Anticipation Much?

I've noticed these last couple weeks that I am extremely guilty of anticipatory spending.

I'm much more likely to open my wallet and let go of some of my money if I get a lead on a job. I don't even have to have an interview lined up yet; if I know that the possibility is there, I'm more willing to spend money.

Not good, definitely something I need to be aware of.

A couple weeks ago I went for coffee with a couple guys at company that would be needing help soon. We met at the Starbucks near their office and talked for about an hour. I expected to buy a drink while I was there, but when I got there I decided to get a pastry as well.

Was I hungry? Yes.

Did I actually need it? No.

Did I actually have a pay check in hand? Again, no, but the anticipation was there.

I was doing much better at not spending money before that, so what gives? Well, I was excited at the possibility of finding work again. It was like a little pre-emptive celebration. I've noticed that popping up elsewhere as well. When my financial situation appears to be improving, even if the actual improvement isn't in hand yet, my grip on my wallet loosens up.

Obviously this will be a problem if it gets out of hand. I have to focus on how my mental state is affecting my finances, because they're obviously quite strongly linked. For better or for worse.

Has anyone else noticed this with their spending?

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

Covering All Bases

So there is a distinct possibility I MAY have a second roommate moving in. Maybe. I'm kind of excited about this to be quite honest with all of you.

Anyway, it's laundry day week for me. And by that I mean I've pretty much neglected washing my clothes for weeks and I'm working through the stuff I don't normally wear anymore. Given the fact that I take the more European approach to clothes (wear them more than once if they aren't actually dirty), this means I haven't done laundry in a while (save a load of undergarments 2 weeks ago).

Most of you probably already read FB's blog Fabulously Broke, but if you haven't sauntered over to her other blog The Everyday Minimalist I'd suggest you check it out. She did a post a couple days ago about how people dry their clothes around the world that got me waxing nostalgic about my university days. When I moved into my apartment I bought one of those folding drying racks from IKEA to hang my delicates to dry on. It was under $20 at the time, and was one of the smartest purchases I made during that timeframe.

Now, I grew up in a rural area, on an acreage, where you get dirty looking after the animals/gardening. My dad is a mechanic, so you can be sure he gets pretty dirty too. We had one of those extra large washers that advertised it would wash 20 pairs of jeans at once, along with the matching dryer. You could do a lot of laundry in my parent's washer. Imagine my horror at realizing that my apartment only had 1 tiny washer and dryer per floor (Shall we say 3-4 pairs of jeans?), and that it would cost me $2.50 a load to wash, and $2 a load for ~25 minutes in the dryer (plus more for extra drying time).

W...T...F...

It didn't take much mental math to figure out that I wasn't going to be using that washer and dryer. I just flat out refused, both for the sake of my wallet and out of principle.

I spent my entire 3rd year of university washing my clothes in my bath tub, and hanging them to dry on every surface I could find in my apartment. I lived alone, so I really didn't really have to worry about pissing off my roommates doing that. The only thing that caused me grief was my bedding, which I periodically took down to the laundry mat. I stuffed as much clothing into those industrial washers as possible to save myself the tub washing, but that only happened when I had a load of sheets to wash.

By 4th year I did pay to use the apartment machines occasionally for convenience sake; senior design projects sure do know how to take the wind out of you. But, I still tub washed a lot of my clothes.

Fast forward a few more years and I'm now paying to have clothes dry cleaned. Why? Because I bought a tonne of clothes for work that were dry clean only.

That was smart. S-M-R-T....

I had been cursing the cost of cleaning my clothes, when I looked down at my jeans and realized they also had a dry clean only tag.

Seriously???? It's 98% cotton and 2% lycra! Since when is cotton dry clean only?!?

Seeing as my jeans had already been unceremoniously thrown in the washer and *gasp* didn't shrink, it got me thinking about my other clothes. Why are they dry clean only? What are they made of?

Cotton. Wool. Lycra. Cashmere. Polyester.

Funny, none of those fabrics in and of themselves are dry clean only materials. Cold water hand wash sure, but dry clean? Nah. From what I understand cashmere actually does worse at the dry cleaner's than it does in hand washing.

My wallet hurts thinking about the fact that it's been duped.

I have one dress that I bought in Paris which reads "Special Dry Clean Only". From what I gathered (googled) that meant it was to be sent to "trusted" dry cleaners only. That dress will continue to be dry cleaned.

The rest? You guys have a date with my tub, ASAP. Enjoy the cold bath.

Fritter Fritter?

