There are emergencies, and then there are emergencies

Remember how earlier this month I griped and whined about having to dip into my emergency fund in order to help float my sister's rent for a bit and used that as a reason to have an emergency fund?

That "emergency" now very much pales in comparison to what has happened since then.

On April 15-16, I came down with acute appendicitis.

Let me first start by saying that since that day I have spent many a moment profusely thanking the Lord Jesus, God, Buddha, Allah and whatever other deity out there as well as my loving, wonderful and smart parents that I was born, raised and live in the amazing and beautiful country of Canada. And not just because there isn't much else to do when curled up in a hospital bed.

Not only did I have to go into emergency surgery in order to get my appendix removed on the 16th, I also had to stay in hospital for nearly FIVE days afterwards due to the lingering effects of a burst, half-gangrenous (doctor's words, and yes, ew!) appendix in my body, namely that post-operation, I showed signs of sepsis.

All of the above can easily add up to well over $70,000 in medical debt in the States. ($20,000 for the surgery and $10,000 a night for care in hospital)

But Canada blessedly has universal healthcare. And as an appendectomy due to a burst appendix is hardly elective by any stretch of the imagination anywhere, the whole ordeal will be covered by OHIP as a result. This alone will be why I will never again complain about paying taxes in this province and country. Because this past week, I recouped on every tax dollar I have contributed and then some.

But while I was spared the life-crushing medical debt, I'm not out of the woods yet for this particular emergency health-wise or financially.

Currently I have only spent around $60 for two taxi trips and some prescription medicine for this emergency. I expect that number to multiply soon. There are still yet-unknown (at least until I'm mailed the hospital bill) auxiliary medical costs to worry about that isn't covered by OHIP. Some will likely be covered by my work benefits (another perk that I've been so thankful to have at this moment) but there will likely be a cost nonetheless.

Also I have missed at least seven days of work due to the surgery and hospital stay, and I don't yet know how that will translate to future pay cheques. Technically I do have sick days and if necessary, could apply for short-term disability through my work benefits, but that still will leave me short of money earned next month. That's something that I will have to figure out when I do get back to work.

But I have my health, my family and my friends, all of whom have been so supportive and helpful while I was in hospital. And that's what's most important as I continue my road back to health.

I have paid off four of my seven years in school, but...

Another month, another student loan payment automatically withdrawn.

But that's not all! This month's installment is further supplemented by my aforementioned tax refund, which knocks it down a decent step in my quest for $20,000 owed, a number that I can reasonably reach in a year's time with some smarts and discipline. And also careful tracking of my monthly numbers.

So a couple of months ago Money After Graduation (a very useful Canadian blog writer who discussed tackling her debt before moving forward with building wealth) had a pretty useful article on personalizing your debt/spending to help you paying it back faster.

It's funny, because when I first started paying off my credit card debt, well before seeing that piece of advice, I made sure that any money I put onto my cards during and since then that I knew exactly what it was I was spending that money on and had a plan for how or where the money to pay it back will come from, whether it was from my set monthly budget of discretionary spending or other means.

(Well... most of the time I had a plan)

Basically what I'm saying is that this kind of quantifying the money you spend into actual things you use, things you've experienced, etc. actually does work in helping you to pay it back. Especially when that spending is attached to a plan. At least, from my own personal experiences it was.

However, this wasn't something I did with my student loans ever, despite the size of it. It just kind of floated above my head, a big lump sum of money that represented what my education cost me for me to get my dream job.

Just a big miasma of meaningless cash that I spent and possibly wasted.

Until now.

Above was the loans I had taken out for my schooling, and on the right are the loans that I have since paid back during repayment up until this date.

And yes, the total spent to get myself that dream job is legitimately quite staggering. But neither here nor there.

One of the first things you'll notice is that I didn't mark repayment in order of when I withdrew the funds for school. There are several reasons for that. The first being that I prioritized the repayment of my third year of school, or rather the year I wasted all that time and money being in school and basically flunking the year.

My third year in university is hands down the single-most expensive mistake that I have ever made, to the tune of over $7,000. So imagine my small amount of relief when I calculated it out and realized that I had actually repaid the government for my error.

As for the rest, I went after paying down the smallest amounts received because it made me feel like I've accomplished more than I really did. Which, if you see above, is absolutely the case given that it appears as if I have paid off within a year and a half of my entire university funding!

