Hurrah!

Jordan and I reached our first $1000 towards our house fund this past Wednesday! I will be updating the rest of the numbers soon.

I'm also working on categorizing and sorting the last three months worth of debit/credit transactions to get an average of what I spend.

cheers!

Notice of Assessment

Does anyone ever read their notice of assessment? It's that peice of paper you get in the mail once you've filed your taxes that says how much the government is giving you / how much you are going to give them. It summarizes the taxes filed and it gives you the following years RRSP dedcution limit.

I've contributed to RRSP for some time now (though withdrew in 2008 which was a HUGE mistake) but i've never really looked that this limit before. My limit is $13,116. If I were to max that out it would be just over $1300/month *not going to happen* right now I depost $120/month. Hmm... It's a thought though.

I wonder if I should be investing more. Right now, I think that it's not a good idea... I'm currently putting about 21% of my income into savings... GVO reccomds 10%

Perhaps once my visa is paid off. What are your thoughts?

.. my picture is a little hard to see

so here is an image of the jar $$ categories up close :)

Managing your money...

I am a big fan of Gail Vaz Ozlade, and her show 'till debt do us part. One of the ways she encourages people to manage there money is to use her 'majic jar system'. Once the budget has been made, you can divide your variable expenses so that you have weekly amounts you can spend. She uses jars so people can see their money coming in and going. You also need a notebook to track every sent that you spend - it doesn't work unless you track it.

so using gails budgeting tools to help figure out my weekly amounts ( I used the budget numbers I posted preivously, but entered them into her spreadsheet. I also customized the sheet a bit to meet my needs - this is pretty easy if you are familiar at all with excel).

Below is a picture of the jar amounts I'm going to start using. I get paid next week, so I will start my jar system that week. This week, I will find the jars (going to try not to buy them) and a notebook to get organized.

I have hidden some of the fields, b/c I am not comfortable posting exactly how much I make. That said, if anyone needs help creating a sheet like this for themselves, I would be more than happy to send you something.

Refund Time!!

Well, I got my tax refund, and promptly put $1500 towards my visa debt, which has my highest interest rate at 11% plus an annual fee of $23 (which as soon as I pay off the card, I will get rid of the fee, I won't need it to secure the interest rate).

Tax Refund

I don't think that anyone actually read what I write - but if there is anyone out there, I'm curious, what do you all plan to do with your tax refund? save? spend? pay off debt?

Lets here it!

Updated Tracking Bar! (again)

Hello,

I've updated my tracking bar with today's numbers as well as the shares i'm saving up to buy at work through a payroll deduction program.

I want to comment on how fast the house fund is growing. My partner, Jordan, and I are putting $150/week (rotating) into this fund so we can build up our down deposit as fast as we can. It's very exciting to be able to increae that number every week! My point here is that if you are in a committed, stable relationship - it's great motivation to set savings goals together, and to try to reach them TOGETHER. It will happen faster, what you buy will truely be both of yours, and it will bring you closer together!

-- Off to work :)

Updated Tracking Bar!

----> Updated today!

Lay Off Advise

Good Morning!!

Alright, so last night I was reading up advise on how to prepare for a lay off. First thing you need to do, is brush of that resume, get networking and job hunting. Even if all you do is find a part time job to bulk up your emergency fund. I wrote to Gail Vaz Oxlade and this is what she had to say:

"Jessie, the line of credit is BAD advice. Let's say you decide to take out a $20,000 line of credit. You lose your job, exhaust your emergency fund and savings, and tap the line. Your bare-bones budget is $2,000 a month. You're out of work for five months. When you finally get a job, you're relieved, only to find you're now $10,000 in debt!
If you think there may be the likelihood that you'll lose your job (which, by the way, there ALWAYS is), then you should brush off your resume, and start looking at what other opportunities may exist. You might look at ways to work part-time to supplement your full-time income and build up your emergency fund faster. Or you might look at skills or talents you have that you can turn into a small biz... every penny counts.
Good luck. This is a tough time for lots of folks, and I suspect it'll get tougher before it gets better. g"

Fears of Being Laid Off

Okay - so more and more people at work are starting to getting laid off, particularly from my division and i'm startnig to get worried if/when they'll look at me. It just came down to two of us (me and a girl i work with all the time) and she was laid off on Friday.

This is something I really don't know how to prepare for, other then saving saving saving - but really, in my budget, I'm not sure how much room I have for saving any more.

Jordan and I did just get Job Protection/Lay off Insurance for the $4000 loan we got for his truck, but that would only protect is for about $220/month - what about evvverything else. Defnination a big worry.

If I learn or read anything about protecting or preparing for this - i will post.

Jess