Epic Impact Day

For those of you who don't know (I know some of you already do), I've signed up for the Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer. It's a 200km bike ride with the goal of raising money for cancer research. This ride takes place in 4 Canadian provinces: British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. I will be participating in the Alberta ride, travelling through the rocky mountain foothills.

The money I raise goes directly to the Alberta Cancer Foundation. That's not to say that the money only benefits those of us living in Alberta. The money goes towards cancer research and education, which benefits everyone worldwide. A lot of research goes on in Alberta, and I'd like to see us move forward with more break throughs.

In order to even participate in the ride, each rider must raise a minimum of $2,500. I've set myself a lofty goal of raising $10,000. Will it be difficult? Well, yeah. Haha. However raising the money will be easier than the bike ride, and the bike ride is hands down easier than what people have to go through when battling cancer. I just hope that my little drop in the bucket will help someone out there who needs it.

If you couldn't tell from my post title and the picture at the top of the page, today is Epic Impact Day. The goal of today is to have every rider get at least one donation. This is to prove that small contributions, when done on a large scale, can add up to make a huge difference. There is somewhere around 2000 riders in Alberta alone. If there are similar numbers in the other provinces, and everyone manages to raise $25-$50, that's $200,000-$400,000 raised in one day alone. That's huge!

I know a lot of people who read this blog are concerned about their personal finances. I completely understand that. However, I'm asking that if you personally know anyone who is riding to please donate to them. If you don't know anyone who is riding, please donate to me ;) When you donate online, they will e-mail you a tax reciept for any donations over $10. If you want to donate, but funds are tight, you have the option of spreading smaller amounts over several months. Every little bit helps.

I'm not a huge fan of shameless self promotion, but there are some causes that are worth it. In my opinion, this is one of them. I hope you guys don't mind. Have an epic day :)

Reduce Reuse Recycle

I know what you're thinking, and no, this isn't about cans and bottles. It's about money. I've been trying to employ the 3R's into my financial life as well as with items at home. Hopefully I can keep both of them out of the trash? Here's how it works:

Reduce - Your Expenses

Reuse - Your Expenses

Recycle - Your Expenses

Okay, so they all say the same thing, but it's actually two different types of expense I'm talking about. I'll explain.

Reducing expenses is fairly self explanitory, almost everyone reading this blog is trying to do the same thing. In my grandfathers words:

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

I like that saying; it's catchy and it gets the point across. If you want to keep more of what you bring in, you have to figure out how to spend less of it. Sometimes it's as easy as keeping track of where it's going, sometimes it requires painful cuts and changes in lifestyle and expectations. Mine required both: I needed to track where my money was going to see that I needed to adjust my lifestyle and expectations. I don't use any fancy accounting programs or online software, I use plain old Excel. Or on my home computer, Numbers. Pencil and paper works fantastic here too.

Reusing expenses is one that I've actually been doing a fair bit now that I think about it. The most recent example of this was this semester's university tuition. School is expensive, and I didn't have $2000 sitting around waiting to be used on courses and books until work reimbursed me in May. So, we got work to reimburse me as I was paying out of pocket, rather than at the end of the semester. My first expense was $250. When I got that money back I added a little more to it and paid $300. Then $400. Then $450. I snowballed the same money onto my university tuition until it was completely paid for with minimal pain. Same with my medical expenses; as I pay out the money and get reimbursed for it, the money will be put back in the medical envelope to be reused the next time I need medication.

I've done the same thing with a $25 microloan I made while I was in university. I had been reading about microloans and how they were giving a hand to people that the banks wouldn't lend to due to the size of the loan or not enough credit history. I signed up with Kiva, who seemed reasonably reputable, and donated $25 to a young woman in Tajikistan to start a business. When that money was paid back, I donated it again to a young woman in Ukraine. It will be paid back again soon, so I'll be able to lend it to someone else. It's like the charitable donation that keeps giving.

Recycling is easy; once something has outlived it's usefulness, turn it into something else! My last tuition expense reimbursement should be sitting in my account tomorrow. Rather than saying "Yay, free money!", it's going towards my internet set up costs and a big credit card payment. It's going to feel so good watching that sucker get knocked down another notch! The hard part here is avoiding the "Oh perfect! Now I have money and I can buy ________." or "Now I have money for Starbucks this week!"

No. I. Don't.

I have money that can be used towards my goals, not instant gratification. Isn't that what got me into trouble in the first place? Right, avoiding that. Onwards and Upwards.

Charitable Donations

I’ve always felt very strongly about donating to good causes. It’s not something I’ve ever planned in advance or done regularly, though this year I’ll probably donate out of my gift budget. If you’re giving to those less fortunate, wouldn’t you consider it a gift?

This Christmas a friend of mine and I decided that we would donate to the local food bank. It wasn’t a direct decision, it actually was a compromise.

Confession!

He was insistent on buying me a gift (he doesn’t gift small), and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to reciprocate.

End Confession!

So rather than dealing with the awkwardness of the aforementioned situation, we agreed that we would pool a specified amount of money ($50), and make a joint Food Bank donation. This actually worked out quite well, as we were both comfortable with the donation, and it went to those less fortunate than either of us.

*cue warm fuzzy feeling*

We ended up going over budget when we bought the food, and ended up spending $60 each. Oops. But, we managed to get a ton of stuff!

We picked up:

• Peanut Butter (x10)
• Bags of Pasta (x10)
• Jars of Pasta Sauce (x10)
• Boxes of Macaroni and Cheese (x10)
• Cans of Tuna (x10)
• 10 Packs of  Instant Oatmeal (x10)
• Cans of Baked Beans (x10)

The company I work at had donation boxes set up on each floor, so we decided to donate it through my office (convenient). Instead of dumping it all in the box though, I set it all up in my office for my coworkers to see. Then I challenged them to beat us! They did. I went around collecting money from the floor to buy more food for the hamper. Afterwards, to keep the momentum going, our department donated a pair of hockey tickets to be raffled off to earn more money. Then the managers were challenged to make donations equal to the money that had been earned from the raffle. All total, between the food that was brought in, the raffle, and the donations we managed to get out of our managers, our floor in the building donated over $1000 to the Edmonton Food Bank. It was the biggest donation anyone at the company had ever seen. Not bad for $60.

I don’t know about you guys, but that feels so much better than a Christmas gift.