Monday, July 27, 2009
Mad Lib
Hi my name is Pam . I currently have $5 dollars in my wallet. When I started managing my finances I was worth -$54,000 and now have a net worth of -$27,000. I currently work in Waste Management and have been doing it for five years. I make roughly $52,500 per year. I want to have enough money to be comfortable waiting for me when it comes time to retire. Aside from learning about finances, reading, learning spending time with family and friends, experiencing new and exciting things, and marveling at the natural beauty around me. I think the world would be a better place if we could manage our waste responsibly, build and live sustainably and put back what we've taken from Mother Earth. I had homemade french toast with peaches, blueberries, plums, apples and bananas for dinner last night and it was glorious! (Thanks hunny for making the batter and cutting the fruit). I have had a few significant others over the course of my lifetime, and none hold a candle to my partner Chris. One thing that makes me different is my positive attitude, passion and committment. Now that I'm done with this mad lib, I think I'm going to get back to work it's my "coffee" break.
Getting Caught up!
Time to get caught up! It's nearly the end of July and time is FLYING!!
Some things to get off my chest...
My man and I are moving into an apartment of our own on Sept 1, 2009! FINALLY! No more stress at home with the monster-in-law, no more yelling and fighting about why she can't clean a room so he can finish the reno, no more reno!! it took a family blow-up to get to this conclusion but I'm over the moon about being told we have to move out! it was what I've been wanting for a while, and at least we'll get a chance to really work on our relationship now and see where it is going.
What this means is, the paycheck I had designated to paying back that outrageous credit card debt I have, now has to cover rent, the cable/internet/phone bill, AND the credit repayment. So there will be a little less room in the budget than I thought, but that is life and I'm happy with it.
August first I AND my man go on the jar system. I've been on it before, earlier in the year, but fell off the band-wagon a little while ago so I'm ready to climb back on and really truly do this!
Ik will post after my exam on Thursday, the budget that I will have for the next 2.5 - 3.5 years. For now, although we will be legally common-lawed in Sept., we have chosen to keep everything financially separate until such time as the debts are gone and we can start on equal playing ground. That way there is no keeping score, and we've eliminated our individual stupidity before entering into a relationship on all terms, including financial. This will help since I have a large amount of debt, and his is half what mine is and through the power of different incomes, we will be finished paying our debts off roughly at the same time - I think I'm six months behind him on this. We will be splitting rent, bill(s), food straight down the middle. We have the same amount budgeted for entertainment so we know as a couple what we have for the month, but things like savings, RRSP contributions, transportation, other, debt repayment amounts are reflected individually as our incomes dictate.
I was at my mom's this weekend, pulling stuff out of storage to help assess what we'll need for said apartment...as it turns out, we'll need next to nothing! We've already purchased our curtains for all windows, sheers for the large balcony windows, the microwave we'll absolutely make use of, and a couch, oversized-chair and ottoman set. All the rest of the furniture will be coming from where we are now, and from the crawl-space storage at mom's. I've found more kitchen knick-knackery than I care to share, we have an over abundance of drink-ware, my beautiful china set, good silverware, and kitchen silver ware, all cooking/baking items one could need, many a piece of art, and a gorgeous Duncan Fife Dining Table in great condition, with hand-me-down dining chairs that will due until sometime in the far-off future after a house has come along and money is saved for new ones. There is some concern about the amount of room in the place to house a buffet in the dining area, and my great-grandmother's antique dresser and side table, the tv stand and plant stand my man crafted, as well as a recycled dresser from my bedroom at my mom's and the hand-crafted red oak one from my man with matching jewelery box topper.
some of these pieces will have to wait until we buy a house I think - we have a spare bedroom but I think it'll be stuffed with camping gear, tools, a computer desk and computer and maybe a chair for reading also. Our 1000 sq. ft place will look good, but might be cramped if we try squishing it all in.
Mom will be happy if either the buffet or the dresser are removed from her basement Thought I think we can get them both in one to hold the tv, and video game consoles, dvd and vcr, as well as a pleathera of DVD's amassed, one for the dining room to house the rest of the china, and the hand crafted tv stand for the bedroom with the second tv on it. I think that'll be how it works.
Before I really knew about all this house shifting stuff, I had found a deal with a nearly non-existant balance transfer rate on a new credit card, that I thought would help me pay down my credit debt faster. it turns out with this apartment development thing, I'll be no further ahead than if I'd left everything well-enough alone on the one credit card I had. Except that i"ll have paid less interest - 1.99% for 6 months helps with not paying back that much more interest, and having only transferred $3000 to it, I've already paid off $500 on that card. It will mean paying barely above my minimum on the large card in order to pay back the $3000 at 1.99% for 6 months and not incur a 20% interest charge on it but in terms of owing people a ton of interest this will help a bit. I'll end up saving about $400 in interest going this way so it's not all for not I suppose.
