Monday, December 27, 2010

me vs boxing day 3:3

Well, I don't know what I was thinking 3 days ago when I decided to put myself on the shopping fast until the end of Feb 2011.
I was setting myself for a fail, which of course I did.
1. I had not finished purchasing my sister's Christmas gift.
2. I had 2 more friends that were still missing their Christmas gifts.

I was telling everyone left right and centre that I had no intentions to go shopping this week. Last year we went on a mad week long shopping spree that set me back a few grand and I am sure I am still paying for it. This year, I was/am putting my foot down.
My sister kept giving me the sad puppy eyes every time I went on my little no shopping rant and finally I broke.

We hit the mall on Boxing day.

My original gift idea was to get my sister a ridiculously expensive graphic tee from The Gap, which was now 40% off. She didn't like any of them, but I really liked one of them. I tried it on, loved it and walked around the store with it in my hand for a while. I put it back on the shelf and walked out of the store. I decided I did not need a graphic tee.

Score 1:0

We went to another store where I needed to pick up of the other 2 gifts I needed. Turned out the little set was 50% off! Score! Here is the thing though... I used a gift card to buy it which was given to me for Xmass. Is this considered re-gifting? Is it on some level extremely socially unacceptable to do something like this?

I actually picked up a second set for my other friend, covering my 2 outstanding gifts. And I also saw a cute little travel perfume jar that can be loaded from your favourite perfume bottle and snagged it for myself. $12.99 for this little gizzmo was outrageous, but the idea is brilliant and will replace the bottle of body mist that I lug around with me in my purse. On top of everything, I just got 2 for 1 gifts and part of it was not paid by me.

Score 1:1

We continued walking around and of course waked into a shoe store. One of my weaknesses, beautiful shoes that were now ready to be loved with prices lowered by more than 50%.
I looked and I loved but I didn't touch. My sister zeroed in on a cute pair of boots. She looked, she loved, she tried on. Now she wanted.
I looked, I loved and I touched a gorgeous silver Guess purse. I wanted. It wasn't on sale at all but I now wanted. I closed my eyes and handed the purse back to the store clerk.

Score 2:1

In the mean time, my sister was ready to purchase. Then she looked me and said " Well, you can get these for me and that can be my gift" *insert puppy eyes*

$90 boots now $39.99, I took out my debit card and bought them for her.

Score 2:2

Next, jean store. My sis wanted to get a new pair of jeans. And I needed a belt to hold up my $180 jeans, which have been sliding down in an unflattering way for the last month or two.

Half hour later, she had a pair of Silver jeans and I had a new belt already looped in and doing it's job.

2:3

Next, we walked into the kitchen supply store. I really need a new knife set, the blades of the one I have actually bend when I try to cut through things. I found what I was looking for, but it wasn't on sale enough to be covered by the gift card my sis gave me. I put it back and decided to wait until I can cash my airmiles for an additional gift card to cover the difference.

Final score 3:3

Not counted in here, were the few purchases my sis did for me, as she owed me some money....Is that considered shopping?

All in all, I don't think I failed too miserably....

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Are my goals a little too lofty?

I am still on the 2011 goals wave...


It’s not a secret that I am dreaming over starting my part-time MBA in May 2012, the same time that I hope to buy my own place. These are two extremely important but also sky high expensive steps to take. I can get a loan for school easily after I have a mortgage, but can’t get a mortgage if I have another school loan. And thus condo comes first. I know that I will be in debt for school again, but that doesn’t phase me. I want my MBA with every molecule in my body. This is a real must have not just a want. I don’t need it to further my career, I already have an accounting designation, but my brain is simply thirsty. It is hard to explain and most of the people I know do not understand this.

Ok so this is not until 2012, and I have a whole year ahead of me where I don’t have school. I am not used to this, the fall I finished university I started working a professional accounting designation.
In September, I visited the school I want to go to and my undergrad will allow me to by pass some of the basic year 1 courses, my part-time MBA will cost about $35K and take about 2.5 years. I am mentally prepared to add that as a debt.

