $100 away from totally catching up to where I was before my spending spree), $200 went to my TFSA for long-term investing and savings, and the remainder was split into some form of savings either for the short or the long-term that will probably get spent this year due to upcoming medical expenses for the year.

I have to co-pay for a crown at about $500, not to mention front the cost of allergy serums at $700 before my insurance can refund me. All of that needs to have some funds set aside for it. Health care costs are the absolute pits.

Percentage-wise, the savings are pretty solid. Excluding the forced savings (as I don't count those towards my net earnings from my pay) I managed to set aside 25-30% of my take-home pay this month.

But with that said, I made close to $1,500 extra dollars this month compared to what I am supposed to or usually make and therefore is what I budget off of. So why or how did I manage to set aside half of that sum into my savings?! Granted, around $400 of it went into debt repayment but that still leaves around $300 of my money unaccounted for, right? Where did that go?


EXPENSES: Well... the extra $300 I made went here. Into my budget. Which I blew to high holy heaven this month because I had no self-control.

January (and frankly, February as well) is usually pretty a bad month for me and my money. The long nights and cold weather don't sit very well with me and my brain and tends to sabotage any legitimate attempts to well, be proactive with my goals and behave for the most part.

It pulled a fast one on my transportation costs this month in any case and that was with only two taxi trips one way!

It also exacerbates my built in laziness. I cooked less because I rather stay wrapped up in my comforter and watch Top Gear for hours on end. This led to me eating out way more than I should have and I blew my new restaurant budget past any desired spending possible. And I pulled way less than my share when it came to household duties like dishes (although I did manage to clean out the fridge, one of the few things I manage to do regularly) which annoyed my roommates some.

But that wasn't the real kicker in my budget. Yes I spent about $80 or so above what I had intended to in my food budget this month. Yes, I caved and bought a t-shirt and some make-up this month when I had zero intentions of buying clothing and make-up this month. Yes, I dropped $60 on printer ink when I could have made do without it. (although I would argue, necessary for what I've been up to lately)

But that isn't what siphoned up most of my money.

I obliterated my limit on entertainment spending this month. Two nights out with a friend and a pair of books that was impulsed because "I just felt like it" equalled me spending around $280 on my personal enjoyment... when I generally only budget at most $80 for such frivolity monthly.

I did manage not to spend to the limit in other places, but the fact of the matter is, I went about $300 over my intended spending budget. Which is exactly how much that disappeared from my extra cash that I had hoped to save.

And that is why I can't help but feel my month was a bit of a failure as far my savings and spending went. Even though it really really isn't if you get down to some of the harder numbers of what I did with my money. Somewhat.

CURRENT NET WORTH: $-30,829.63 (+4.18%)

This would be the first month so far that sees my savings, including my forced savings, making a bigger impact to my net worth than my student loan repayment, which is awesome given that my student loan repayment saw me pay down $600 on the principle this month.

Still, nothing on this planet puts more strain on my net worth than that bloody student loan though. Although that's pretty self evident based on the lovely negative net worth of mine.

This month's net worth numbers have also given me a bit of a head start on my goal of increasing my net worth to as close to $15,000 as I can make it. Honestly though, I'm more or less looking for about $1000 a month legitimately set aside for this scheme while finding enough extra to hopefully make up for the $3,000 I'm short for the year. So this will be a good head start.

On to February now!

Oh and I have no idea why confused led me to googling Jimmy Fallon GIFs for this post. It's okay, he's still pretty awesome so it worked out!

My frugal February

Earlier this year, I stated that I wanted to increase my total net worth by $15,000, a task made a little more uncertain by the fact that my freelance work isn't guaranteed (especially now with some key changes in my industry right now) and my full-time gig nets me just under $2000 a month more or less, not including overtime and holiday pay.

And then there was December and January where I was a little less than well-behaved when it came to controlling my spending and general restraint on my part.

In short, I was terrible with the whole money management thing the last two months.

So for the month of February, I decided to do something a bit drastic to try and help this goal along for the year and basically atone for the error of my ways.

I'm grounding myself from spending most of my money.

Well perhaps grounding is the wrong word. Grounding implies that there is a punishment involved and really, this isn't really a punishment. At least I can't look at it this way, or else I'll become resentful. Really, this is something I'm choosing to do to get better acquainted with just me and what I already own. And not what I want.

So for the month of February, I intend to slash nearly all discretionary spending, the exception being around $100 to cover the cost of a small amount of food.

The exception is being put in place because frankly, I live with roommates so not everything that is lying around waiting to be eaten is mine. And I don't intend to peeve them off by doing so while not putting in my fair share of replacing what's been eaten one way or another. And even still, $100 is still only half of my usual food budget costs! But I digress.

My discretionary spending budget is normally around $400 a month, give or take expenses during the month. So by slashing it down to just $100, I'm aiming to have around $300 extra freed up to then direct to my savings and student loans.

Well, not quite rolling in this kind of dough.

So why February? Well besides the fact that it's the shortest month of the year and therefore minimizes the pain as much as possible without time-travel (and minimizing the number of days in which things can go wrong) it is also the month where I have the fewest "extra" financial commitments to make. I don't have birthdays to celebrate, events to attend or holidays to buy gifts or goodies for (except Valentines Day, but not even a concern right now). For all of these reasons, this makes this month ideal for me.

So here's to a money-free month. How long will it take for me to get restless? Will I crack? Will something "bad" happen to blow it? Hopefully not. I'll try my best to chronicle the trouble I run into and the temptations I deal with.

But for now, putting away all but my grocery list and living like I have (almost) no extra money seems like a good exercise in why I should count myself lucky to begin with.