And Back Again

Looks like I have more writing time again. Why?

I got laid off this morning. “Corporate restructuring”

Nothing like a good kick in the pants to start the day, eh? 

So, uh, yeah. Looks like I have a job search on my hands.

I don’t think the fact that I’m unemployed has actually hit me just yet. I just feel kind of airy and numb at the moment, but I’m also focussed on what I’ll need to do to track down another job. This couldn’t come at a worse time of the year, because all of the university graduates are finishing up school, and I’m going to be competing with them for jobs.

Awesome.

So, between the job searching and studying for my exams (they still exist even if the place that paid for them isn’t employing me anymore) I’ll be on here typing away. I’ll be looking for advice, and doling out tidbits of it as I pick them up along the way. I’ll also be writing because it’s cathartic for me, and for the next little while I’m going to need it.

Anyway, I’m off to my lab. Last one of the semester. I’d like to celebrate with a beer afterwards, but I don’t think that’s a good idea right now.

*sigh*

Lessons Learned

If your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep will be your downfall.

Truer words were never spoken. My grandfather has said that to me many times, but for whatever reason it didn't stick properly. It would have been great if it had! The last year and a half have been a huge learning opportunity for me. It took me a solid month to write the last two posts, because it was a hard pill to swallow. I dug myself into $19,000 of consumer debt in 1 year. 1 STINKING YEAR!

I get nauseated just thinking about it, but I have to do it. If I didn't think about it, I wouldn't learn anything from it, and I'd be setting myself up to fall again. God only knows where the floor would be next time.

Thankfully, I have managed to learn a few things from this experience. Hopefully in sharing them with you all I can prevent someone else from having to learn it the hard way.

You Need A Budget

This is a surprise to no one. At least, it should be a surprise to no one. This doesn't mean that you need to be categorized and itemized down to the cent in a fancy budgeting program, this just means that you need to know how much is coming in, and where it is going. If your income just barely covers your costs, should you really be going on that ski trip or buying a new wardrobe? Probably not. But unless you know where your money is and where its going are you going to be able to turn it down? Again, probably not.


Be Aware Of Your Income

Different incomes can afford different lifestyles, this isn't a surprise for anyone. Readjusting to a lifestyle on a lower income when you've been riding high for a while... that can be a bit of a shock, and not a pleasant one. It requires being cognizant of how much money you have (budget anyone?), and what it will afford. Anyone changing to a job with lower pay, losing hours, or losing a job altogether will have to deal with this at some point, its best to walk into it with your eyes open.

Life Changes Require Buffers

That lifestyle adjustment I mentioned above takes time, and time is money. Getting adjusted before the change, or having some money put aside to help with the change, will be a HUGE asset. Likewise, if there is another major change coming, such as buying a house or welcoming a baby into the world, you'll want a buffer. Chances are it's going to cost you more than you expect.

Get It In Writing

I thought I had learned this lesson while I was working up north, but apparently I didn't. If it's not written into a contract, it's not guaranteed. Overtime, bonuses, and other perks sound fine and dandy when you're negotiating your wage, but unless you get it in writing you can't rely on it. You need to make sure that you can cover your bases using what's on the page, and what's on the page only. Anything else is gravy.

Distinguish Between Needs and Wants

This one really is a gimme.

I NEED enough food that my body can function properly.
I WANT that Starbucks Chai Latte in the morning because they're yummy...

I NEED enough clothing to keep me appropriately dressed for work and the elements.
I WANT that Lululemon top even though I already have a closet full of clothes

I NEED some way of communicating with people
I WANT an iPhone and MacBook Air.

See where I'm going with this?

If You Can't Afford It Now, Chances Are You Can't Afford It Later

What is actually different between now and later? Are you getting a raise? Is there an inheritance coming? Are you going to cut something out of your daily spending habits? Are your expenses suddenly going to drop?

Is anything different? At all?

If nothing is different, and you can't afford something now, how is it you expect to be able to afford it later when the credit card bill comes in? The easiest answer to this is you can't. Especially when the next payday comes around and there is something else you want...