With that said, my post-graduate student loans for sports journalism school was my biggest shock and surprise in that I did not realize just how much money I borrowed in 2012. That year cost me over $15,000 in loans or currently more than half the amount I still owe the government.

All on ONE YEAR! That's how much two years of university cost me once upon a time. And here I thought university to have been a problem in my student debt journey.

Granted, that one year of loans in 2012, as much as I'm paying for it right now and going forward, got me to where I am now, working my dream job (if at a bit of a pittance of a wage somewhat) that doesn't even feel like work most of the time. So no regrets there.

And whatever lingering regrets I may harbour for the money I wasted... it's done. Sure I do keep dwelling on it, and it is something that still disappoints me about myself when I look at my student loans and how that debt bogs down my money, but at the same time, seeing that I had ultimately paid my dues in repayment for it is a huge relief.

My student loan repayment had once and is presently paying things that were worth my money and time, as my fifth, sixth and seventh years were what ultimately got me my degree.

And there's nothing to be ashamed about when it comes to that cash.

My tax refund and how it will change my money outlook

So the other day I discovered that my tax refund had been deposited into my bank account. And boy, did it ever change how my finances looked in one big, fell swoop.

Listen, I've had refunds before. I've had massive ones before as well. But there's really nothing like getting a huge sum of money dumped in your lap and being told it is now yours. It makes you feel giddy.

It also makes you do stupid things sometimes.

I've done stupid things with it. That is to say, I've almost always blown it one way or another on stupid shit. Mostly crap. The last two years a good chunk of it was used to basically pay down my credit card debt in significant fashion, but never in full and it's really just another way of saying "I blew it on crap." I certainly couldn't tell you what it was that I bought that ballooned that credit card debt in the first place.

(Well except the one time when it helped to pay for an overnight trip to Ottawa, but that's neither here nor there)

Anyway, I'm mostly over that phase of my life in which I carry credit card debt now because that means most of the money will go to more sensible places. For instance, my student loan debt.

Which I kind of, totally did with this tax refund. I swear...

Well...

Okay, so I'll admit it. Only about a quarter of the money I got in my enormous refund ended up going to my student loan debt. (or to pay back the loan I took out in February to put towards my student loan debt. Either way, big picture, it went towards my student loans). The other three quarters I redirected it elsewhere. With about half of that leftover cash being put into my travel fund for a planned trip to Florida with my sister.

Yes I'm aware and I understand that that's not how responsible people are supposed to handle a small windfall when you're in debt!!! And yes, I know, it means for a third straight year, I'm spending a good chunk of my refund dollars, money that should be going to paying down my student loan as it is my student loans that gave me most of that giant refund, on "crap."

But I'm not a responsible person. I'm a person with fifty-thousand dreams in the works as far as my money goes here. And given that this may be my last real guaranteed giant sized refund (I'm almost out of education credits in which I can burn), I want my money to do as much for me as I can make it do.

And plus, it's my money. Well... kind of, given that I still owe the government that amount and then some. So really it's their money that I'm borrowing against my loans in order to do this.

This is a chance for me and my sister to gain a valuable experience together while we're both still young and fairly early in our careers and has been something we've both been thinking about since graduating, granted, jobs and job searching got in the way since then. And it's our opportunity to celebrate life.

And plus, any money I don't end up using is likely going to be sent back to my savings somehow.

As for the rest of the money after vacations and student loans? Three-fifths went into boosting my emergency fund and the rest went into my TFSA. So retirement investing and a life cushion and a means to further advance my goals in those specific areas of my life. That money put me halfway to the $3000 preliminary goal that I'm gunning for this year as well as gets some money working for me. (rather than the other way around)

All in all, no regrets.

Plus, despite putting a chunk of the money I got back as a planned expense and therefore gone into the ether, I still set aside and saved enough of the money from the return that it made a really really sizable impact on my net worth.

Don't believe me? You'll see at the end of the month...

How expensive is it to own a vehicle? A non-owner's breakdown

I've been putting off writing this blog post since... well since I got my G2 license in December and was researching here and there the cost of taking on a vehicle for convenience.

The procrastination was a result of the verb used above however: research.

This kind of post when done right requires a certain amount of research on various numbers and other things. Things that I wasn't terribly inclined to do since devising the topic. Still don't actually. It's just not my style for a blog that essentially acts like a journal of my journey to personal freedom and other things that niggle at me and my brain.

So forgive me if my writing on this topic remains fairly vague and general. Because I simply didn't do all that much research into the topic. But I have a good reason for that.

