New phone: LG Reveal

You can see why I chose this one, right? Instead of one of the three free phones I qualified for? Granted, the Blackberry Pearl was cute, but the keyboard was so tiny I'd end up frustrated before I even had it a day. There was also a Sony and some other one, neither of which had the "deer in the headlights" appeal of this purple LG Reveal. Once I saw this one, nothing else stood a chance! I had earned, over the course of my three year contract with Bell, a $250 credit which I put towards the cost of the phone ($349), and by switching around my contract, I saved another $30. I forked over $52.45 (inc. tax) for it. I didn't actually save anything overall, as I then dropped my original plan to $25 p/mth (+$8.95 service fee and .75 911 fee). I then added a $20 "fun bundle" which includes almost everything but the kitchen sink! I can download music, use it as an MP3 player, have unlimited texting, 2.0 megapixel camera, blah, blah, blah.

So, I've actually just increased the amount I pay per month by $10, when my original plan was to cut it back by at least that much. Hmm. I can change the "fun bundle" (decrease it to $10), but will try out my new over-the-top contract for a month and see how it goes from there.

But my phone is pretty...

I've driven only one day this week, and will manage not to drive tomorrow or Saturday either, which is great. It has, however, been a VERY spendy week:

Monday

Book $10.50

Cat food $6.35 (12 tins, using Superstore "Superbucks") + free bag of dry!

Tuesday
Chinese delivery $63.09 (for me & D, who says he'll pay for the trip to Skagway on Tues in return)

Wednesday
Visa payment $99.49 (up to date)
Tim's $3.48 (tea & danish. I heard today that someone in Yellowknife won a car yesterday...)
Stamps $5.67

Thursday
Sandwich $6.95 (lunch...some sort of Greek wrap. Ick. Olives...)
New phone $52.45
Tim's $1.92 (tea)

AND I'm also going out for an Indian food dinner tonight (some of my favourite, although I've not tried the restaurant here yet). It's a friend's birthday tomorrow, so there are four of us going. One has never had Indian food before, so this will be fun. I took out all my jar money this morning, so have to divvy it up when I get home. I'll be a bit short in a couple of categories as I used cash to pay for the phone, but it'll be fine overall.

I have an interview tomorrow morning (oral component and Part 2 of the one last week), so fingers crossed. I need a good sleep tonight, so it'll be an early one for me.

Moving money

Since I decided that I was going to pay just the minimums + 15% on each of my debts, I've adjusted my auto-savings accordingly. I currently have six accounts at ING: EF, vet, travel, car, house & mad money that get auto-paid every two weeks. I've messed with these before (and I probably do it too often, actually), but today, with the help of the handy dandy on-line "goal getter," I have set actual goal limits on my accounts. This increases my savings to $1200 a month from the current $550.

Emergency Fund - $1500 (goal reached: March 25)
Mad Money - $750 (goal reached: May 4, 2009)
Travel - $1000 (goal reached: Nov 30, 2009)
Car - $1000 (goal reached: June 29, 2009)
House - $1000 (goal reached July 27, 2009)
Vet - $1000 (goal reached: June 29, 2009)

My plan at the end of March is to stop saving to the Emerg Fund. I really think that $1500, for me, is sufficient for now. Once that $200 is available, I can leave the rest of the accounts as they are, add a little to each pot to reach my goals faster OR (and this is probably the best idea) attack my debt, as it's just gone up by $2,121.21 which I now owe in taxes. **Sigh**

Hmm. I also REALLY need to get a self-managed RRSP, so I can transfer 10% to that as well. I've not contributed anything since I moved my RRSP at the end of January and I need to get on top of that again...that would explain the 'extra' cash in my bank account each payday. Ahem...

This means the Magic Jars are even more important and necessary to these plans. Now that I actually understand the way they work (this took watching of several seasons of TDDUP to, if you will pardon the pun, have the penny drop) and we have our own mini-version of the Budget Binder in the Gail Planner, this shouldn be relatively painless to keep on top of. I have decided to take out two weeks worth of jar money at once (saves me dumb bank fees). It's surprising how quickly the funds in the jars build up! I'm doing my best to take lunches to work everyday, not use my debit card (1x since March 1), use my gift card at Tim Horton's (won a donut and another coffee! Woot!!) and have spent very little cash in general, which I'm really pleased about.

I spoke with my mum today, too, and as it's my birthday shortly she was asking if there was anything in particular I'd like. Like Christmas, I couldn't think of anything specific, so once again she's going to give me some money, which...yay!

Now I'm off to make muffins so I have snacks for work and another pot of the yummy oatmeal I made last week.

Que sera, sera!

If it can make Doris happy, then surely it can work for me, too!

I was messing around with my taxes last night and it seems that this year I owe. And owe a fairly substantial amount. Even with the Northern Living Allowance deduction and my RRSP contributions it’s still over $2K! :(

This is because of all the overtime I earned last year. When I first saw my T4 I was like “WTF?” My second thought was, as Gail would ask, “Where did it all go?!” Two steady jobs last year, a grand total of almost $65K and I STILL HAVE DEBT. *Shakes head in despair*. Obviously my finances need major work. But that’s also why I started to blog last year; to track my spending and find out where it all goes. I find my inspiration and motivation through YOU guys!

Still, despite this news, I am not in the same position I was last year, either. I now have savings accounts; RRSPs; some mutual funds; plans. Having to pay taxes is definitely a big step backwards, however, as I was hoping for a refund to apply to my debt. Now I’ll have to tighten my budget even more.

What can you do, eh?

The Gail-ism for the beginning of March is: “Crap happens. That’s life. It’s how you handle it that separates the winners from the losers. An Emergency Fund is the best tool for dealing with crap.”

Would this qualify as crap? If I took the money out of my emergency fund it would be $1350 less debt I’d have to sit on over the year. But that would also mean I have nothing left in my EF fund for any other emergencies that might crop up. Hmm. Thoughts? Should I dip into my EF to erase half the income tax debt? I’m certainly tempted.

Otherwise, I thought I’d best post some goals for March. I need some motivation and focus outside of work and school.

March goals:
1. Walk more (this shouldn’t be a problem)
2. Starting this month pay the minimum + 10% on my student loan and LOC (plump up vet, travel, car & EF fund, if I don’t drain it for income tax) for seven months
3. Continue saving & rolling change; put in gift fund or towards debt
4. Change my banking. I still have an account on Vancouver Island and it just grows ever more inconvenient (never mind that I’m not allowed access to it in PERSON…), so I am going to close it and move everything to my current Big Bank. This will include setting up an auto-deposit to my RRSP or one that I can manage myself. Or both.
5. Keep looking for my battery charger!!
6. Clean, tidy and de-clutter my apartment. It’s surprisingly tidy, but there’s still a ton of crap laying about that I can get rid of.
7. Keep an eye on this website for a reasonably priced car. This way I could get a visit in as well as a new vehicle. But this won't be for a few months yet. I've sent some questions, though, and I know they're on the up and up, so it's an option. But I want to see if I can save a decent amount in the meantime.

I also made a nice oatmeal in the crockpot overnight. I decided to keep my small one as well, and this was a recipe I got from my new book. It was actually very tasty (it includes cranberry juice & apples), albeit a bit runny as I added a little more water than was required. Still, crockpotting apparently takes a bit of trial & error, and this was definitely a new thing for me. But it saved me buying my breakfast this morning!