Find Healthy Outlets For Stress

I use shopping as an outlet for stress. It's a horrible fall back, and I'm actually not sure when it started. I can pinpoint when I started using debt for consumer spending, but I can't pinpoint when I started using shopping as an outlet for stress.

I know there are many, healthier, ways of dealing with it. Exercise it one of the better ones, and I find going to a yoga class or going for a run definitely help me cope with things better. So does getting a hug from a loved one. Seriously, hugs are my emotional/mental saviour. I'd probably be a total nut case if it wasn't for the occasional personal contact.
If I don't deal with the stress issue, my spending goes through the roof. Funny enough though, I don't always have to buy consumer items to get that relief. A little while back I was feeling stressed about my finances, so I put a little more money on one of my debts. It's like I'm slowly buying back my freedom, and it worked to sooth my nerves. Any action that reduces the stress levels without getting you further into trouble is good in my books.

Speak Up

Chances are if you have/had a high paying job, you also have friends with high paying jobs. They may want to do things they automatically assume you can afford, because they can afford to. They're not going to know otherwise until you actually speak up that you can't afford it, so do it! You just might find that some of them are in the same boat as you, and are grateful you spoke up.

Control Your Impulses

And for that matter your daily habits. Do you cave and buy something every time you walk past a bakery or coffee shop? This week try just walking past it once. Maybe on a Tuesday. Just see if you can do it once (I know you can). Once you've done it, try it again next week. Maybe on a Thursday. The point of this is to show yourself that you don't NEED to cave every time you walk by. You are strong enough to say no. Willpower is like a muscle; the more you use it the stronger it gets. You might find after doing it for a while you won't have to make a conscious effort anymore and it will just come naturally.

Plan For The Future

Long story short: it's coming, so get ready.

Whether it's an old jar you put your recycling money into, or an investment account you throw half of your paycheck into, everyone needs to save something. Retirement, investments and emergencies all require money, and it doesn't appear out of nowhere. Despite how it may feel every little bit helps, so snowflake away. You'll be glad you did one day.


Anyway, that's what I've learned over the last year and a half. I'm sure there are more lessons in my future, but for now I'm doing my best to apply these ones.

Tipping Point (A Confession) - Part 2

Continued

For those of you who are new to this blog, I'd suggest checking out yesterday's post before reading this one. It will make more sense all together. But for the rest of you, continuing on:

April 2010

Having put well over $10,000 into my RRSPs the year before, along with the new homebuyer's tax credit, renovation tax credit and professional dues tax credit, I figured I'd be in for a pretty solid tax return. Imagine the nasty surprise I got when I found out that not only was I not getting a tax return, but I OWED the government money. My former employer did not take off even CLOSE to the amount of tax they should have been taking off. 

Oh to have been a fly on the wall in my room that day...

All of those RRSP credits and other tax deductions went towards my balance owing, and I ended up paying the government several hundred dollars. On top of this, I was now carrying a debt I had been expecting would disappear when tax time came around.

The only upside to this month is that I got a small raise at the end of my probationary period, and my salary was now sitting at $54,100.

May 2010

Despite the financial slap I got in April, I stayed the course of spending without paying attention to my accounts in May. Nothing really noteworthy happened this month.

June 2010

The tax assessment for my house came in, and it was higher than the previous year. My biweekly accelerated mortgage payments went up another $50, which really sucked. However, I wish that's all that had happened this month.

I had an emotional upheaval in the relationship department on the order of: boyfriend's other girlfriend sends me a message on Facebook basically saying "Hey, I've been dating _____ for a few months. He's met my friends and family, I'd like us to be friends too :)"

Yeah, you read that right.

She had no idea he'd been seeing me for years, and that I was waiting for his work to run it's course so that he could come home again. He had made it sound like I was a really close friend to her, and he had made her sound like "the guys from work" to me. He was working out of province at the time.

I soothed that pain and rage with personal spending like nobody's business.

July 2010

July was a lot of carry over from June. I had emotionally shut down and start culling my emotionally draining/toxic friendships. My now pseudo-boyfriend was trying his best to perform damage control on the relationship, and I just couldn't care less. Needless to say I didn't really pay attention to my finances this month other than my month end update. I can tell you that update wasn't pretty, but I still maintained the position of the proverbial ostrich with my head in the sand.

