My poorest financial choice this year

This could be up for debate but I have to say that I think my biggest financial mistake this year was NOT going to the gym, that I pay $48 a month to go to. It's one of those pay a membership fee and then pay per monthy for the year, kinda places. If one quits, then one has to REPAY the horrid membership fee again. I think it's one of those psychological traps that keep ppl paying every month out of fear that if they quit and then change their mind..it will cost them again.

The first year it was open I went 100 times during the year.

This year, I'm pretty embarrased to say I went a whopping 32 times.... 6 of which were this past week since I've been out of school.

So I wasted money. Heaps and oodles of it. I lost opportunity to go and get my VERY out of shape and overweight body into a better place. Crazy. and NO excuse. None. Nada.

At $48 per month that means I spent a total of $576 for the year's membership. Dividing that by the 32 times I went, it means that each and every one of those visits cost me $18 each. That's right. $18!!

Compared to the year before when each of my visits 'cost' me $5.76...it's a sad statement.

In my community there are four gyms/fitness centers. One in  my town and three across the river in the neighbouring city. I really like having this one in my town and close to home.

Needless to say..... going to the gym is on my list of things for self improvement for 2010.

So this absolutely has to change for next year.

2009 Summary - Part 2 - Savings

I really have never had any savings before. Sad, isn't it? A middle aged mom of two with no savings. There just never seemed to be enough money to live, let alone save. Go figure that making a reasonable budget and watching what I spent, could net me money for targetting savings. Crazy isn't it? LOL

Here were my goals for 2009

1) EF to $1500



Well part way through the spring I realized I couldn’t quite achieve all the things I wished to achieve if this was at $1500 so I changed it to $1000. This gave me a huge sense of relief. This winter I decided I was now in a position to make a  regular $50 contribution each month to the EF. As of Dec 25th this is now at $1200.


2) Fully fund Xmas 2009 of $1000


I achieved this early on, just slamming money onto this target as fast as I could. I ended up using more than the $1000 but boy was it nice to have it there. I will cut costs again this coming year I hope. I am going again with $1000 for xmas 2010 and can put $85 towards this.


3) New Vehicle Downpayment


This wasn’t an original goal but was added part way through the year. I decided it was time to get ready for a new vehicle, so that when the time came, I HAD a down payment. I managed to tuck $2500 away and then used it in June when I bought my new Torrent. It was such a great feeling to be able to say ‘yes’ when they asked if I had a down payment.


4) RRSP of $1500


Well this one changed and morphed throughout the year. I ended up changing it to $1000 so I could meet my other goals and boy what a relief it was. I achieved this goal and for the first time, I will be able to buy an RRSP. I know it’s just a teeny one but it’s a start. Next year I’ll morph that up to $1500. A lovely FIRST for me.

5) Summer 2010 - $1000

This one also got added in during the fall. I decided I  needed to have money there and ready to go so that the boys and I could enjoy summer activities knowing there was money put aside. I have to admit that I am envious of our friends who go on holidays then to exotic places, or who own a cabin and spend the summer there.  While I can't give my kids those kinds of summers, now I can give them something.

That wraps up my saving for the year. I loved every minute of it. SO empowering. I just added it up. $7500 saved.  Holy wow!!!!

2009 Summary - Part I - The Debt

Here were my debt goals from 2009!

1) Pay off Credit card debt and be able to use the credit cards and NOT carry a balance. (finished jan 23)



It was very exciting for me to be able to do this. And so early. I went for three months without using it and once I had my budget amounts under control, I started using them again. It was a bit tricky to keep track of expenses this way, still using the cash jar scenario. Adding a ‘Credit Card’ jar, helped. I simply took money I spent out of it’s jar and put it into the CC jar to keep track. This wasn’t 100% successful but it was a good effort to balance both.

2) Pay off Bank of Mom Loan (finished by Feb 23)



I can’t begin to state how exciting it was for me to pay off this debt. Over the years Mom and Dad (mostly mom (have doled out far far too much money that never got paid back. No one specifically said it was a 'loan' but I mean really???? I knew it wasn't a gift from the hand of happy money. 

This money was technically reimbursement for items they had picked up in a dif city, when we were doing our home renos in 2008. Things like new tub and shower surround.....the flooring for the livingroom...that sort of stuff.  Mom was reluctant to take the money but I told her "I" needed to do this for me.

3) Pay down my Consolidated Loan

Ok technically this wasn't part of the original goals but it became one before Spring  hit. I have reconsolidated this loan three times over the past 10 years and NEVER paid it off fully. It was time to take the bull by the horns and get 'er done! I put everything I could down onto it.