*sigh*

Wow. What can I say? I had a distinct lack of no spend days last month. I did add my online payment stuff into this month's calendar, but there are still far fewer no spend days in there than there should be. Here's how it went for the month of March:

A little legend for the calendar below:

Green = No Spend Day

Yellow = Spend Day

Red = Used Credit/Debit Card

March - All Spending
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
		$1.25	$68.71	$110.00	$16.80	$70.00
$19.05	$4.45	$0.00	$52.70	$280.84	$677.83	$14.25
$0.00	$2.50	$6.30	$46.25	$0.25	$14.51	$49.03
$9.61	$0.00	$105.81	$9.02	$11.39	$1,182.15	$16.26
$17.48	$433.38	$0.00	$24.96	$14.50

Before you jump at the red box that's over a thousand dollars, I'll point out that both my mortgage and utilities were paid on that day as well. In fact, any day that you see that's over $100 is due to either utility payments, debt payments, a car/insurance payment or a mortgage payment. Looking at the non-(semi)automated stuff, this is what I spent this month:

March - Cash & Card Spending
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
		$1.25	$68.71	$0.00	$16.80	$70.00
$19.05	$4.45	$0.00	$2.70	$60.84	$22.85	$14.25
$0.00	$2.50	$6.30	$46.25	$0.25	$14.51	$49.03
$9.61	$0.00	$34.07	$9.02	$11.39	$17.17	$16.26
$17.48	$0.00	$0.00	$24.96	$14.50

There is still a distinct lack of No Spend days here. Seriously, what's up with that? I took out the frivolous food purchases, and this is what I came up with:

March - Cash & Card Spending - Without Frivolous Food Purchases
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
		$0.00	$65.92	$0.00	$13.95	$70.00
$19.05	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$59.34	$20.00	$14.25
$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$45.00	$0.25	$0.00	$46.71
$0.00	$0.00	$26.00	$7.52	$0.00	$15.67	$5.00
$10.48	$0.00	$0.00	$19.96	$0.00

That's more like it.

Not all of the eating out was taken out of that last one. If I was meeting friends for breakfast/lunch/dinner, then I counted it as socializing. If it was just me, it was frivolous. I know why I've been eating out so much, and I know it's within my control and I need to find a way to work around it. Usually I spend my Sunday afternoons cooking/cleaning and generally preparing for the week. This last month I've spent pretty much every weekend at The Boy's place, meaning I haven't been doing my food prep. Consequently, I've been running out the door in the mornings without a packed breakfast or lunch of any sort, and nothing really planned.

Oops.

So, I need to fix that. It's far too easy to spend money on food. Last month I spent $84.69 on groceries, and $235.46 on eating out. WAY too much!

The other thing that's been causing me to fritter is stress. Lately, I've been going down to the corner store in the building and picking up a chocolate bar as an afternoon pick me up. Seriously, since when do I buy chocolate bars at work?

Since this year I guess.

Anyway, that's how last month went. I'm going to try to do better this month. I acknowledge that will be a little difficult with exams towards the end of the month, but I'm going to try. This morning I brought my tea to class in a travel mug. That's one step in the right direction, now I just have to keep it up. Tomorrow I'll go over where the *RED* purchases occurred.

Banging My Head On A Table

I made what is quite possibly the most bone headed move I've made in QUITE a while.

I was late on a credit card payment.

Actually, scrap that, I was early on a credit card payment.

I made a payment thinking it would be going towards my March bill, but I didn't pay attention to the date on my billing cycle. The payment actually got posted onto my February bill, leaving my second March payment short of what I actually owed.

I'm kicking myself so hard right now, you have no idea. I've never done this before. Short of racking up my credit card balance, this is the stupidest thing I've ever done with it.

The only reason I noticed anything was wrong was the fact that my minimum payment jumped. It had been below $100 a month for a little while now, and my balance had been steadily decreasing, so when it jumped to $120 I looked at it with my head tilted to the side thinking wtf?

Then I saw the little note at the bottom:

Your account is one payment past due, which may result in account suspension. Please contact the account management centre at 1 888 XXX-XXXX to make payment arrangements.

You want to see my eyes bug out? That did it. I checked my bank records. I checked the credit card's payment history. Sure enough, it was all there, just not where I thought it would be.

I am absolutely livid with myself. This was nothing short of bone headed.

Let this be a lesson for everyone in knowing your payment due dates. Learn from me so you don't have to learn for yourself.

*head desk*

Back Again

Wow, what a week.

I've been sorely neglecting my blog, not because I didn't have anything to write, but because I just haven't had 2 minutes to do it. I worked late friday, then worked all weekend on a construction site (continuing currently, I just have the evening off).

Despite running my butt off at work, I've actually had a decent amount of reflection time. Largely the habits I fall back into under certain circumstances. It's amazing how much habit plays into my money handling. I already know that when I'm stressed I spend money. It's a fairly well proven link, especially when I'm dealing with personal issues.