August 2010

My boyfriend came home for a couple weeks and tried frantically to patch things up with me. I was still pretty checked out and emotionally spent, but I let him try. I wanted to believe things could get better again. I was naive, and it did a huge number on me.

Outside of the relationship realm, I wanted to finish the renovating my kitchen before the snow hit, so I bought more construction supplies for my home. I also pre-paid a hotel room in Vancouver for a couple days in the next month. I needed to be within a reasonable distance of Stanley Park for the Vancouver Triathlon, and there really wasn't much in that area that was either a) cheap, or b) not booked full.

September 2010

I knew at this point that I had to do something about my money, I was beginning to feel the pinch when it came to paying the bills every payday.

I was also freaking out in the personal department, because there was a distinct possibility that I was carrying a little mini me. This was causing me a LOT of stress.

After finishing the triathlon in Stanley Park I went back to my hotel for a bath, some soup and some tea. After warming up a bit, and taking my bike apart again for the plane ride, I made the misguided decision to walk around the shops in Vancouver for a while.

Now, I'm in love with trench coats. I have wanted a Burberry trench coat, no word of a lie, since I was 12 years old. God only knows what a 12 year old knows about clothes or what they cost, but I've been stuck on this coat since then. Through all of the seasons and different styles, it has never changed: beige, knee length, dark buttons. I had been looking for one in my size since university, with no success. I searched for it like Bridget did in her the hunt for the Herve Leger dress over at hithatsmybike.

I found one.

In a moment of sheer stupidity fueled by high running emotions, I emptied out what savings I had to pay for it. It wasn't enough. Despite swearing up and down to myself that I would never do this, I called my credit card company and had them increase the limit. For a coat.

That afternoon I bought a Burberry Manston Trench. $1595+HST. I've kept the price tag as a painful reminder of that; it's sitting on my dressing table at home.

What should have been an exciting purchase (I've wanted it for over a decade...), made me sick to my stomach. What the hell did I just do? I couldn't return it, the store was closed and my flight left before it opened again in the morning. I sat on my hotel room bed staring at the bag wanting to be sick. I was having a hard enough time paying the bills, how was I going to pay for this too? What if I am pregnant, how am I going to find the money to raise a kid? What if I have to do it by myself? What am I doing??

I had a problem, and I needed to do something about it. My money was out of control. Seriously, a year ago the only debt I had was my car, what on earth had gotten into me?

I promised myself I was going to turn this around.

October 2010

I started this blog.

Now I'm digging my way out and up.

Tipping Point (A Confession) - Part 1

*Heads up, I split this post into 2 parts. Rather than just hitting you at the end with a To Be Continued, I figured I'd tell you now.*

Well, I've been on here blogging for 6 months now, so I figure I should probably tell you how I got myself into this mess in the first place. This whole 20/20 hindsight bit is doing a good job of smacking me around right now. It was actually kind of stressful writing this, it's quite embarassing.

There were no dire emergencies, no unexpected job losses, no identity theft crises, nothing. Just good old fashion bad judgement. Lots of rash decisions coupled with serious fiscal mismanagement.

This is when I finally realized I had gone too far:

Those of you who follow fashion know exactly what this is a picture of, and know that it's not cheap. This was my wake up call. I'll start at the beginning.

September 2009

I had been working at a company that was a very poor fit for me, to the point that it was making me ill. By this point I had been suffering from severe insomnia for about 6 months, I was having anxiety related panic attacks at my desk at work, I was depressed, and my physical health was starting to deteriorate. I was getting chest pains from the anxiety. I began worrying about my heart health, as my grandmother started having heart attacks in her 30's. I didn't want to be the one who started in her 20's.

I demanded the company take me off the project where I was working, and bring me back to the office. It was either that or I quit. I was working a camp job a couple hours outside of Fort McMurray, working 21 days straight for 12-16 hours a day. It's a very intense work environment, which normally I like, but the company culture made it very difficult for me.

My salary at this job, including all of the perks, bonuses and RRSP contribution matching was just shy of $100,000 a year.