My payments were $579 a month. At the beginning of 2009 only about $500 of that was principal so that mean every  month $79 of my dollars were being sucked into interest land. I HATE interest land!

I started 2009 with a balance of  $12,945 and ended 2009 with a balance of $4300.16. That means I took off $8644.84 in 2009. woo hoo me. It averages out to $720.40 if I just divide that amount by 12. What is better is that I have knocked off 6 months, off the end of my loan.

4) New vehicle!
Also not on the beginning of the year goals, but soon on there was the addition of my new vehicle. We can debate back and forth on whether I should have done it or not. I DID need a new vehicle. It was doomed to die or have a lengthly and painful illness. I have added just under $30,000 of debt to my life. Right now, is the vehicle worth it?  yes. would a new but less expensive one have worked? hmmmm not sure. Only if I had gotten a car...and that did not work for hauling around 4 ppl plus luggage plus hockey equipment. What I DO know is how crack addicting lump sum payments are, and this baby will NOT take me the full 60 months to pay off.

5) Mortgage

well we paid our regular payments. When Income tax came in  we put most of it all towards that. Mortgage moves insanely slow. From $43 000 ish to $38 000 ish. Blech, Interest and property taxes on that are killing us. It's on the list too.

So there is my 2009 in terms of Debt. Despite the new debt amounts coming on, I would say the year was a success. I have done things I have never done before and, frankly, it excites me!

Ok off to the gym. Have a great day everyone!

HOLY wow the snow!!

Ok I almost can't quite believe it even as I write it.

In the year 2009, I managed to save and allocate $4295 in snowflakes! Isn't that amazing????

I'm in shock.

I took my  last $350 to the bank today and plopped it down on my consolidated loan.

It's been a fantastic year for snow.

Snowflakes - my definition

I defined this as money that was not specifically designated in my budget or was leftover. This amount changed every month, as did where it goes. Any money I 'found' within my budget or from outside that I threw at my target du jour. This could be money from my jars leftover. This could be birthday money from my dad or Christmas money from my father in law. This could be all the change that I kept and rolled. It came from doing extra supervision at work that I got paid cash for, or the wee admin allowance on the days that I was acting admin. It came from a bit of money owed me by a friend. It came from working another person's fundraising shift at bingos or canteens, which they paid me for. It came from money I had in the past few months of this calendar year when I had maxed out on my Pension and EI contributions.

I understand everyone who uses the term snowflakes may define it dififerently. This is mine :P

Snowflakes - where did they go?

Ohhh all sorts of good places. They went to pay off the Christmas debt after Xmas 2008. They went to pay off my Bank of Mom loan! They went to targetted savings such as Xmas 2009, Summer 2010, a bit to RRSP. It went to saving $2500 for a downpayment on a new vehicle, which was used in June. Finally, a good chunk of it went towards a lump sum payment for my consolidated loan.

Snowflakes - the future?

I don't anticipate as many this coming year for one main reason. I have changed my budget to 'use up' some of that money and put specific amounts towards savings targets each and every month. The money is still going to a greater good......just not as many of them whirling randomly about....they are more.................military style snowflakes with a purpose hehe

I plan to put every single snowflake I can get my hands on towards my consolidated loan. The sooner that is paid off, the sooner I have $579 to reallocate elsewhere in my budget.

I never thought that I would be able to set aside so much. I guess it shows the benefits of budgeting and watching more carefully what one spends. It shows how much more I can do with my money than I thought I could when I frittered it away on whatever I wished.

There is absolutely still room for refinement and improvement. That's the beauty of learning as you grow.

May 2010 grant you many lovely snowflakes to use for good, rather than evil.

My interest'ing' experiment

Last month I wrote of my 'duh' revelation that any lump sums I make on my consolidated loan should be made at the beginning of  the month, right after my monthly loan comes out, in order to maximize the interest saved.

I put down $250 extra last month and have waited anxiously all month to see how much extra came off. Of late, $525 of my principal actually came off of my $580 payment. I anxiously waitied this morning for the long banking weekend to be over and peek. The results were interesting, but not earth shattering. In all, $542 came off this month.

A change? yes. Hugely wow? eh not really, but it is an extra $18 of interest that came off simply by puttng money down at a dif time of the month.

Or I could be totally wrong and it is just that as you near the bottom half of your loan, more principal comes off  LOL

I really am clueless.

The good news is that my loan is now under $5000. In the $4650.62 to be exact! I'm so excited as I can feel the 'home stretch' coming on.

After I figure out what is left to pay on my MC to wipe out all Christmas purchases, then I will have some to put down, hopefully as lump sum this month.

Happy Tuesday everyone!