loosening the purse-strings

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thank god it’s March!

my NO SPEND MONTH experiment went fairly well, i’d say. i didn’t feel entirely deprived and i learned to say “no” and “not yet” instead of “mastercard” and “charge it”. my mom suggested i keep a list of all the things i didn’t buy but wanted to during the month. so, here are the things i didn’t buy myself on the day i wanted to:

1. adorable ball jar salt & pepper shakers – $15 (these arrived in my mailbox without me ordering them — thanks, Jane!)
2. lunch – $10 (thanks, chris!)
3. awesome london throw pillow – $90
4. chinese food – $27
5. all the things at old navy – $80
6. cute crocs – $35
7. cat shirt for boy – $30
8. custom free things – $8
9. new laundry basket to replace my breaking one – $10
10. new floor lamp to replace my broken one – $40 (i ended up fixing my lamp for free!)
13. lunch – $10 (thanks, chichi!)
14. cheesecake – $7
15. glee songs from itunes – $3
17. chicken & yogurt – $25
18. expensive razors with built-in lube – $15
21. lottery ticket & full-size haagen-dazs – $13
23. gorgeous 24 hours in london print – $40
24. discount snowflake throw pillows – $13
27. groupon for nando’s – $10

total not spent: $481

but, to be totally honest, i did somehow manage spend $155 of my own money at the casino where my mom took me after picking me up at the ferry last weekend. i also spent $25 at Shoppers that i accrued into March so i would have enough cash money to buy snacks & yogurt for the ANTM viewing party on the last day of the month. that’s not exactly cheating, is it?

all in all, it was a worth-while exercise and i’m fairly impressed with my willpower.

now, i’ll just have to resist the urge to run out and buy all the things on that list above! ;)

i’m nothing if not informative

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i’m halfway through my NO SPEND MONTH and things seem pretty good so far. the first week was pretty dodgy, but now that we’re on the downhill slope things are getting easier. it helps that i’ve been able to go out for meals with friends and i haven’t yet had to break out the sardines which have been hiding out in my cupboard for who knows how long.

i’ve been keeping a list of things i didn’t buy (which i will publish at the end of the month), but i find that as the month progresses there’s fewer things i have to stop myself from purchasing. i think they call that progress.

otherwise… yeah. hi.

i came home from ValenTaco Tuesday last night to find a box of chocolates and a card on my kitchen table from my dad. he snuck in during the day and left them for me. AWW! i have the best dad ever. no, really. i’ll totally fight you if you think differently.

ever feel like you have something stuck in your throat but you know you don’t and all the coughing and swallowing in the world never makes it go away? turns out that’s a thing. it’s called cricopharyngeal spasms. turns out it’s not cancer and just a “cramp” in the little valve in your layrnx which opens and closes when you swallow. now you know!

i love my kindle. why? it’s only the seventh week of 2012 and i’ve already read seven books (and will have read eight by the end of today). don’t believe me? go check out my goodreads stats (sign up required, sorry)! seriously, i haven’t read this voraciously in so many years. it’s awesome. of course, it doesn’t hurt that i’m mostly reading YA fluff, but whatever. it’s just nice to be excited about books again. it’s been a long time. too long. so, yeah, thank you, kindle. you’re my hero.

btw, if you like dystopian YA (The Hunger Games, Divergent), go read Marie Lu’s Legend. it’s fantastic! (thanks, Shan!)

i’m broke!