Now for the home ownership plan, currently I pay $1,000/month for my suburbia 1 bedroom ‘paradise’. A condo/townhome in the max $230K price range will probably increase me to $1,500/month. I can easily handle that since at that point instead of debt repayment, the same money will go to the mortgage. Also, once I am not actually saving for a down payment on top of paying off my debt, that frees up a nice chunk of change that can focus on this.
Ultimately, if I end up with a townhome, I plan on renting out at least one of the rooms for a year or two. Ideally it will have a finished, walkout basement that can be rented out as a 1bdrm unit. Cross your fingers on that one!
Eventually I hope this home to be an investment property that I will be able to rent out, as I move forward in life and need a larger home. Lets face it, reality is that I one day will be "married to the penny", not "single to the penny", right? "Married to the Penny" actually sounds a little funny, don’t you think? I will worry about it when I get there.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
No matter what religion you are and where in the world you reside, I wish you health, happiness and love!

2011 Goals!

You cannot make goals about achieving something if you are not completely honest about your lack of financial security even if it is to yourself.
I don’t think I am ready to spread the news that my lovely debt load is over the better half of my annual income and as a young certified professional (some may argue certifiable) that income is far above the that of the average Canadian family.
I have set up a fancy shmancy spreadsheet with the balance owing, interest charged, payment etc, this spreadsheet not only tells me what I owe where during the month, but also how long it will take me to get to freedom.

Included in my goals for 2011 are the following:

1. Contribute to my RRSP enough that by May 2012, I will have approximately $22,000 which will be used for a down payment on either a Condo or Town home. Let’s hope the bubble bursts by May 2012! By March 2011 there should be $6,250 in that account. Lofty goal, yep. Does it have to happen: YES. This also includes my 2012 bonus.
2. Decrease outstanding debt, which includes student loans, consumer, loans to family and an ex, by about $7,525. This is calculated on the balance owing less payments less interest that accumulates like it’s going out of style. Yes you think that’s a lot, but honestly that is a chip in the iceberg I am fighting. This will also put me in a position to be a favourable candidate for a mortgage.
Here is the problem, the above repayment plan/ savings leaves me with little when it comes to Emergency fund/ Travel etc. I am doing something extremely wrong when I say that my RRSP contributions will be in a way emergency if something was to happen. I don’t have a choice at this point in time.

3. Create a sustainable budget and perhaps revisit the numbers above to ensure that they are not as lofty as they appear at this point. The problem is that I have a budget but my ‘life’ expenses usually drain it by the middle of the first week after my paycheque. And so it has to be revisited, so that I make progress paying off debt instead of increasing it.
Once I have a SUSTAINABLE budget, it will be cash only. Oh the call of the reward points… it’s a siren call that is hard to ignore. I will ignore it, I will be strong. I may end up punishing myself by setting up the budget jars as per Gail Vaz-Oxlade's budgeting solution on "Til Debt Do Us Apart".

Hmmmm I will work a little deeper into the goals in the upcoming month and restate where needed. But I really wanted to get myself thinking about it and just going forward.
Also, in order for these goals to be achievable I will further break them down to monthly and perhaps bi-weekly goals so that they are a little more friendly looking.

And of course the goal of writing it all down, publicly, is so that I can really hold myself accountable for my actions and actually have a record of my progress and certain unavoidable failures.

Oh yah:
4. Shopping ban from Dec 24th 2010 to Jan 29th 2011. How can I forget this, it truly did skip my mind.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Credit Cards are In JAIL.

I confiscated my own credit cards this morning. Well, I took them out of my wallet and put them on my night stand. Is this going to be enough, most likely not… and so I have a feeling I may steal an idea from a famous movie and freeze them in a block of ice.

After I received my latest credit card statement, I had the great plan of throwing my hands in the air and forgetting about it until January, when I will start again. Well, that is actually the most common mistake made by us the debt ridden consumer. An interesting analogy I recently heard was about going on the New Years resolution diet in after the Holidays, at which point no only do you still have that pesky 20lb from last holiday season, but now another 20 from the current bender. So, this girl is going to live credit card less. Out of wallet, out of mind … right? Any wonderfully happy shopaholic will tell you there are a reason and a need for everything.

And thus in the spirit of giving over the holidays, I am giving myself a shopping ban.
Oh this will be hard, I will probably go into severe withdraw but it has to be done.
As I see it, I have lived with the things I have accumulated thus far until now without anything bad happening to me, nobody has died from not having one more dress, and I will have to make do with what I have. And to be honest what I have is far more than the average person.

And now Ladies and Gents… I hope that you join me on my journey through life as a single young professional with lofty financial goals and just as lofty credit card bill.