Relationship or work stress = Cassie needs new clothes/makeup/food/Starbucks to make herself feel better.

Does it fix anything? Not really, unless I got things that were missing from my wardrobe/cupboard. It's a temporary salve to give me a momentary perk up when I'm feeling really low. I can control when the perks come, even if I don't feel that I can control the external stressors in my life. The important part here, in my mind, isn't actually stopping the flow of perks. It's knowing when to take the reigns on the stressors that feel out of my reach, and knocking them around before the perks become a daily necessity to make up for the fact that life sucks.

To clarify, my life doesn't suck. In fact I've been reflecting a lot lately on how good I actually have it.

I'm pretty sure that most of us know that if you give yourself perks too often, they eventually lose their perkiness. Then they just become part of daily life. Then you need something different, possibly bigger, to give yourself that high again. That's a dangerous cycle. Even if you don't run out of money, the perks will eventually lose their effectiveness and no matter what you buy you won't be able to get that feeling anymore.

Don't ask me how I know that. Let's just say I've had to beat around my stressors before.

But that's big picture obvious spending. Lately I've been paying attention to my less obvious spending habits. Situational spending. I almost never eat out for lunch or dinner while I'm at work. While I've been on site? Almost half of my meals have been purchased. Why? It's quick, I don't have to think about it, and I don't have to spend any time preparing for it. That right there is probably the reason why I gained a full dress size on my first post-university construction job.

I had KFC for lunch today. I hate KFC. Why did I do it? It was there. I know full well that I know better, but for some reason I've associated being on site with eating out. If I make any more money than usual on site it will be minimal, so it's not like it's something I can easily get away with. It's a BAD habit.

So what do I do about it?

Well, I'll have to find something I can bring to work that satisfies me in a similar fashion to fast food. Lets face it, when you're freezing cold sitting in a truck eating lunch, a salad or jam sandwich isn't going to have the same appeal as a hot, salty, greasy meal. It just isn't. We don't have a microwave on site, let alone a lunchroom, so whatever you pack is probably going to be cold when you get to it. A thermos of soup would be a great meal, but I've always found it to be cumbersome eating soup in a truck. That thermos would be great for some chai tea to warm me up though, in fact I'll be getting it out tonight for exactly that. As for the meal itself *shrug* I need to figure out what I can eat cold that will fix that salt tooth. Chances are I'd just drink the tea. It's a bad habit, yes, but I'm just being honest here.

I've been thinking about my morning tea routine at the University as well. It's not nearly as expensive, but it is something I just do at the University. I don't normally buy drinks in the morning when I'm going to work. At school I do. It's a weird little idiosyncrasy of mine.

What's kind of funny is that both the tea at the university and eating out on construction sites used to be perks for me. Now I automatically assume them to go hand in hand. It's a habit. It's something I have to be more aware of.

Man I'm tired. I'm going to sleep now. At least when I'm not tired I'm more likely to make better financial decisions. Yep, definitely going to sleep Now.

I'm Dreaming

Because the last couple days have been a little stressful, I really wanted to do something light and fluffy. Something fun and semi-useless. I say semi-useless instead of useless, because this exercise can give you real insight into where your priorities actually lie. Sometimes that's just as useful as money. So, inspired by Money Rabbit's What I Would Do With $100,000, and Krystal at Give Me Back My Five Bucks' What I Would Do If I Won $1,000,000: 4 Years Later, here is what I would do if I had $100,000:
Credit Card - $4,300 ($95,700 left)

So long sucker. Like a bad ex-boyfriend, I won't miss you when you're gone.

LOC - $11,000 ($84,700 left)

This is like the annoying kid brother to the aforementioned bad ex-boyfriend. Less directly spiteful, but I'll be happy to not have to deal with it again either.

Car - $9000 ($75,700 left)

I still plan to sell my silvery little lemon, but in the mean time I'd rather not have the monthly payments or inflated insurance on it either. Hello extra $450 a month...

Mortgage - $48,000 ($27,700 left)

My mortgage, while it is fixed, has multiple pre-payment options including one allowing me to put up to 20% of the total mortgage down on the balance every year. That chunk right there takes my mortgage out of the oh please don't let the rates get too high category into the *breathe* category. Ah the things you learn when you're young and dumb.

New Homebuyer's Repayment - $15,000 ($12,700 left)

Because when I put money into RRSPs, I want my tax money back dammit.

Emergency Fund - $5,300 ($7,400 left)

I'd plunk the money for my goal of $4000 in there, along with a little extra just for good measure. That puts my combined cash savings and investments between $9,000 and $10,000. I'd feel pretty good about that for the time being, as that gives me several months living expenses should I need it. Or a new furnace in January. You never know.