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christmas ruined me.

well, it wasn’t just christmas. it was the most expensive haircut i’ve ever had. then it was LONDON. then the new iPhone. then the new dress & shoes & handbag. then christmas. then travelling to/from the island. then the new couch. then Christopher’s 40th birthday & party. then the $50 pen. then the destination wedding accommodations. then, then, then…

everything i’ve spent in the last four months has seemed needed and important and, when taken separately, affordable. but now? i’m all tapped out and determined to cast off this cloak of consumerism i’ve been wearing for too many purchases. it’s been a slow death by a thousand cuts and i’m so very tired of bleeding. let me be clear: i’m not in debt for any of these purchases. i have the cash to pay for them all; but, it’s eating into my savings and that is starting to freak me out and piss me off.

to that end, i am declaring February NO SPEND MONTH.

other than things i’ve already budgeted for (thankfully, that’s a lot), i’m not spending anything. that means, when my food & grocery money is spent, i either rummage in my cupboards for miracle meals or i starve. when my entertainment budget is blown, i will not be going out where i will have to pay monies.

hopefully, i will be able to live below my budget for the month and then maybe have a little bit left over to put back into those deflated savings accounts; but, i’ll be happy to be at net zero come the end of Feb.

this declaration is part public commitment to my plan and a head’s up to all those who care that i may be even more hermity next month — especially the last few days — if things don’t go well.

so much thinking

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the neighbours with the squeaky dog toy sounding child moved from across the hall to an upstairs apartment (thankfully, not above me). i had a brief fling with thinking about flipping my life and living on the other side of the building. the pros & cons stacked up thusly:
pros
chance to start fresh
new paint
scrubbed from top to bottom
no stompy upstairs
none of stompy’s garden flotsam falling onto my balcony
building on that side is quieter, more mature
breezeway never used by loud people cutting through
excellent opportunity to really purge more stuff
re-arranging!
cons
all the address/utility changes just to change from #6 to #5
moving (ew)
costs (may be higher rent)
re-learning where everything is (it’s a mirror-image of my apartment)
upstairs mafia guy may be worse than stompy (hard to imagine, but possible)
might be hotter as it’s on side which gets direct sun most of the day
could have a worse bathroom/uglier kitchen/crappier doors & windows
but, really, i’m lazy and cheap, so i’m probably not going anywhere.
another thing i’m thinking about is London.
turns out there’s both an opportunity for free accommodation and a very cheap flight to England and i find myself seriously considering finally getting myself to Europe before i die. but, it’s still going to be many hundreds of dollars i find myself hesitant to divert from more responsible uses. i also have goals to get a new couch and i think i have a destination wedding i need to save up for. not to mention just saving for emergencies and avoiding the accumulation of any more debt (especially after having worked so hard to pay it all off last spring).
i got my first passport a dozen years ago just so i could go to England and it expired without a British stamp in it. how depressing.
of course, these two thinking things work against each other. if i move, i can’t afford to go to London. if i go to London, i can’t afford to move. hell, i if i go to London, i can’t afford to buy my new dream couch.
being a responsible adult fucking sucks. so does being broke (not poor, right Jen?).

$13,000 in 13 months

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as the cats race around the apartment in their daily burst of insanity, i’m sitting here quietly celebrating the first time i’ve been bank loan free in the last ~15 years. hell, it’s been so long, i can’t even remember when i first started building debt. it was probably 1990 when i filled out that credit card application i found at the Capilano College (now University) campus. oh, how i wish i could go back in time and rip that thing out of my hand…
in the the interest of full disclosure, yes, i still have a car loan. so, i do still owe a bank money; but, i consider that an expense since it’s a 0% loan and doesn’t exceed the amount i was paying just for repairs for the Golf.
with a lot of hard work and spreadsheet time, i’ve been on track to pay off the bank for the last couple of years. the purchase of my new car last year threw a bit of a wrench in the plans to be entirely debt-free by this coming summer; but, when i realized that i was literally throwing money away on endless repairs, taking a bit of a detour was worth the delay in debt-freedom. regardless, i did manage to, while making payments on my new car, pay off $13,000 owing to RBC in just 13 months!
i made a lot of sacrifices to get here and i have a fair bit of rebuilding to do before i’m back in what i’d consider a comfortable financial situation, but the psychological payoff is so very worth it.
i will never pay interest again!