October 2009

Back at the office I told my supervisors what the issue was, and told them that I needed some stability for a little bit to get my health back under control. They agreed, and said this wouldn't be an issue. So, I started working my 40 hour work weeks, doing the best job I could while I was there, and doing my best to leave work behind when I got home.

At the same time at home, I had an unhealthy long distance personal relationship, and an unhealthy roommate relationship. I had originally planned to buy my first home by October 2010, but the living arrangement pushed me to start searching immediately. I found, and put an offer on, a foreclosed home in Edmonton's west end. It needed a bit of work, but I was looking forward to doing exactly that.

Toward the end of the month I noticed that my coworkers were making snide remarks about me. Leaving at 5:00 pm was called "Pulling a Cassie". They'd plan group get togethers and not invite me. It was an uncomfortable work environment to say the least.

My salary at this time was around $61,000 a year.

November 2009

Work asked me to help out with a project in another province, just to help them get over a rough patch. The first estimate was 1 week. Then by the end of the conversation it was 2 weeks. By the end of the day they had stretched it to 2 months, so I went up to the supervisor and said it's either 2 weeks or I don't go, because I had to be back here to sign my mortgage papers in 2 weeks. I went.

When I got there, my hours bumped back up to the 70-80 hours a week range. I couldn't take it anymore. I ordered a laptop online to replace my dying one so that I'd have something to assemble resumes and cover letters on. I started contacting everyone I knew for references; past managers, university professors, you name it. I sent out resume after resume, at this point, I'd do anything to get out of there. I bought a couple USB keys and put all of my work on them, so that when they tried to tell me my computer had to stay (so I'd come back after signing my mortgage) I'd tell them I didn't need to.

I signed the papers on my home and moved in at the end of the month.

December 2009

I got a reply from one of the resumes I sent out, and set up an interview that quite convieniently fell right after a doctor's appointment downtown. They offered me the job in the interview, and said they would get back to me with a salary offer in a couple days. It was lower than what I was currently making, though I calculated that I could still live on it even with my mortgage payments, though it would take a bit of overtime to make things comfortable. They said that wouldn't be an issue. I accepted over the phone, walked back inside, and quit my job... 2 weeks after I moved into my home.

I spent 2 weeks over Christmas renovating my home, living off the vacation pay I had accumulated from not going on vacation while working for my former employer. I spent several thousand dollars on housing materials, and several hundred dollars buying office appropriate clothing for work, as I was doing largely construction work before.

January 2010

I started my new job the beginning of this month. It's a much healthier work environment, though I still find myself struggling with anxiety. I spend my evenings and weekends going out with friends and doing things I never had time to do before. At this point I didn't really keep an eye on my finances. For that matter, my spending habits didn't really acknowledge the fact that my income had severely decreased over the last couple months.

My salary at this time was around $52,000 a year.

February 2010

Back in the summer of 2008 I submitted an application to volunteer for the Vancouver Winter Olympics. What do you know, I made the cut! I was assigned to be part of the course crew for the men's downhill ski races. That meant I spent the majority of the duration of the Olympics skiing and working on Whistler mountain. That also meant I had to take time off work. My new employer knew this in advance, and was completely cool with it. However, because I was still in my probationary period, I had to take my time off with no pay rather than take it out of my vacation time. So, 1 month into my new job, I took off to Whistler for 3 weeks with no pay. I stayed with friends of the family in Squamish, which brought my costs down considerably, but I still spent money on odds and ends while I was there. By odds and ends I mean I bought some ski clothes when I figured out that the clothing provided was inadequate for my volunteering position.

Adding to the cost was the fact that one of the medics spilled beer on my phone, and despite my best ricing efforts it was frazzled. Instead of waiting it out, or getting a cheap replacement, I went out and got the phone I had been planning on getting in a few years when my phone was supposed to die: an iPhone. Out came the plastic.

It was a very expensive month.

March 2010

I was quite aware that I had spent a good chunk of money the last couple months, so I decided I should start paying more attention to it. When I did up my net worth calculation I wasn't really happy about where I was sitting. I knew I was going to be getting a decent refund the next month, and I planned on using it to pay a bunch of the debts off, but I knew I should start keeping better track of my money. I started doing my month end balance checks this month.

