Beautiful words!

Congratulations!

Your Student Loans are Paid in Full

I got the confirmation letter today. :) Boy, does it feel good! Granted, it wasn't tens of thousands (or even hundreds of thousands) of dollars that I owed, but it was enough to be a weight around my neck and I am SO happy to have them paid off (and 5 years early). I'm awaiting the letter from Revenue Canada to let me know that I'm clear there, too.

I was also one of "those" people today; you know the ones. They put miniscule amounts on their credit cards. I had to sign some legal paperwork for my mother's lawyer in Victoria and paid $5.25 for the notary to sign & witness. Okay. I had the cash for that. What I DIDN'T have the cash for was the envelope and stamp to mail it! $2.91. I was 7 cents short! The debit limit at the post office is $5. ARGH! Can you believe it? I think this is payback for my smugness about NOT being one of "those people."

I registered for curling yesterday, too, which set me back $174.20 more than I had anticipated, however, it was a LOT of fun and I need to have some social time with my friends on a regular basis. I've joined a team with three Germans and a girl from France; she was determined to think of a name for us, so we called ourselves the "Crazy Europeans." I have a British passport and while the Brits don't actually think of themselves as Europeans (although everyone else does...), it's close enough, as I'm only one generation removed. I'm surprisingly not too sore today - it was tougher than it looks. The balancing is the hardest part, but once you have a rock in hand, it's a bit easier. The rest is just lots of practice.

It's nice not having so many bills to pay!

At least, the type that keep you in debt - like credit cards, or student loans, or whatnot. I like having ONE debt payment each month, and a flexible one at that. I'm certainly not stressing out about things like I was before and because I got a larger paycheque today, I slapped down an extra $100 on my LOC, which makes me feel good.

Canada Savings Bonds go on sale soon. I currently pay $10 per paycheque (indefinitely) through work and am considering upping that to about $25. It's after-tax deduction and is a really painless way to save, although admittedly the interest rates are pretty awful right now. I started looking at the website today and didn't realize there were two different kinds: "C" bonds and "P" bonds. The first are compounding, so although the interest rate is a little bit lower, the rate compounds and they can grow a little faster. They're redeemable at any time. The latter are premium bonds. The initial interest rate is a bit higher and the interest is paid annually, on the bonds' "birthday", so to speak. Both have a ten-year maturity term. But they're redeemable only once per year; a good idea for anyone who finds it difficult to save.

My paycheque was $1302.48 this week. I think it's because the extra hours I worked are reflected on it, but that's okay. It goes a lot further these days anyway. I disbursed it as follows:

Rent: $700
Jars/allowance: $300 (Jars $260, Allowance $40)
LOC: $150
RRSP: $125
TFSA: $50
ING: $60

Total in: $1302.48
Total spent: $1385.00

I had a couple of hundred left over from my last paycheque, so still have a bit of a cushion in the bank at the moment. I'm also writing up a list of wants & needs, as I've made some changes to my sidebars. I've realized I already had a house downpayment bar, as I'm saving $50 a month to an RSP which I can use for that. It'll be a while yet, but why save twice? So I moved the funds from that (ING) fund to my new computer fund, which I think is more reasonable.

I'm going to use one of my TFSA's as my "planned spending" fund, as this year I need new winter tires. I've found a place (Fountain Tire) where I can get 4 for $500 (studded will cost me another $100) and this includes install and balancing, so is the best deal by far around these here parts! That will get done before Thanksgiving, as I don't want to wait until the snow falls before getting them done. I also need a decent parka; one of these, please! They're costly, but will last forever, so are well worth it, particularly on those nasty below 40C mornings.

My "rent" TFSA is now my EF fund, as I get auto deposits in there and I'm comfortable leaving that exactly as it is.

So. One more hotel paycheque tomorrow and that's it. I can't say I miss working 6 or 7 days a week, that's for sure, and already I'm getting into a routine that takes me dreamily through 3 days off each week. Curling starts on Sunday and tomorrow a friend and I are trying out an Aikido class. The curling will definitely stick, the Aikido I'm not so sure about, although it IS something that I feel I need to pursue (the self-defence aspect of it if nothing else). We'll see.

WANTWANTWANTWANTWANT

Jolie posted a similar post several days ago, although with a much more practical and less manic-sounding title. It's all about computers.

My HP laptop is coming up to three years old. The part of this that is hardest for me to take in is the fact that it's considered outdated and essentially a very old piece of hard-working machinery. But, as in all things "old(er)," it's started to slow down a bit, think longer and harder about things, hang more than it should and just not allow me to work as efficiently as I know I could. So, I'm realistic in thinking that it's days are coming to an end. For me at least. I plan to donate it once I've got a new one, so it remains to be seen exactly how soon that will be.

I've just discovered (last week, in fact) touch screens.

This is the HP TouchSmart IQ526. It comes with everything: Vista, cable (to hook watch TV - it's already bigger than the one I currently own!), DVD/CD player/burner, 640GB, and and and. There's no tower. Everything is loaded right onto that 22" wide, 2.5" thick box. There's even a light. So you can type at night (it's the little things, right?).

Nosing around on the Internet comes up with quite a variety of prices ranging from HP's own website which prices it at $1799, to Amazon.ca where you can pick it up for $1688. I found it at Staples - already on clearance! - for $1274 (+ 5%= $1337.70).

