New Years Eve... One Last Hoo Rah

End of the month check in, and I'm kind of in shock.


(Forgive the formatting, I usually do this on my lunch hour at work and I'm home on my Mac right now. I'm not quite as good in Numbers as I am in Excel)

31-Mar-10 30-Nov-10 31-Dec-10 Chequing $116.66 $5.35 $1,140.22 Savings 1 $0.24 $0.26 $0.26 Savings 2 $100.00 $0.90 $0.90 Savings 3 $500.00 $120.07 $0.07 Investment $2,189.67 $931.24 $1,182.81 TFSA $0.00 $2,322.60 $2,463.64 RRSP 1 $1,525.96 $1,551.30 $1,594.74 RRSP 2 $3,868.08 $3,985.44 $4,016.84 ASSETS $8,300.61 $8,917.16 $10,399.48 Car Loan ($13,138.27) ($10,272.45) ($9,760.77) LOC ($10,000.00) ($11,745.00) ($11,100.00) Credit Card ($5,155.65) ($5,174.07) ($4,978.23) DEBTS ($28,293.92) ($27,191.52) ($25,839.00) Net Worth ($19,993.31) ($18,274.36) ($15,439.52)

It was a good month for money, as I got 3 pay checks in December, but this was surprising. I managed to finish up the Christmas season with less debt than I started December with, and made some headway in all categories. My net worth, not including my house, improved by almost $3000. That's way more than one pay check's worth. I'm very happy about that! The chequing account will drop shortly when my mortgage payment and vehicle insurance come out, but even so I'm very happy with the progress.


The other nice thing about thing about the progress on here is that it doesn't take into account of money that's outside of my accounts. Earlier in December I bought $200 worth of grocery store gift cards to be used in the upcoming months, and recently I took a bit of money out to start my budget envelopes. That money isn't accounted for up above. Additionally, many of you probably read Trent's post over at the Simple Dollar about cleaning and restocking a pantry:

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2010/12/17/out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new-clean-out-your-pantry-and-restock-it/

It was something I hadn't done in quite a while, and after looking at my cupboards I realized it was badly needed. Over the last 2 days I've gone to various grocers (2 ethnic grocers and my usual), restocking the things I'll need to make meals over the next few months. It's so nice having a stocked kitchen again!

After a couple very stressful months when it comes to my finances, this feels like a happy end to the year. I have a warm home, full cupboards, and a couple dollars in my pocket to look after my needs. What a great way to ring in the new year. Have a great end to 2010 every one! I look forward to spending 2011 with you all!


  

Still Under Budget!

I'm back from my long weekend, and I didn't blow my budget! I went down to Calgary, ate junk food on the road, went for a nice sushi dinner, hung out with my cousins, picked up some styling cream for my hair and went skiing... all for under $200. Score. I didn't budget smooth this pay period persay, but I didn't blow it either.

I've been thinking a lot about why I don't feel like I have anything to wear to work. It's not that I don't have clothes (I have a ton of them), I just realized that I don't have the right ones. For example, I'm currently missing:

1. A Suit
2. Black Pants
3. White Collared Shirt
4. Plain Black Pumps (mine are now all either stretched out or broken)
5. Jeans I can tuck into boots (so they don't get soaking wet when the snow flies)
6. Sweaters in between the paper thin and bundle up at home thicknesses
7. A Purse for work that's in acceptable shape

Not included in the list is the annual pair of ballet flats that I've walked my way through. I say annual because I wear them out and they never last longer than a year. It's no wonder I feel like I'm scrambling even though I have a pile of clothes. I used to have all of the items on the list. Sadly I either didn't spend the money on them and they didn't last, or I wore them to death. I'm trying to figure out how to remedy this without back tracking on my progress. I'm thinking that Boxing Day sales are going to be used for part of this.