To Be Continued

Getting Stressed

I've pretty much come to the conclusion that my job security has all but run out.

Needless to say, I'm freaking out internally right now. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't crying at my desk this morning.

I came in to a very strongly worded email in my inbox this morning. The catalyst for the email was actually a misunderstanding, as the person writing it misread the report I wrote, but it gave me a pretty good feel for where the mindset at work is. I'm seriously afraid to make a mistake right now, lest it cost me my job.

I'm sending out feelers to see who in the industry is hiring right now.

To say I'm stressed out would be a LARGE understatement.

I think the only real uplift to my Monday was opening up my email and seeing a message from YoungandThrifty saying that I had won one of the copies of tax software from H&R Block. That was quite possibly the only thing that made me smile yesterday. THANK YOU! That software couldn't have possibly come at a better time.

It may possibly have come just in time for me to need my emergency fund.

Keep calm and carry on.

*laughing hysterically*

*crying*

*slide*

And now, for last month's slips. Needless to say, it was a little rough for me this month, especially around the middle. I'm not going to beat around this one, I slipped into an old, very bad, habit this month. I used shopping to beat stress.

I seriously deserve a beat down for this one.

After what was the hardest day I've had at work in well over a year, I went shopping. I didn't use cash. I did set myself a limit, I wasn't allowed to spend any more than 50% of my extra payments this month. That way by the end of the month I was still digging myself out, it was just slower than anticipated. Still, it's a habit I need to break.

After reading on Hi That's My Bike that the jeans I had been after were on sale at Anthropologie, I trotted down there and picked a pair up. Originally almost $220, they were marked down to $80.  While I was there I noticed the sweater I had been fawning over the weeks leading up to Christmas was marked down to $40 from $120, so I picked up the last one in my size as well. Tack on a couple small gifts for people, and a tube of mascara to replace mine (it was time), and I was done. Part of what limited the shopping (other than the fact that the mall was closing), wasn't so much the fact that it would mean my debt would take longer to pay off, but the fact that I'd have to write about it on here. Let's face it, admitting to this stuff is embarassing. So, thank you all.
Credit Card Damage: $184.64

I love music. I know what I should do here is delete my credit card information off iTunes, go out and buy an iTunes gift card with cash, and then use that. As of yet I haven't done it. Chalk this up to laziness, I'll buy one next time I'm out getting groceries.
Credit Card Damage: $3.57

As many of you probably saw earlier in the month, I signed up for the Ride to Conquer Cancer. Unfortunately there was a sizable registration cost associated with signing up for it.

That's right, I paid money to raise money for someone else.

I don't feel too bad about the cost of the registration because they feed us and provide us with a place to sleep that weekend. I'm basically paying for a weekend out now rather than in June. They only took either credit card or cheque for the registration costs, and I didn't have any cheques on me, so it ended up going on my credit card. That's the problem with having your card number memorized, its still usable even when it's frozen in a block of ice. My only saving grace on that is that while I have the loooooong number on the front memorized, the short one on the back I don't. That means I usually can't use it online. I put extra money on my card the following payday, but it would have been nice if that money went towards paying the balance down rather than just maintaining it.
Credit Card Damage: $75

That's $263.21 in non-cash spending during the month of February.

*facepalm*

That sucks.

Amazingly enough though I didn't use my debit card all month, other than to take money out of the bank machine every payday. I did however write down and track my spending all month, which was one of my other goals for February. I'll post the results of that tomorrow :)

Wallet Worries

One of my friends has been having an absolutely brutal time over the last couple weeks. Every time something starts looking up, she gets side swiped by something else. The poor girl just can’t catch a break right now. The most recent thing to happen? Her wallet was stolen and the thieves racked up her credit cards before she realized it was missing.

What would you do if your wallet was stolen?

Hint: Your first response should not be to go out and buy a new wallet.

It occurred to me after she mentioned it this morning that I wasn't actually sure what to do if my wallet did get stolen. I knew I had to call the banks and the credit bureaus, but that's about it. So, I did a little digging.

I wish I could dig out of debt as fast as I can dig stuff up on google.