And once I've paid it off I'll knock the balance to $1000 and leave it there for emergency car issues that have a tendency of creeping up when you are trying to get out of debt.
As I go with the other card I'll be continuing to drop the credit card limit until I'm in a position to make it a $2000 balance and again put it away for those unforeseen drastic emergency situations where getting the money from ING takes too long. Once I've gotten the longest standing card to a zero balance, I'll be canceling this new card and OR figuring out which one will give me the lowest interest rates with the best deal and keeping that card at a low limit so i can't get into this mess ever again.
I've done some super things in the last few years - paid off my car a year early, rid myself of 4 other credit cards I stupidly took on, and as of Saturday I will be starting and sticking to my budget until this last one is gone gone!!
Phew! It'll be a tough road, I'll have some minor slips along the way, but with Gail, her books, 397 Ways to Save, the Wealthy Barber, my excel spread sheets and a steady paycheck I'll be able to get myself out of this mess.
Have a Happy Monday everyone. I'm off to earn my paycheck!
Some things to get off my chest...
My man and I are moving into an apartment of our own on Sept 1, 2009! FINALLY! No more stress at home with the monster-in-law, no more yelling and fighting about why she can't clean a room so he can finish the reno, no more reno!! it took a family blow-up to get to this conclusion but I'm over the moon about being told we have to move out! it was what I've been wanting for a while, and at least we'll get a chance to really work on our relationship now and see where it is going.
What this means is, the paycheck I had designated to paying back that outrageous credit card debt I have, now has to cover rent, the cable/internet/phone bill, AND the credit repayment. So there will be a little less room in the budget than I thought, but that is life and I'm happy with it.
August first I AND my man go on the jar system. I've been on it before, earlier in the year, but fell off the band-wagon a little while ago so I'm ready to climb back on and really truly do this!
Ik will post after my exam on Thursday, the budget that I will have for the next 2.5 - 3.5 years. For now, although we will be legally common-lawed in Sept., we have chosen to keep everything financially separate until such time as the debts are gone and we can start on equal playing ground. That way there is no keeping score, and we've eliminated our individual stupidity before entering into a relationship on all terms, including financial. This will help since I have a large amount of debt, and his is half what mine is and through the power of different incomes, we will be finished paying our debts off roughly at the same time - I think I'm six months behind him on this. We will be splitting rent, bill(s), food straight down the middle. We have the same amount budgeted for entertainment so we know as a couple what we have for the month, but things like savings, RRSP contributions, transportation, other, debt repayment amounts are reflected individually as our incomes dictate.
I was at my mom's this weekend, pulling stuff out of storage to help assess what we'll need for said apartment...as it turns out, we'll need next to nothing! We've already purchased our curtains for all windows, sheers for the large balcony windows, the microwave we'll absolutely make use of, and a couch, oversized-chair and ottoman set. All the rest of the furniture will be coming from where we are now, and from the crawl-space storage at mom's. I've found more kitchen knick-knackery than I care to share, we have an over abundance of drink-ware, my beautiful china set, good silverware, and kitchen silver ware, all cooking/baking items one could need, many a piece of art, and a gorgeous Duncan Fife Dining Table in great condition, with hand-me-down dining chairs that will due until sometime in the far-off future after a house has come along and money is saved for new ones. There is some concern about the amount of room in the place to house a buffet in the dining area, and my great-grandmother's antique dresser and side table, the tv stand and plant stand my man crafted, as well as a recycled dresser from my bedroom at my mom's and the hand-crafted red oak one from my man with matching jewelery box topper.
some of these pieces will have to wait until we buy a house I think - we have a spare bedroom but I think it'll be stuffed with camping gear, tools, a computer desk and computer and maybe a chair for reading also. Our 1000 sq. ft place will look good, but might be cramped if we try squishing it all in.
Mom will be happy if either the buffet or the dresser are removed from her basement Thought I think we can get them both in one to hold the tv, and video game consoles, dvd and vcr, as well as a pleathera of DVD's amassed, one for the dining room to house the rest of the china, and the hand crafted tv stand for the bedroom with the second tv on it. I think that'll be how it works.
Before I really knew about all this house shifting stuff, I had found a deal with a nearly non-existant balance transfer rate on a new credit card, that I thought would help me pay down my credit debt faster. it turns out with this apartment development thing, I'll be no further ahead than if I'd left everything well-enough alone on the one credit card I had. Except that i"ll have paid less interest - 1.99% for 6 months helps with not paying back that much more interest, and having only transferred $3000 to it, I've already paid off $500 on that card. It will mean paying barely above my minimum on the large card in order to pay back the $3000 at 1.99% for 6 months and not incur a 20% interest charge on it but in terms of owing people a ton of interest this will help a bit. I'll end up saving about $400 in interest going this way so it's not all for not I suppose.