It didn't take all that much research and number crunching for me to realize that I can't afford to own a vehicle, new or used.

Recall how earlier this week, I broke down my spending and savings for the first quarter of the year? 

Did you see that massive pie piece that was my debt repayment for that quarter? 30% of my income goes to my debt. That's 30% of my money I don't end up ever seeing because it is going to someone else either to pay off the principle in which I borrowed from them, or to pay off the interest that accrued on it. Basically as a result, I really only spend and/or save 70% of my small enough income.

That on its own should be reason enough why I can't afford to own a vehicle, at least not until that chunk of cash is freed from the evil grips of debitors and mine at last. But I did manage to get a little further in my "research" of how much of my income it would eat up for me to own a vehicle.

Referring once more to the magic pie of my Q1 expenditures and savings, I spent about 8% of my income on transportation: a sum that includes metropasses, a few taxi trips, tokens and car insurance (the latter point is something I will revisit later). In actual dollar values, I spent around $600 on transit in three months, or about $200 a month.

That's actually quite a lot of money gallivanting about town, says some people as you look at my numbers. In fact, are you really sure it's cheaper to just own a car?

Well let's start with where do I put the car. Parking at my apartment every month costs $50 to park outdoors. $75 if you want indoor parking, which may or may not be worth it for the fact that you won't have to worry about weather affecting your vehicle's lifespan. Then there's parking at my workplace. It's free after 6PM and on weekends, but for two of the three week rotation I'm on, I start work before 6PM on weekdays.

Frankly, I'm not sure how much the cost is because I don't pay for parking at work right now, so let's just aim low and go with $40 to park at work, which is a very low guess.

Now there's gas, which is fairly pricey in this province and town that I happen to live and work in. Not to mention, I live  a solid 20 km away from work because well... it's bloody expensive to live downtown. So let's loosely guess that a full tank of gas will last me two weeks and cost around $50 each trip to the station. That's $100 dollars a month spent on travel.

At it's lowest, it leaves me $10 a month for every other cost, at it's most realistic, I've already spent over $200 a month simply to drive. And that doesn't include the cost of insurance (I currently pay $100 every three months to be a secondary driver on my dad's car. I'd imagine it'd be much higher once I become a primary), paying for the yearly plate sticker, maintenance and if my eyes become too big for my wallet, financing for a new vehicle, which on its own, could cost me way more than $200 a month anyway.

What can I cut above to make up the extra cash in transportation? Food? Debt repayment?

All of this tells me only one thing: I'm at the very least three years from vehicle ownership at my salary and with my debt right now. That's the earliest in which I can pay back my student loan debt, and even then... that's the ideal. I'm looking at more or less four to five years realistically.

So how expensive is it for me to own a vehicle? Too expensive. And why I own a metropass and live within transit lines.

The $3,000 emergency fund project

So last month I mentioned how I currently pay $10.95 in bank fees. And how much I hate it. Not just because there is a way for me to get those costs waived, but mostly due to the fact that that's a lot of money to pay an institution to hold onto MY money. Because you know, their job is to actually hold onto my money, not bloody well take it away!

Unfortunately, this practice is pretty standard with most of Canada's banks and while there are a handful of free banking options with no minimum required and even accrues interest, the inconvenience of moving my chequing accounts elsewhere is just enough to make me move for the perks.

With that said, the problem of these fees remain a problem.

However, it is also one that I can get waived.

TD will waive the fee if I keep a minimum of $3,000 consistently within the account. That is to say, from the 1st to the 31st, I need to keep at least $3,000 in that account. No, those dollars won't be accruing interest because it will have to be sitting in a non-interest accruing account. But at the same time, it will save me $10.95 monthly, which is more than what I could make with the money in an interest accruing account that isn't my investment account. I could then flip the savings to an account that does collect interest, rather than throwing it away.

Literally.

As a result of this, I want to build a base goal of having a $3,000 emergency fund by the end of the year solely for the purpose of getting those fees waived. Well preferably, I'd rather get that fee waived right now and do have a few ideas and possibilities up in the air for how to do that but ultimately, it will be my emergency fund in whole that will be doing the grunt work here.

How soon do I hope to have this done by?

Well I hope to have at least the $3,000 in which to start the fee waiving in a few week's time when my tax return comes in which will sit in a savings account until it can be moved for the start of May to waive the fee. But in terms of having the money JUST from my emergency fund (and not actually spread out over several funds) ... we shall see. That will have to depend on the money I make, save and spend in the coming months.