There was a decent stack of things to filter through on there. Everyone seems to have their own order of importance for what you should do first. One site that I did find particularly interesting though was a link from Service Canada, detailing the order of events they recommend you follow. Have you ever gone into a government building to apply for something, and after half an hour of waiting in line find out you don't have the necessary ID to actually do it? Kind of a piss off, and that's what I'd expect I'd be dealing with if my wallet was stolen. Service Canada breaks down the order you should reapply for your ID, so you don't get hung up on the "You need ID to get ID" issue. Kinda handy.

They don't really go into great detail on the financial items though. They mention at the very beginning that you should contact your banking institutions and credit card companies, along with contacting the police, but that's pretty much all they say. Nowhere do they mention that you should also contact the credit bureaus. There are 3 bureaus in the US, but in Canada we only have two: Equifax and Transunion. Why the 3rd company pulled out, I don't know.

The ugly part about having your wallet stolen is that whoever is holding your wallet is basically holding your identity. They not only have (some) access to your money and credit, they also probably have enough information to open new accounts in your name. Think about some of the more common security questions: What is your date of birth? (Drivers License, Health Care Card) What is your postal code? (Driver's License) What are the first/middle/last 3 digits of your social insurance number? (SIN Card). Immediately after calling my banks to have all of the cards frozen and reissued, I'd be calling the credit bureaus. You can have them put a fraud alert flag on your account so that they know to watch for suspect activity, and prevent new accounts from being opened. If the thieves do manage to open up accounts in your name, it will be much easier to argue the charges aren't yours because you've taken a proactive approach and they're aware of the situation.

Personally, I'd work in this order:

1. Call Banks - Have accounts frozen.
2. Call Credit Card Companies - Have cards frozen and reissued with a new numbers.
3. Call Credit Bureaus - Have Fraud Alert placed on account.
4. Contact Police - Go to the station and fill out a report.
5. Go to Bank - Get debit card reissued with a different card number and change your PIN.
6. Go to Government Building - Start the ID replacement process, it'll take a while.
7. Contact Utilities - Or anything else you have automatically billed to your credit card. They'll need to know what's up so that your bills don't bounce. See about getting an extension on paying the bills if you need to and let them know you'll update them with the new number as soon as you get it.
8. Check Credit Report - Wait a while and then contact the Credit Bureaus again to make sure nothing has been opened in your name.

You may do it in a different order, but that's how I'd do it personally. Fingers crossed I never have to deal with this as an adult (my wallet was stolen as a teen).

One things I've seen recommended a lot is keeping copies of your ID at home. I'm not sure whether or not this is actually useful in this case, seeing as last I checked most places won't accept a photocopy of your ID in place of actually having it. Has anyone else had to deal with this before? Do you know if the government will accept photo copies of ID? My gut feeling is no.

Has anyone had to do this before? If you had to do it again, what would you do differently?

Employment Uneasiness

So apparently someone at work doesn't like me.

That was news to me, especially seeing as I get along with everyone. No one acts even remotely off towards me at work. But, they're there.

And they're after my job.

I very rarely work with this person directly, it's more like we work on the same floor and some aspects of our jobs overlap on occasion. They're higher up the chain too. Most of my interaction with them involves seemingly pleasant lunchroom conversation about what we're making for dinner tonight and what our weekend plans are. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Behind closed doors though, they're arguing for my dismissal. Until about 8am yesterday morning, my head was on the chopping block for a round of layoffs for corporate restructuring. The higher ups that I do work for directly argued on my behalf and managed to get me taken off the list. I found this out from my manager at lunch time. Can you say blindsided? I asked if there was a problem with my work, if I had done something to piss them off, what I could have done differently.... nothing. There wasn't even any way for me to have seen this coming, because it's happening at a much higher level that I don't get to see. It would have literally have been good one day, gone the next.

Gee, think I feel secure right now?

It's sneaky and underhanded, and apparently this isn't the first time this person has done this. If they like you, it doesn't matter how poor your work is they'll argue for you to stay. If they decide they don't like you, they'll try to get rid of you. It's very political, and you'll see from the about me on the side that I hate politics.