And once I've paid it off I'll knock the balance to $1000 and leave it there for emergency car issues that have a tendency of creeping up when you are trying to get out of debt.
As I go with the other card I'll be continuing to drop the credit card limit until I'm in a position to make it a $2000 balance and again put it away for those unforeseen drastic emergency situations where getting the money from ING takes too long. Once I've gotten the longest standing card to a zero balance, I'll be canceling this new card and OR figuring out which one will give me the lowest interest rates with the best deal and keeping that card at a low limit so i can't get into this mess ever again.
I've done some super things in the last few years - paid off my car a year early, rid myself of 4 other credit cards I stupidly took on, and as of Saturday I will be starting and sticking to my budget until this last one is gone gone!!
Phew! It'll be a tough road, I'll have some minor slips along the way, but with Gail, her books, 397 Ways to Save, the Wealthy Barber, my excel spread sheets and a steady paycheck I'll be able to get myself out of this mess.
Have a Happy Monday everyone. I'm off to earn my paycheck!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
A month goes by so FAST!!
Well. it's been a month since I posted! geepers!
So in this month - I've been a part of my best friend's wedding - a gorgeous day, a gorgeous bride, and a great time! That took care of the last two weeks of June - running here and there to make sure things were good, I had my dress, the bride was taken care of, and everything that needed to be done got done.
The last little while has been spent trying to figure out what the living situation will be with my partner and I. He had grandiose ideas of what he wanted to move into - nice places, but so far from financially practical it was frustrating. The problem was that until we actually sat down and I plugged numbers into a spread sheet, I couldn't get him to budge on the place "we are getting." As of today - we are officially looking for a nice two-ish bedroom place with some storage room in a decent area for us to FINALLY get out of his mother's house.
Without too many details, he was still trying to ramrod the idea of us staying at her place for yet another year so he could accelerate the payments on his debt and be down with it. And in the next breathe, "well I want [this] and [this] and [this] before we leave, and I could really go for [this] and [this] and [this]. Ya paying the debt off is his spoken goal - but there is no plan for the repayment, nor do I even believe he'll do it. I'm glad she told him/us that is was time for us to leave.
So I get to start the hunt of places - and of course have to listen to him saying "I don't want to live here because there are "drug dealers all over this area" ever time we go somewhere. Point is he never wanted to leave the house he grew up in and he's finding every excuse to not leave.
I have a trying road ahead but at least I know I'm getting out of that place and the situation.
On a more fantastic note - I was fortunate enough to meet THE Gail Vaz Oxlade this past weekend, enjoy some great food with fellow Gail Club members, and have some great conversations about finances and life with everyone! It's been quite the weekend I tell ya!
I need to update some of my bars, and get caught up with the weekly postings I had planned.
So my journey is about to take me to a place I've been wanting for about 2 years now - my own space, shared by the man I love. thankfully we'll be able to work on our relationship now (hopefully) and I won't have to listen to the whining about his mother anymore, or she about him.
So in this month - I've been a part of my best friend's wedding - a gorgeous day, a gorgeous bride, and a great time! That took care of the last two weeks of June - running here and there to make sure things were good, I had my dress, the bride was taken care of, and everything that needed to be done got done.
The last little while has been spent trying to figure out what the living situation will be with my partner and I. He had grandiose ideas of what he wanted to move into - nice places, but so far from financially practical it was frustrating. The problem was that until we actually sat down and I plugged numbers into a spread sheet, I couldn't get him to budge on the place "we are getting." As of today - we are officially looking for a nice two-ish bedroom place with some storage room in a decent area for us to FINALLY get out of his mother's house.
Without too many details, he was still trying to ramrod the idea of us staying at her place for yet another year so he could accelerate the payments on his debt and be down with it. And in the next breathe, "well I want [this] and [this] and [this] before we leave, and I could really go for [this] and [this] and [this]. Ya paying the debt off is his spoken goal - but there is no plan for the repayment, nor do I even believe he'll do it. I'm glad she told him/us that is was time for us to leave.
So I get to start the hunt of places - and of course have to listen to him saying "I don't want to live here because there are "drug dealers all over this area" ever time we go somewhere. Point is he never wanted to leave the house he grew up in and he's finding every excuse to not leave.
I have a trying road ahead but at least I know I'm getting out of that place and the situation.
On a more fantastic note - I was fortunate enough to meet THE Gail Vaz Oxlade this past weekend, enjoy some great food with fellow Gail Club members, and have some great conversations about finances and life with everyone! It's been quite the weekend I tell ya!
I need to update some of my bars, and get caught up with the weekly postings I had planned.
So my journey is about to take me to a place I've been wanting for about 2 years now - my own space, shared by the man I love. thankfully we'll be able to work on our relationship now (hopefully) and I won't have to listen to the whining about his mother anymore, or she about him.
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