Renovations - $5,000 ($2,400 left)

I need to finish the flooring on my staircase, and the tile in the kitchen. After that, I should have enough money left to put up the other half of the fence in my back yard.

Pantry Restock - $400 ($2,000 left)

Assorted dried/canned odds and ends, as well as 1/2 a lamb from a farming friend of mine up north. Some containers to hold dried goods in an orderly fashion would be nice too.

Grandfather's Birthday Present - $250 ($1,750 left)

Because he deserves it. I don't know yet what the exact gift would be, but I can assure you it likely includes a large Tim Horton's gift card.

Grandmother's Birthday - $750 ($1,000 left)

It's my grandmother's 80th birthday this year, and the family is all getting together in BC to celebrate. That means flights and accommodation, along with a gift for my grandmother.

Wardrobe Restock - $995 ($5)

Right now the thing I'm most in need of are a pair of gum boots (rain boots, wellies, whatever you call them). The snow is melting around my place, and the water on the sidewalks gets quite deep in some places. Other than that, some good quality work clothes to kick a couple items off my list would be great.

Starbucks Chai Latte - $5 (I'm Out!)

Because, you know, I want one.

;)


*Missed a couple several others - Oops*
Paying Myself
Finance Say What
Debt Free Kid
Fabulously Frugirl
Little Miss Money Bags
Figuring Money Out
Hi That's My Bike

*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 :)

A Thank You

I've had a couple surprises this last couple weeks when it comes to my friends and their finances. I keep in contact with some friends from University through daily e-mails we send back and forth as a group. Somehow we got onto the topic of retirement savings. I was feeling a little sheepish, because I had cut my retirement savings from 18% to 0% when I switched jobs after I bought my house, and only recently had I started to put a little bit back in. This sheepishness is compounded by the fact that I used my retirement nest egg as a downpayment for my house through the new homebuyers program. These friends are professionals, make smart financial decisions, and some of them had actually stayed at home with their parents until they had enough money to buy a house. Surely they must be putting in their maximum contributions?

Nope.

Some of them hadn't even put in a dime yet. Some were only putting in 2%. Of those of us that were sharing, I think my 3% contributions were actually the highest. I was stunned. I'm glad that our discussion moved in the direction of "I really should get on this, even if it's just a little", because I know how much easier it is to save when you're young.

I showed my blog to a friend of mine at work, again with a surprising response. Apparently we have the same consumer debtload. It's creepy close, one total was within $100. It's making me realize that I'm not the only one out there who has made mistakes, I'm not the only one feeling the pinch, and I'm not the only one worried about the future. It's relieving in a way, because struggling with debt can be such an isolating experience.

So, I'd like to thank all of the other personal finance bloggers out there for sharing your stories and encouragement. It means a lot to me, and it helps me stay committed to getting rid of my debt. Thank You!



Seven RRSP growth strategies. (Registered Retirement Savings Plan): An article from: Canadian Chemical News
Retirement realities. (Registered Retirement Savings Plans): An article from: Canadian Manager
Are RRSPs worth it? (registered retirement savings plans): An article from: Canadian Chemical News

The Best and Worst of 2010

I don't have nearly enough blog posts to warrant writing a "Best Of 2010" with a list of links, I only started writing in October. What I do have, however, is a bunch of financial decisions I've made in the last year. Some were good, some were bad, others were downright stupid. Maybe you'll recognize yourself in some of them. That's okay, because the whole point of this is to figure out where the issues are, and then solve them. The only direction I intend on going from here on out is up!

Worst Decisions of 2010

• Putting a new iPhone, expensive clothes, dinners out and renovation supplies on credit
• Letting myself be talked into purchases I wasn't sure about
• Taking 3 unpaid weeks off work to volunteer at Whistler (I don't regret the experience, just the financial implications)
• Paying other people's way because I felt I was able to do so (I wasn't)
• Undertaking more renovations than I should have all at once.
• Not opening my mail and taking a good hard look at it (was paying online)
• NOT KEEPING A BUDGET

So.... yeah. Not really proud of that, but now that it's sitting right in front of me staring me in the face I know I have to do something about it. It took me a year to dig myself in, and it will take me more than a year to dig myself back out. It's not all bad however, I did make some good decisions as well:

Best Decisions of 2010

• Shutting down my "leaks": Subscriptions to services I was paying for but not using (Consumer Reports, Gyms, etc...)
• Putting my credit card on ice
• Tracking my financial progress to see whether I was saving or going further into debt.
• Starting a blog to keep myself accountable

The positives aren't as blatant as the negatives, but they are there. They give me a starting point to grow from. Onwards and upwards.

What were some of your best and worst financial decisions of 2010? Give me a shout :)