*grumble*

They've been trying to do it to do the same thing to another person at work, based on her appearance. She works in a creative field, and her appearance reflects that. It doesn't fly with Mr. Not-Our-Direct-Manager though, and it doesn't matter that her work is freaking awesome, she was on the list too.

But I still don't know why they has a problem with me.

&%*^%$#!!!

I hate pettiness...

But anyway, it's making me rethink my debt repayment schedule again. Right now my plan was to hit my credit card hard, and knock the debts off one by one by the highest interest rate before I moved on to anything else. Now I'm thinking I should consider bulking up my emergency savings. I currently have about a month and a half worth of savings in investment form, which might not be enough if I didn't find a job right away. Our job market is improving, but I really don't want to be banking on that.

What would you guys do in this situation? Would you keep attacking the debts, build up the savings cushion, or both? And if savings, how much? I could use a little clarity in a bit of a stressful time.

Price Check Please?

For some reason my back and neck are really sore today. Massage is covered by my insurance (up to a certain dollar amount), so I figured I'd book an appointment on pay day (so I can pay cash).

I looked up one of the spas near my house online, checked their prices, and then called to book an appointment. This was the tail end of the conversation.

*booking appointment, inquired about price*

Spa: "That will be $110"

Me: "Your website says $55-$75"

Spa: "That's the American price, our spa isn't listed on there"

Me: "I looked you up on the Canadian site, and they have different services listed based on the locations so I know it's not standard pricing."

Spa: "But that is the American price. We're globally owned though, so after the exchange rate it comes out to the same price."

Me: "The dollar is at par"

*long pause*

Spa: "It is right now"

*It has been for, ummm, quite a while, and is projected to be for some time in the future*

Me: "Thank you for your time, but my insurance won't cover that cost."

I'm glad I double checked the price before I hung up the phone, that would have been a VERY unpleasant surprise if I hadn't. Needless to say, I'm irritated. Granted, that could also be due to my back being sore. Has anyone else run into this lately? If so, how did you handle it?

The Cost of a Guilty Pleasure

I know that taking a bath uses more water than taking a shower. I know this for a fact. Put the plug in while you're having a shower and note the water level when you're done, almost guaranteed the tub isn't even half full. From a green standpoint it's abhorrent that I prefer baths to showers, I know. However when I come inside after walking home from the bus stop in -35, a 5 minute lukewarm shower just doesn't get rid of the chill. It really doesn't. Enter long hot bath. I've been wondering for a little while what my baths are costing me though, seeing as during the middle of winter they happen much more frequently.

Excuse me while I geek out for a bit, I've been wanting to do this calculation for a while.

If you're looking for an easy metric unit reference sheet, I'd recommend using this: http://xkcd.com/526/ Geeky, somewhat tongue in cheek, and not necessarily 100% accurate. Perfect.

The temperature of cold tap water here is close to 10 degrees celsius. I wouldn't be surprised if it's colder than that right now, but I'm going to use this as my starting point. I like my baths somewhere around 43 degrees to start, which means the water has to be heated 33 degrees.

My tub, very crudely measured to bath water level, is approximately 40cm x 60cm x 135cm. I'm not going to take my body volume out of there, we'll just assume that I'm going to warm up the water at some point. This gives us a volume of approximately 0.32m3.

It takes 4.184 Joules of energy to warm up 1 gram of water by 1 degree celsius. 1 gram of water is approximately 1cm3. So, in order to warm up my bath water, I'm going to require: 

(0.32m3) x (1,000,000cm3/1m3) x (33C) x (4.184J) = 44,183,040J or 44.18 MJ

So now I know how much energy this is going to take. Kinda. This is assuming everything goes absolutely perfectly, and that every last bit of energy is converted into heat and goes directly into the water. As nice as that would be, it doesn't happen this way. My hot water tank is heated by natural gas, which isn't overly efficient. Lets assume my tank is 65% efficient.