money money money

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this was going to be comment on Jen’s post about the role of “emergency accounts” in her financial plan, but it got a little long as i realized i had a lot to say on the matter.
thanks to no-fee accounts offered by both my brick-and-mortar and online-only banks, i have a lot of different accounts set up to help me segregate and manage my limited income:
emergency fund – unexpected everything, major car bills, loss of income (sick, strike). this account used to be non-existent. i spent everything, and more, that i made and spent a lot of time shuffling money between credit cards. then, i somehow got my shit together and realized i needed a cushion to get me through unexpected rough patches. three years ago, i used the contents of it to buy the Golf from hell after i crashed my Geo. i heart this account so much. it currently has more in it than it ever has and just knowing it’s there to keep me from financial ruin is worth every penny.
car/gas fund – a fixed amount goes in every month, gas bills get paid out of it and the difference builds for regular maintenance (which, thanks to having a brand new car, should be very inexpensive for the next few years). the long-term goal is to increase the monthly amount over time so that when it’s time to trade in my car, there will be enough to help subsidize the purchase price of a new one.
yearlies fund – i added up all my once-a-year bills then divided the amount by twelve. that amount, plus a little more, goes in this account each month to cover things like car insurance, tenant insurance, flickr account fee, medical deductible, BCAA membership, domain hosting, etc. you know, those budget-busting bills you usually forget about until they’re way too close to the due date. hell, i even save for my twice-a-year haircuts and dental cleanings in this account!
cat fund – after a discussion about pet insurance vs. savings account on twitter, i decided to go the savings account route, especially after adopting two cats and research showed that there are huge disparities between premiums and coverage between pet insurers. unfortunately, i had to dip into the emergency fund to pay for Rose’s paw x-rays because i hadn’t yet made a deposit into this account. oops. maybe i made the wrong decision…?
frivolous/targeted fund – this is my “fun” account. the plan has been to put a set amount into this account so that when an opportunity arises that i can’t work into my monthly budget (and most don’t these days), i would have a small pool of money to use for it. say, a small trip or a sewing machine or cats — all of which i did this year, thanks to this account! unfortunately, whenever there’s an unexpected withdrawal from the emergency fund, this account gets shunned until it’s topped back up again.
i also have smaller ones for charity giving, christmas gifts and transitional savings (short term savings to cover monthly bills charged on credit cards to obtain rewards); but, the five above are my big ones. if i didn’t have them, i’d be in dire shape financially. i wouldn’t know what was coming or how to handle it when it did. i lived there for a long time and i will never, EVER go back. i may be crazy spreadsheet lady; but, i’d rather be that then stupid credit card girl.
i like talking about my money strategies. we should do it more often.