I'm hoping to have that money set up sooner rather than later all things considered, but I'm not about to make predictions on my spending and savings before they actually happen either. All will be revealed with time.

Ultimately, when all is settled and done with my emergency fund, I'm really hoping to have $5,000 set aside for my e-fund: $2,000 to cover any costs and the $3,000 for when stuff really hits the fan and it would be cheaper to just incur a $10.95 fee rather than say... pay interest on my credit cards.

My net worth project at the quarter point for 2015

So at the beginning of the year, I decided to set a financial goal of increasing my net worth by $15,000 for 2015, a number that was selected because it essentially sliced the weight of my student loan debt on my net worth in half.

Also important for me was that this task enabled me to both attack my debt and save for the future. Because both can have a measurable impact on my goal, therefore giving me room to be my jittery, impatient and sometimes unfocused self when it came to me and my money.

So how am I doing with my money so far this year?

No, what you see here isn't a statistical error. 30% of the money I've netted so far these last three months have all gone towards my debt or $2,391.49. That is twice what is recommended for the average person to commit to debt repayment!

Sad part is, while some of that 30% can be attributed to extra payments on both my student loans and my credit card from that balance transfer I did last month, it really only upped the percentages by no more than 8%. Meaning that even when paying minimum balances on my debt, it still eats up a whooping 25% of my regular salary. Oye.

(Yeah, yeah, yeah I need to make more money)

As far as savings are going, I was surprised to discover that it was going pretty well as far as the percentages were working for me. Between my paycheque deductions, as well as planned TFSA and e-fund contributions, around 18% of my gross pay (because those retirement deductions does not get taxed due to them being deducted off my pay) goes to distant future savings, which was better than I was expecting anyway. Nevermind the short term savings I have so far made this year, which are small but still significant

Other notable pie pieces include:

• Money spent on clothing came in at about 2% of my money earned so far this year, or around $150 total spent on two jackets, a scarf and a shirt. Given that I've once been prone to $200 online shopping sprees not too long ago, especially around winter to spring time (right now), I'm counting this as a big win for me and my money. Keeping track of my money does work, at least it did in this category anyway.
• Restaurants (casually eating out) came in at 3% of my money spent, or around $200 dollars spent in three months. Now I don't know about you and your regular spending habits, but sheesh I need to seriously cut back on this laziness of mine! 
• The above doesn't even include the outings for food I've had with friends, which I counted towards miscellaneous entertainment (cable not being included), which came in at around 4% of my money spent. Granted, it wouldn't be anywhere near this high if not for a massive outing that saw me spend close to $200 on a trip to the bar in January. Hahahaha... oops.
• I don't know how much I'm supposed to be spending on food (groceries plus restaurants) but according to my pie chart, I'm spending the same amount on transportation as I am food these first three months at about 8%. Which I'm going to slowly conclude that that isn't terribly high or unreasonable and leave it at that?
• Between groceries, rent, transportation and internet (which is included due to it being included in our shared rent payment), 36% of my money goes towards needs, which is... a little higher than I was expecting it to be but all things in perspective, not too shabby at all. 

At a glance, even with the above indiscretions, things more or less look as if they're heading in the right direction for me and my money this year and that I'm not misbehaving as much as I had worried I was in the first quarter.

However, with that said, I'm still a bit behind on my goal of raising my net worth by $15K. At the quarter point of the year, I have presently increased my net worth this year by $3,493.52. It should be at about $3,750 after three months, or $1,250 a month saved in order to get to my stated $15K goal by year's end.

Granted, right now I'm simply just trying to increase my net worth by just $1,000 a month, so it's really all about the perspective, right?

Either way in light of this, I will be making a bigger effort to throwing more of my money in the direction of my debts and e-funds every month this next quarter in order to boost my net worth savings upward. Maybe even my TFSA.

There's also plenty of exciting money opportunities coming my way this month not to mention a few experiences I'm thinking of exploring as the weather warms up. So onward and upward we go.

My Cosmetic De-cluttering Quest is going extremely poorly

If the title of this post doesn't emphasize this fact enough, allow me to reiterate: my Cosmetic De-cluttering Quest is going really extremely poorly right now.

How poorly you ask? I have acquired MORE cosmetics in the intervening months as opposed to getting rid of them. Ugh! *head down*

And yet, while my impulse spending of cosmetics during the first three months is partially responsible for this increase in inventory, to be quite frank, a little nervous mindset of mine that is often both a positive trait in the right situations, but a total nightmare in others, probably ought to take the brunt of the blame.

And it's that I hate letting things go to waste. From food to books to clothing to cosmetics, I want to get full use of anything I buy.

On one hand, it's great because I make the most of my purchases and therefore ecologically speaking, I don't let things end up in landfills when in some respects, it really shouldn't. But on the other hand, when you spend recklessly and impulsively on things you later don't want or don't need and then find yourself unable to to get rid of it because you don't want to just "let it go to waste," well you have the makings of a potential hoarder later in life.

And while I am forcing myself to use what I have regularly in an honest attempt to "use this stuff up before allowing myself to buy something new," the reality of the situation as far as various cosmetics go is that even with regular usage of this or that, it is really really hard and it takes a really really long time for anyone to use up any one cosmetic product in full. 

For instance, if you were to apply the same tube of lipstick three times a day every day it can reasonably take you three months to use it up in full. Three months. For one tube of lipstick applied three times a day, which I don't do. Once maybe and more frequently when it's lip balm, but lipstick?

It makes me stare at my lipstick collection with the wide, frightened eyes of a terrified child knowing that each of them likely has a three month life on it... provided I wear them every bloody day!

And that's just my lipstick collection. World, have you seen my nail polish collection?

I could spend a full year painting my nails every single day and still maybe only use up maybe five to ten of my 50+ bottles of nail polish at best. That's hardly a dent, not to mention the chemicals used in polish and then to strip your nails is more likely to kill them and therefore is not a plan anyone should act upon.

I'm not about to give up however. Because it is working wonders to curb the worst of my impulse spending on this front and forcing me to take a sound look at the things I do and don't use on a regular basis really. I did manage to use one bottle of lotion up as a result, while I also actually lost a lip balm due to regular use that more or less meant I misplaced it and it disappeared into the ether.

(Actually, that I'm down to just one lip balm upsets me more than I'm willing to admit, but as I have yet to demonstrate that I actually need two of them, I'm not really allowing myself to replace it either)

It is still making me anxious in the "how am I going to use all this stuff up in time" front. Maybe perhaps solidify that routine I've been considering... but again, all good things in its own time I guess.

The rent cheque drama a.k.a. why I need to have an emergency fund

So the end of March/beginning of April basically summed up why it is important for me to hold onto and maintain a liquid emergency fund. Mostly because you can't always count on others not to make a mess of things for you.

The rent for the apartment I live in is split three ways and paid out on the first of every month. However, rather than all three of us roomies paying the building's management separately, the other two pays me their share of the rent and in turn, I give management a cheque of the full rent amount on the first. Ultimately, it's more organized and less confusing this way for all of us.

But it's also so that I can play buffer for this exact scenario that I am now once again faced with.

My sister pays her rent via cheque. Mostly because it gives her an appropriate paper trail for when she gets questioned about her status as someone who contributes to the rent of a unit. Which is fine and dandy and doesn't change anything for me. At least until she runs out of cheques.

That happened earlier this month.

But instead of replacing said cheque book as soon as it happened, she... procrastinated it. At least she did until the end of the month when she finally walked into her bank to request a new set of chequebooks.

That was when she proceeded to find out that it will take them 5-10 business days to send the new books to her. Which was five to ten business days she didn't have. Meanwhile, she had rent and a metropass to pay for in the meantime.

So guess who is covering the difference for her until she can cut me that cheque now? Or rather, guess what.

My emergency fund.

And that's normally fine and understandable I guess, but in the same breath, here's the thing that kind of annoys me about this situation. I mean, it's one thing to legitimately not have the cash to pay me, as was the case some time last August for the other roommate. That's fine then, just let me know when you can pay me back.

Except she actually does have the cash on her to cover everything here and then some.

It's the inconvenience in addition to the paper trail that is stopping her from going to the teller and withdrawing the cash to pay me. So instead I'm stuck with the inconvenience of having to juggle my savings and money around in order to cover the shortfalls in my chequing account that is now $525 dollars short of cash. And at a time of the month when I tend to be at my tightest as far as money is concerned.

All in all, thank God for that emergency fund. Elsewise, I don't know, but it wouldn't be pretty for my financial state right now, that's for sure. Nor my mood. Though granted, it does annoy me nevertheless.