44MJ / 0.65 = 67.69MJ

That's probably a little closer to what is actually being used to heat the water. My gas bill charges by the Gigajoule of energy. Not that they know the exact amount of energy I'm getting, they've just applied an average conversion factor to the volume of gas provided. Anyway, from my last set of utility bills:

$3.97/GJ for the gas itself
$0.53/GJ for the gas delivery
$0.23/GJ for the GST on the gas
$4.73/GJ for heat

$1.59/m3 for the water itself
$1.18/m3 to drain the water
$2.77/m3 for water

Apparently GST is charged on gas and electricity, but not water? Oh well. I'm only taking the variable charges on this, because I have to pay the fixed charges regardless of whether or not I take a bath. I'm also not taking the electricity for the bathroom fan into account, because I don't really feel like looking for the motor rating. That would mean actually finding the label! lol.

So my guilty pleasure is currently costing me:

(0.06769GJ x $4.73/GJ) + (0.32m3 x $2.77/m3) = $1.21

That's better than I was expecting. Cheaper than Starbucks, that's for sure. However, I can see how this would add up over time. Having a hot bath every day of the month rather than a quick shower? That's almost $40!

It's enough to make me think "I'll just have a shower tonight". Tomorrow, maybe not so much ;)

Slow And Steady Wins The Race

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m going back to school part time with the blessings of my employer. 40+ hours of work a week plus two 3^rd year Engineering courses. I’m going to be a little bit busy for the next little while!

My career has never been linear, which I’m okay with. It may take me longer to get somewhere in it, but I’ve picked up pockets of knowledge that others within my industry don’t necessarily have. I finished university with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, worked in the oil fields and on construction sites, and now I’m in an office doing Civil design. I’m quite happy with where I’ve ended up, I really enjoy my work, but I have a couple gaps in my knowledge which are preventing me from moving forward. So, I sat down with a senior Engineer, figured out what I was missing, and signed up for the first couple classes. Rather than getting a full Civil degree (so much overlap, not worth it), I’m going back as a “Special Student”.

The company will reimburse me for the cost of the schooling, which after fees, taxes and books comes to approximately $2,000. My manager convinced the business guys to reimburse me as I pay out of pocket, rather than making me wait until after I’m done the courses to pay me back. Thank god! That’s a big chunk of change to be waiting 4 or 5 months for reimbursement. So I’ve been snowballing my tuition payments. Every time I get reimbursed I tack on a little bit more money from the current pay check to make the next payment a little bigger: Pay $X, get reimbursed for X, pay $X+$Y, get reimbursed for X+Y, pay $X+$Y+$Z… you get the idea.

It’s been a reasonably painless way to pay tuition now that we got the details worked out (before I was paying for it out of pocket, not knowing when I would get paid back). It also means that when my last chunk of tuition gets reimbursed I’ll have a decent sized lump sum payment for my credit card. I’m looking forward to that!

The courses won't necessarily pay off financially for me right now, but it will make getting my professional designation easier, and will eventually make me more promotable. I could take another job that pays more in an effort to pay off my debts more quickly; going back to the oil sands would have everything but the mortgage paid off before the end of they year! However, those jobs come at a considerable cost in terms of health, mental well being, social and personal life. That added stress tends to lead to added spending, and I'm trying to find a healthier, more manageable lifestyle. It's a slow change.

Stop Living Your Job, Start Living Your Life: 85 Simple Strategies to Achieve Work/Life Balance
Harvard Business Review on Work and Life Balance (Harvard Business Review Paperback Series)
Life Matters: Creating a dynamic balance of work, family, time, & money

A(n) (Un)necessary Bill Payment

Paying bills soothes my nerves.

I’m actually not joking. Yesterday I was sitting at my desk at work, internally freaking out about my finances. What did I do? I logged onto the bank website and moved the money out of my savings account and onto a debt. It didn’t pay the debt off, and my savings account is now empty, but it served the purpose of calming my nerves. That’s it.

There seem to be a couple different schools of thought when it comes to personal finance. Some say to pay off debt first, save later. Others say to do them both at the same time. Both have their merits. Previously I was saving while I was paying off debt, but now I’m not entirely sure how I want to approach this. Aside from my mortgage, I have 3 debts. I almost feel sometimes like it would be easier to have lots of small debts rather than having 3 big ones. At least that way you have the occasional satisfaction of paying something off in full and forgetting about it. It will be quite a while before I can do something like that, save for selling my car and paying off the loan with the proceeds.

I wish I knew a better way of dealing with my stress.