F5-ing my life

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in the last few months i’ve replaced:
– my cell phone
– my car
– my diet
– my tv
– my dining room chairs
– my computer
– my tv/internet service
– my pvr
– my monitor
it seems so strange that suddenly, it seems, i’m replacing everything i use on a regular basis. the last thing i have that really needs replacing, though, is my dSLR. while it’s still working, i’m having trouble finding Nikon software to do what I need done on the new computer; but, seeing as i’ve already blown all semblance of a budget with my recent splurges, i’ll be holding off on that for a while.
so, in case you don’t know, here’s the scoop on each one:
i replaced my crappy pay-as-you-go cell phone from virgin with a shiny iPhone 3GS with a ridiculously cheap and flavourful plan from Bell. it was a bit of a mental hurdle to go from one to the other, but after six months, i can’t even imagine life without it now.
on april first, i picked up my 2010 Mazda 3 Sport from the dealership. i had finally had enough of all the troubles my 1991 VW Golf had given me, and, thanks to my dad and 0% financing for 5 years, i finally have a reliable car with so. many. features! i don’t think i’ll ever get tired of power steering or air conditioning. so THIS is how other people live! it’s so decadent!
with the bootcamp fitness challenge at work came a food plan. with that food plan, i started eating every 2-3 hours. now, if i don’t get fed regularly, i get very cranky and very sleepy. it’s annoying! but, i guess the 14 pounds i lost mean that all that eating is good for me, so i’m sticking with it. mostly.
my mom and her middle sister made a spur of the moment road trip up to Kelowna to visit their estranged (and crazy) little sister a couple months back. while there, my crazy aunt offered my mom a 32″ plasma tv. mom had just gotten a new 40″ LCD, so she declined, but she did say that i needed one. hence, instead of my perfectly suitable 20″ CRT, i’m now the proud owner of a gigantic (to me) fancy HD tv. score!
as an early birthday present, Christopher bought me four aqua chrome dining chairs to go with my yellow arborite & chrome dining table. we had to make a trek out to maple ridge to get them, but it was worth the adventure (and the scrubbing needed once i got them home). they are exactly what i’ve always wanted to complete my retro dining set. yay craigslist!
i switched! yup, on my birthday, i went to the Apple store and bought myself a Mac Mini to replace my dying PC, discombobulate. it was a good run, but i was tired of broken USB, cranky loud fans and all the Windows slowness. now, i’m all Apple-y with my mac and iphone. just get me some skinny jeans & big, empty 80’s eyeglass frames and i’ll be right at home on Main St.
after hmming and hawing for a month after getting an offer for Telus TV in my mailbox, i decided to make the switch from Shaw. even with my superawesome unapproved deal with them, the Telus offer was too good to pass up. despite all the installation issues on Saturday, it seems it’s worth it. HD is so awesome. so is being able to record THREE THINGS AT ONCE with the new pvr it came with (bye-bye TiVo)! OMG! this upcoming TV season is going to be SO AWESOME!
the problem, it seems, with replacing one thing is it leads to another. that’s why after getting the new, fast, sexy Mac Mini, i ended up buying a new, shiny 23″ monitor. i hadn’t planned on it, i swear! i wasn’t even looking, until Chris pointed out the pile of really cheap Samsung monitors at NCIX while we were there picking up a new power bar and HDMI adapter (did i mention, i can connect the new Mac to my new TV to watch downloaded stuff without any converting or transferring? SO HAWT!). it was one of those times it was just too perfect to say no to. the monitor cost pretty close to the savings from cancelling my tivo service because of the new Telus TV service. it all fell into place and now i’m swimming in screen real estate!
here endeth my journal of rampant consumerism. please help pay off my gluttony by buying my stuff:
12″ Apple iBook G4
Acer 19″ LCD widescreen monitor
LACk floating shelf in Beech

more or less

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i was just looking at the list of tax changes accompanying the introduction of the HST in BC this coming july 1st.  i better save up because…
– reading a book will cost more
– watching tv will cost more
– going to see a movie will cost more
– eating food anywhere but home will cost more
– eating processed food will cost more
– buying plants to grow my own food will cost more
– getting a hair cut will cost more
– having my toenails painted will cost more
– buying used clothing to be less of a consumer will cost more
– using my home phone will cost more
– getting a massage will cost more
– taking a tylenol because i had a massage will cost more
– buying vitamins to make me healthy will cost more
– going to the gym will cost more
– seeing a cultural event will cost more
– buying mp3s instead of going to the more expensive concert will cost more
– getting drunk because everything costs more will cost less
– taking a taxi because i got drunk will cost more

upward trending

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in eight months i’ve managed to increase my net worth (or decrease my negative value) by over six and a half thousand dollars. i find that kind of insane.
it was accomplished through a combination of accelerated debt payment and regimented savings, but i’m still shocked at how fast that line on the graph has been going up. that is one of the reasons i’m seriously leaning towards ditching my lemony car and becoming a pedestrian. that line will practically skyrocket out of the red!
now that i think about it, i’ve not had a single day since turning 20 years old when i wasn’t in debt; when my net worth wasn’t less than zero. i think i should have a “positive net worth party” when i’m finally worth something — monetarily, that is.