Wednesday 12 August 2009

Long Overdue

It's been a crazy week trying to catch up on regular stuff, never mind the blog, so I'm going to try to do this now, so it's up to date and I can get on with a couple of other things I need to do today (also involving lots of email...).

The weekend with the fire crews went, for the most part, well, but was the cause of two meetings with my supervisors to explain what exactly happened and how I got there. I thought everyone was aware of this (I was told "the email has gone out"), so was sort of taken aback when even HR was wondering what the hell was going on. The weekend, being my own time, wasn't so much the issue as my taking the Monday as well. Mondays being what they are simply by virtue of being Monday, there were a couple of people off sick, and the communication wasn't as clear as it should or could have been and it left those working scrambling to fill slots. All I wanted to do was help, but one of my flaws is that very often I do, then think about what I do-d. In this instance, there should have been paperwork filed, approvals gathered, signatures signed and THEN I would have been allowed to go - it's technically a temporary assignment in another department, so there's a lot more involved than simply saying 'yes' to a phone call.

Sigh. I really can (and have) put myself in a mess sometimes by thinking about stuff AFTER the fact, so I really have to tread more carefully. You know those habits or traits that are such a part of you that you just don't see them until someone points them out? Everyone has one. This is one of mine. And this is particularly relevant right now as the position I'm in just might become permanent very soon (we're not certain how exactly, but it's now 'out there') and apparently I've been "pissing everyone off"...

Anyhow...live and learn, it's all we can do, right?

I've updated my sidebars as today was the first payday in August. I didn't have as many bills as I normally do today, so managed to put a little extra to savings and am still waiting to see how much extra I can throw at my debt.

I disbursed it as follows:

LOC: 108.89
Visa: 56.74 ($100 left)
Rev Can: $110 (this should bring me down to approx. $900!!)
Gift fund: $25
Phone/Internet: $113.81 (ridiculous...)
ING: $150 (extra $75 today)
RRSP: $100
TFSA: $50 (extra $20)
Student loan: $25

Total pay: $1070.84
Total paid: $739.44
Remaining: $331.40

Total debt remaining: $4222.85
Total debt paid (since July 29): $645.63!!

I would love to bring this down even further by the time I leave for holidays in mid-September. I made a LOT of overtime last weekend and this will really help both bring down the debt and plump up the savings. I must also use my last hotel pay cheques wisely, as I've just put my notice in. My last day is Sept 7 (Labour Day) and will be heading down south on holiday after that for two weeks, but I want to be looking at, hopefully, less than $3K by the time I go. My TFSA will be used for my rent payment for October (this is exactly the purpose I'm saving it for), leaving my September paycheques solely for debt/saving/travel.

The Revenue Canada payment is falling quickly enough that in the next couple of months, I might just throw money from savings (or LOC) at it to get rid of it. The extra $10 I'm adding each payday really does help, even a little, and according to my budget, it'll be gone by the end of the year if I keep this up, but if I can get rid of it sooner, why not? The student loan has fallen to $1712, and the LOC now stands at $1500. Both very reasonable, and doable, amounts.

The travel plans are going well enough. I've booked hotels in Tofino & Vancouver and cancelled the one in Victoria, as we're now going to be staying with my brother-in-law, which is very kind of him. This is also much easier on the budget, as it means we can also eat most of our meals in and I can make sandwiches to bring with us during our days out.

It's only a month away now! :)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

OOoh I'm jealous, I love that part of Canada.

You are doing really well paying all that down since the end of July!

Anonymous said...

Your doing a great job paying down those debts!

And you're going to have a wonderful trip. That is very kind of your BIL to let you stay. Always love saving money when traveling.

Keep up the great debt repayment!

The Asian Pear said...

that's an awesome job on your repayment.

Have fun in Vancouver. :)