So. If I asked D to go with me to see this, I know exactly what he'd say: "I'd buy it." This is what I'm trying to avoid, as this is the second time I've gone by to see it and I very nearly slapped down the old, currently paid off, credit card and said "I'll take it!" But I didn't because my card limit isn't high enough to buy it. Ahem. Then there's the famous "buy now, pay later" which rang bells in my head as I remembered what Gail does to people who do that. Last time I saw TDDUP, she had all the items that weren't paid for taken out of the house!

I know that if I buy it now, the price will drop further and I'll be wishing I'd waited. I also know that if I buy it now, I'll be back to square one with my debt payments. I guess I just needed to get it out there. It's a surprisingly good deal (considering what/where it is and that this is Whitehorse), but if it's meant to be, it will be. This is why I have this blog; so I can talk it out without judgement or guilt and get balanced, practical advice.

(And I'm kinda hoping someone will say "Ah, go ahead and get it!")

Paycheque Designation Day!

Another month, another paycheque or two. Raise your hands if you can believe it's already (the middle of) September? No. Me neither!

But it's my favourite time of the year, so I'm happy it's here, despite the fact that it means summer really is over - for the most part - and we're starting to get a lot of rain. It's definitely cooler and our days are noticeably shorter, too. At least the mornings seem to stay clear and it means I can walk to work.

My last day at the hotel was on Monday. There were two of us working and I actually left an hour early because it was so quiet! No point paying two people to do a whole lot of nothing. Regardless, I feel it's somewhere I can return to if I wanted or needed to in the future, but right now I really want the time. I don't remember the last time my house got cleaned or I spent any part of a day just reading a book and now I can. I am also keen to be getting a lot more use out of my camera, which sits idle most days, simply because I'm not around to use it.

One of the first things I did after leaving the hotel was to play around with my budget (muchas gracias to Fabulously Broke in the City for her amazing Excel budget! And so pretty....) and actually punch numbers into it to get an idea of whether I can live on one job. It turns out - with a few 'aha!' moments, some 'oops!' moments and some tweaking - that, yes, I most definitely can. I just have to be smarter with my money. This month I'm fine. Even after quitting the hotel, I still get one more paycheque from them at the end of the month, which will help. I AM going to carry over some cash in my account this month, because October and November are going to be tight and I want a little bit of a cushion.

My auto-transfer to my LOC is all set up (I decided on $100 a month for now, instead of $150, just because it's tight some months), and I've also adjusted the monthly amount that gets transferred to my ING savings accounts. I've decreased it to $120 from $150. I'd rather save something than nothing at all, so $10 per account keeps me happy and also allows for a little flexibility when I have a month where I'm making more (or spending less!) and can add extra.

So, my paycheques this week were dispursed as follows:

Phone/Internet: $141
TFSA (rent): $100 ($50 extra)
RRSP: $150 ($25 extra)
Hydro: $50 (I'm actually in a credit balance this month, and wanted to be next month, too)
Savings: $135 ($75 extra)
Gift: $50
Jars: $260
Allowance: $40
Groceries: $37.04

Total income: $1429.73
Total spent: $963.04
Total remaining: $466.69

So...that, apparently, is that! It took me until today to figure out why there weren't more bills: I'VE PAID THEM. My student loan and my Rev Canada debt are GONE!! I also paid off my Visa card, but have since registered to have a monthly donation of $10 charged to it for the Humane Society. I'm fine with this, as that's something I can easily set up to have autopaid. It's for my charity of choice and right now is the best I can do, money wise at least, for them. When my LOC is paid off, then I will increase my monthly donation.

I was invited to D's naming ceremony tomorrow (where he'll be receiving his Tlingit name), and I said I would go, but he heard the hesitation in my voice and told me I really didn't have to if I would be uncomfortable. There are going to be around 300 people there - this is just his dad's side of the family! - and he has duties to take care of (there's a potlatch and also the placing of his grandma's headstone), so I'd be left alone for a lot of the time. Okay, so I'm a big girl, right? This isn't about me, but is still hugely intimidating, although it would be a wonderful experience. So he instead suggested we go to his parents' house on Sunday for dinner, so I could (finally) meet them. I'm wondering now which event is less intimidating!

A decision

I went to the bank today to chat with my account manager. I've boosted my RRSP & TFSA contributions slightly, switched the type of chequing account I have (fixed fee of $9.95 p/month!) and asked her advice on something I actually had just thought of on my walk over.

This, of course, could be something that a banker would agree to, so before I get too excited about it, I thought I would pass it by all my favourite PF bloggers for an opinion. I'm comfortable with the idea of doing this, however.

Because my debt is now quite manageable (under $4K) I thought I would pay off my other debts - student loan, credit card & Revenue Canada - with my LOC, leaving me with one debt to pay down, instead of three. This also means I have just one interest rate to deal with (5.75%) instead of 3 or 4 different ones, and I can set up an automatic withdrawal twice a month to make a payment towards it. This will, I believe, work better for me now that I'll be down to one job and there will be months that I might need a little more cash flow than others.

Other reasons that I've decided to do this now are because I have some specific things I need in the very near future: namely new winter tires/insurance for the car and I can put chunks of my paycheque towards those instead. As well, there is good news surrounding my job, which I will be for certain in about two weeks (and share, of course!). The government also has an annual bonus for its employees which is a travel allowance of $2042 per year. It takes two years initially to get this, and it's annually after that. February will be my first allowance, and the timing is such that I should be able to apply it to my RRSP, and apply my income tax refund to the LOC.

It's basically a mini-consolidation loan without the high interest rate. I'm going to set a fixed monthly repayment amount of $150 and add more when & if I can. I am okay with this and the fact that it will take me a little bit longer to get completely out of debt.

I hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend!