Okay, so it’s only for a long-ish weekend at the beginning of November but I’m still really excited. I haven’t left the country since…my last trip to NYC almost two years ago. This time it’s going to be a girls’ weekend for a friend’s birthday. My budget looks something like this:

My trip is the Friday to Sunday night so my budget is pretty basic. Accommodations are free because the birthday girl lives in New York. Her boyfriend was kind enough to invite me and two other girls to come down and surprise her and even foot the flight cost if money was tight. I thought that was an incredibly kind offer but I certainly didn’t take him up on it. If I didn’t think I could afford to go, I wouldn’t go.

My flight is through Air Canada and I thought it was slightly pricey, but based on my daily price monitoring, prices weren’t budging. I’m not going to check again because I may cry if prices have gone down! I have about $100 in US cash from a prior trip, so I’m going to pull my accumulated vacation pay from my part time job – about $120 – then just pull the rest from my account. My shopping budget is fairly low because I’ll likely only buy a few tops if I see them but otherwise I don’t think we have a ton of room for shopping in our itinerary.

Finally, gift simply refers to a birthday gift! I’m budgeting a bit more than I would usually spend because it will act as a birthday gift/thanks-for-housing-me gift. I’ve been thinking of picking up a sweater at the Gap as I know my friend loves fall clothing, but I haven’t found one I know she will like. I’ve resorted to emailing her and asking her to pick out a few she likes. Not quite a surprise, but better than getting her something she ends up hating!

Yikes, I’ve only just realized this is quite a bit for a weekend, but I know it will be totally worth it!

Gushing aside, I finally feel grounded. I’m working hard at work (as opposed to sometimes feeling like a waste of space while interning) and I have some stability in my life. After a few years of instability, I do not take this for granted one bit. Another thing I love about stability is a stable income. And of course, two stable incomes is better than one! I continue to waitress and though it keeps me busy, I somehow still feel fine. I continue to push back the end date of my side gig because as much as having weekends is nice, so is maintaining a third of my overall income. Here is the exact breakdown:

I may not make a ton but having two incomes is sure as heck helping me fake it till I make it!

Lifestyle inflation?

Okay, I exaggerate a bit. I’ve simply gone from spending next to no money to spending…money. For instance, I bought a new phone. A smart one. And we all know that I’ve never had a smartphone. Now I have a Samsung Galaxy S3. Rogers gave me grief in order to get said phone and associated plan (post to follow), but now I have it and it’s a bit of an adjustment. I haven’t quite gotten into it but once I do, I’m afraid it will slowly take over my life. Luckily the bf had a Future Shop gift card that he kindly gave me in order to buy myself a case for it. Right now it lives in a sock!

I’ve also bought some new stuff:

Got these at Payless for work. Say what you will about Payless but I’ve found some great shoes there!

I LOVE these khakis from the Gap. And at $12 can I really go wrong? I’ve been wanting coloured pants for awhile so this was the perfect steal.

This is what happens when I haven’t shopped for about a year! I may want to pick up a few more items for work. Right now I’m in the process of creating an inventory of my current wardrobe, donating things I don’t wear, and seeing what I can work with. Here is my exploded closet:

That’s the update on me! How are you? What are you doing to enjoy the fall weather? Please share!

Blogger note: Has it seriously been over a month since I last posted? I’ve been having trouble coming up with posts so as an alternative, I’ve run away from blogging for awhile. I miss it dearly and I think it is vital that I keep myself in check and start posting regularly. How do you blogstars do it?

Anecdote #1: Obligatory waitressing story

I recently had a table that was a young couple about my age. They were slightly odd and when the bill came and the total was about $47, the young man asked if he could put $43 on his card and the young woman would cover the rest plus tip. I found it incredibly strange that one of them wasn’t picking up the whopping $47 and I found it even stranger that he chose to pay 91.4% of the bill. I found it even STRANGER that his card declined.

…I found it even stranger still that he asked to put $40 on his card and that that amount went through. Awesome, you have $40 credit to your name and you are kind enough to treat your girlfriend to 91.4% of a meal. Such a charmer you are!

Why you don’t have money: You eat out at restaurants on money that isn’t yours. So much so that you’ve got $40 of credit left.

Delicious, but not free.

Anecdote #2: Friends with kids

I have a friend who has two kids and about $25,000 of debt. She doesn’t seem to be in a huge rush to work and I can understand it. After all, daycare costs are incredibly high and could very possibly amount to the wages of an entry-level position. She is currently off traveling and eating lobsters or something.

Why you don’t have money: You travel when you should be paying off debt.

Paradise, but not free.

Anecdote #3: A certain ‘friend’ of mine

My ‘friend’ decided she was entitled to tons of vacations after graduating from university, regardless of the fact that she hadn’t secured full time employment and had a mound of debt. My ‘friend’ looked for work for eight months after graduating and racked up a pile of credit card debt to add to the pile of student loan debt. She was convinced her dream job was just around the corner so she didn’t bother working part time while looking.

Confessions of a former-debtee

If you didn’t guess, my ‘friend’ = me. I’m not perfect either (as much as I like to think so!). I’ve been there and I’ve done that and I’ve lived to blog the story. I’ve been through the muddy trenches of debt and somehow pulled myself through. So although this post was meant to yell at everyone in debt, I get it. I get it but it isn’t right. Why do we feel like we deserve things that we haven’t earned through hard work and saving? Why do we continue to spend money as if we’re working when we’re out of work?

I think my anecdotes illustrate the answer perfectly: we think we deserve things whether we earn them or not. We want nice trips, nice meals, nice clothes, and just about everything else we can’t afford. We don’t want to wait until we have the money; we want it now.

…Of course we aren’t the only ones at fault. Banks and other lenders are moneymaking entities. Over the past few years, some banks have gotten better at educating people about money, but at the end of the day they aren’t in it for you. If they were, they wouldn’t be handing out mortgages to those that clearly can’t afford them or doling out credit cards with several thousand dollar limits to those with little to no income.

That being said, you can’t blame the big bad bank. Educate yourself. Here are some examples of websites that advocate financial literacy:

Practical money skills

Financial Consumer Agency of Canada

Gail Vaz-Oxlade

Get Smart About Money

Last but not least, consult the personal finance community! They’re a nice bunch and there is absolutely no shortage of great people and posts related to financial literacy. I’ve included some of my favourites over in my blog roll to the right.

I can tell everyone firsthand that getting out of debt isn’t fun. You’ll have to go on a travel ban. You probably can’t buy a new dress for that wedding coming up. You’ll definitely have to skip out on that weekend road trip. I’ve done it all. But I can tell you that it isn’t permanent.

And in the end, it’s absolutely worth it.

My favourite blog posts this week:

Finance Fox – You’re not a writer and you probably will likely never be one…unless…

Fabulously Broke – The money gap in relationships: Where one partner earns more than the other

Live Strong – Strengthen your self control

News you should know:

Bank of Nova Scotia will be buying ING! What does this mean for INGers?

Speaking of which, Canadian banks are doing quite well. Dividends, anyone?

South of the border, President Obama takes your questions. Bizarre but kind of cool.

Things that are hilarious to me and potentially offensive to you:

How to suck at your religion

Beauty and the BEAT (Found this a few weeks ago but too good not to share! You’re welcome.)

Jersey Shore is over?!

Have a great weekend!

LF

The process

Give yourself about one month to get everything switched over. In my case, the process included:

• Opening up a PC account and adding bill payees
• Switching over my direct deposits from my part-time job
• Waiting for my contract job to finish (I didn’t want the additional work of switching over my direct deposit when I only had 1-2 pay periods left)
• Canceling my automatic transfers into my ING savings account

Most of these tasks are simple, but switching over direct deposits can take some time. This is why I decided to switch over while between jobs. This way it was one less direct deposit transfer to worry about.  Last week, once I confirmed that my deposits were in fact being received into my new account, I went in and canceled my CIBC account. It was quick and painless!

My line of credit

Irrational blogger confession: I have a CIBC line of credit with an interest rate of 6%. I love my LOC. Back when I had no money, I put about $3,000 on it for a car repair. I’ve been slowly chipping away at it to the tune of a few hundred dollars a month, leaving about $1,300. I always think it’s pretty silly when people leave debt while they have enough money to pay it off, and this is exactly what I’ve been doing. I definitely see why people do it now! It’s psychological and it makes you feel like you have more money than you do. Although the interest on such a small sum is miniscule, it definitely makes no sense to pay any interest at all.

After apprehensively paying out my LOC and closing my chequing account, I am happy to say I’ve slashed about $20 per month in banking/interest fees! Small changes people, small changes.

What’s next?

Confusingly, I now hold too many accounts including:

• PC Chequings
• PC Savings
• ING Savings (one individual, one joint with bf)
• CIBC Line of credit

I am not entirely sure what one rather small individual is supposed to do with five bank accounts so I’m going to have to get organized! As some of you may know, ING is facing some upheaval resulting in a potential large bank buyout. Not sure what this will mean for current INGers? Potential fees I say!

I know some bloggers like to keep many accounts for different purposes but I would personally prefer to keep one savings account and earmark for different purposes. I will probably try to stay within the PC family to keep things simple and cancel my individual ING savings account. I will also be keeping my LOC for emergencies. Not many of you know it, but I am not a huge proponent of an emergency fund!

Have you ever switched bank accounts? 

Below is a great summary by the CBC of what the changes mean in dollars and cents.

Source: CBC.ca

Essentially a reduction in amortization period from 30 years to 25 years means that your monthly mortgage payments will increase but that you will be paying significantly less interest in the long run. In addition, you must put down 20% (increased from 15%) of your home’s value.

 What does this mean to us?

Now that I’ve paid off my debt, I’ve been zeroing in on some new financial goals. I’ve come to the conclusion that within the next few years, I’d like to own a home. Although these new changes will make it more challenging to do so, I think they are certainly a step in the right direction. Lax mortgage rules caused much of the economic chaos that has run rampant within the past few years. Tight mortgage rules will force us to think twice before committing to home ownership. Too many of us buy too many homes that too few of us can really afford.

Rent vs. buy?

Just kidding, there is way too much material online pertaining to this debate. Do what makes you happy.

The American/Canadian dream?

To many North Americans, owning a home is the ‘American’ or ‘Canadian’ dream, but there’s nothing dream-like about being house poor. Perhaps the new dream should be to enjoy life, save as much as you can, and buy a house when you’re ready to put a sizeable payment down and can afford a higher monthly payment with a shorter amortization period. Or perhaps the new dream should be to rent if you don’t want to commit to buying. I recently met someone that owned a condo, sold it, and now rents an apartment in a great part of town. She is happy with her choice and loves the freedom.

The dream can be whatever you want it to be as long as you know your limits, spend within your means, and create achievable goals. What are your immediate goals pertaining to home ownership? Are you content renting?

LF

Blog note: In an effort to reduce the number of posts about blogging, I’ve decided to include blog notes within posts to update you guys. In case anyone has noticed, I have indeed been gone for the past few weeks. I’ve recently started a new job and it has required a bit of adjusting. I’m hoping to slip into some sort of routine soon enough so bear with me! Another reason for my absence is that yet again, I wasn’t sure what direction I wanted to take the blog. I think I’ve decided and as a result, you may see some changes visually and content-wise. 

PC Financial

After reading Shawanda’s post, I realized that I’m throwing away too much money on banking fees. Although they have been negligible in the past, as of late I’ve been paying $8-10 per month for a minimal amount of transactions. Whaaa?! I’m pretty sure the only activity on my account is four direct deposits per month, one bill payment, and a cash deposit. For the most part, under ten transactions per month. It truly makes me wonder. I will walk for half an hour in heels while holding an awkwardly large vase in order to save a $10 cab ride but I sit around watching the same amount of cash vanish from my bank account every month simply for having a fairly inactive account.

…but no more! President’s Choice Financial is wonderful and boasts a no fee bank account that will let me transact to my little heart’s desire. Sure I won’t get the convenience of going to a physical bank but I rarely do this anyway. I finally made my way over to a pavilion this past week and a nice man helped me open an account. Sweet! Speaking of sweet, the trip ended with a coupon for free PC ice cream! If anyone hasn’t tried PC ice cream shop flavours, they are delicious.

Before picking up my ice cream, I made my way over to Joe Fresh and picked up a new dress. At $30, it will pay for itself within three months of saved bank fees!

Wind Mobile

Now that I’ve dealt with my banking situation, I will soon be moving onto phones. Unfortunately my phone contract is not over until November, but I’ve decided to switch over to Wind Mobile. I have heard mixed things about reception with this provider, but at $40 for unlimited talk, text and data, I’m willing to deal with a smidgeon of inconvenience as I barely use my phone. Oh, if you haven’t heard, I’m also the last person on Earth with a not-so-smart phone. This will all change with my new plan! I pay about $35 for no data right now, so $45 (w/ tax) won’t be a huge stretch. The downside is I’ll have to buy my phone outright, but I also won’t have to deal with the inconvenience of being locked into a contract.

Do you shop around for the best deals or are you guilty of sticking around simply for the convenience of not switching? Anyone use Wind or PC?

I admit I’m fairly elusive on my blog. I haven’t given you guys many details on who I really am or what I do aside from the fact that I’m in communications full time. I know you’ve all been dying to know more, so here goes. Out of university, I was an economics/accounting major (nerd alert!) and went into the field full time for 1.5 years. I knew pretty quickly that I needed a change. I decided to go into communications after finding a college postgraduate program that seemed really interesting, had a great reputation, and also seemed to have great career prospects. Since completing the program, I’ve been interning for the past year and gaining as much experience as I can.

…But something is missing. Those of us in communications know that personal branding is key. I had a go at this last summer after starting my first internship, and started a personal wellness blog. This was short lived, so I guess I really didn’t care about personal wellness. Let’s face it folks, I haven’t exercised in ages and I often eat junk food like it’s my job. I am no authority on being healthy. The thing is, that blog was public. I had decent readership only because my 400+ friends on Facebook were being blitzed with all my new posts. My personal Twitter was also linked to it. I was easy to find and I guess I had started to develop a personal brand.

Upon the death of that blog, I started this one. I knew it was a topic I had immense interest in, as I was vigourously paying off my debt and reading tons of PF blogs. I decided to remain anonymous because I didn’t want all my friends to know that I was broke. I mean after all, I was 27 and half my friends were married and saving for houses or buying their own places while I was in debt.

Personal branding

Flash forward to today. I have a super famous blog with millions of followers. Ok, not true BUT I’ve found a niche that I like and everyday I’m surprised that people actually read me. I try to write regularly and I’ve been trying to engage more on Twitter. In short, I’m building a personal brand. But what good is this brand if no one even knows who I am? Am I really building a brand if I’m simply a nameless, faceless online caricature? I mean no disrespect to all the other anonymous bloggers out there because I completely get why you (and I!) do it. In my case, however, I just think that the work I put into running my blog should be linked to my personal brand.

Anonymous me!

Career progression

Why do I care about my personal brand? Two words: career progression. Ever since switching fields, I’ve known that I have to work twice as hard. It’s a competitive field with arguably little-to-no barriers to entry. The experience I gain through internships is key, but so is my personal brand. I know this because I interviewed for a job with a PR agency that happens to be a fantastic employer. In passing, I mentioned my blog and the interviewer was intrigued and wanted to see the blog. I voluntarily divulged the information because I wanted her to see that I was actively writing about something that interested me and could effectively utilize social media to engage with readers. Unfortunately I didn’t get the job, but they were nice enough to remember me and called me in for another interview. This time I also mentioned my ‘alter ego’ and the fact that you’ll find me tweeting more through that than through my personal Twitter. Sure enough, he had looked up my personal Twitter prior to the meeting. I’m glad I mentioned it because to the unknowing eye, my ‘real life’ brand is fairly stagnant: little Twitter activity and no blog. Why hide the fact that I do in fact have an active online identity?

When I say career progression, I also mean freelance opportunities. I will soon be published on a popular blog and I recently redid the content for the entire website of the company I currently work for, including blog posts. I would love to link my blog to all this content!

Conclusions?

Sorry guys! Haven’t come to any. These are just the thoughts running through my over-active little mind. In terms of relationships with other bloggers, I know that some of us can’t take each other seriously when there is no real identity attached. And I’ll admit I do feel a more personal connection to a blogger when I know their name and face. Going back to the very reason I decided to be anonymous, I’m no longer in debt – YAY. I don’t do spending or net worth updates like some bloggers do, and I most certainly wouldn’t with everyone I know reading my blog. So do I really have anything to hide anymore?

Is personal branding important in your line of work? If you’re anonymous, have you thought of ‘coming out’?

Just don’t.

…on going out to eat

At the restaurant where I waitress on weekends, there is a young family of four that comes in every Saturday. I always get stuck with this group and I hate them for a few reasons:

• Our receipts have a survey link at the bottom that you can fill out for a free appetizer on your next visit. This is fine and a great way to enjoy a free app, but they do it EVERY SINGLE VISIT. The point of the survey is for us to assess the quality of our food, service, etc. Having the same people critique the same food and the same service every week does us no benefit beyond the first, I don’t know, 100 times? This is purely exploitative of the system, I think.
• They order three waters and one pop. The pop is bottomless. Enough said?
• They order one kid’s meal for TWO KIDS. The kid’s meal is tiny. Why are they making the poor kids share one?
• The woman works for the same chain of restaurants so she uses her discount card, which gives her 20% off. Of course this is fine as that’s what it’s meant to be used for. But between exploiting the survey and using a discount card, a meal that would easily be $45 ends up being $25.

I don’t know about you, but when I use any sort of discount at a restaurant (coupon, group deal, etc.) I make sure to tip on the entire amount. I think it’s embarrassing to go into a restaurant, exploit every type of discount, and tip a whopping $4 for a table of 4. I understand that some people don’t have an abundance of disposable income, but if I don’t feel like I can afford to go out and enjoy a meal, then I don’t go out and enjoy a meal.

Of course after working in a restaurant for two years, I can write a whole blog post on cheapness in restaurants but I’ll leave it at that for now!

…on shopping

I love me a good sale!

I know a few people that do this, but to me buying a dress and wearing it to a party and returning it the next day is cheap.

A coworker of mine told me that her mother uses appliances from department stores until they’re completely worn down and then exchanges them for new ones. She gets away with it. This is cheap.

Bargain hunting (even if it takes you hours!) is frugal. It doesn’t involve wasting people’s time, scamming the system, or generally being a burden to the world in order to save a few bucks.

…on being social

Going to a potluck and bringing a bag of chips when everyone else has made extravagant salads, dips, pastas, etc. is cheap. There is nothing wrong with bringing snacks but I try to ensure that the price will roughly match what everyone else is bringing (i.e. a bag of chips with a homemade taco dip…yum!)

Going to a potluck and bringing nothing. Ummm! Cheap and awkward.

Allowing a friend to cover a meal and never reciprocating. Cheap.

I invited a friend of mine over for dinner and she insisted on contributing to groceries. I did not allow this because to me, inviting someone over for dinner means I’m treating him or her to dinner. Allowing her to bring groceries would have been cheap in my opinion!

Overall, I think the distinction between cheap and frugal is tact. I am all for going on a coffee date instead of a dinner date to be frugal. I am all for waiting for a dress to go on sale before buying it. I use group buy coupons. I walk instead of taking a bus or cab. None of these activities are exploitative or tactless. They don’t make a mockery of the system and they aren’t disrespectful to the people you care about. That’s where I draw the line.

Where do you draw the line between cheap and frugal? Do you have any cheapo stories? I’d love to know!

Now that I’m back in black, I am once again considering tucking away some money into something that isn’t a lame chequing account that not only doesn’t pay me anything, but charges me an exorbitant amount of fees.  Originally I wanted to start storing money away in an RRSP but was quickly told not to.

What’s the difference between a TFSA and an RRSP?

Okay, I’m sure someone much smarter than me can probably give you the rundown (like here or here), but I’ll just tell you what the difference is in the context of moi. An RRSP offers a tax deferral, meaning you receive a hefty tax refund when you contribute the maximum. A TFSA, on the other hand, is more liquid and allows your investment to grow tax-free but isn’t eligible for an income tax deferral.

Background via banknerd.ca

Why shouldn’t I opt for the RRSP?

Originally I wanted the RRSP because it is less liquid – I like my money where I can’t see it. I was told, however, that because my income is likely in the lowest bracket (womp womp) and because I still have education tax credits, I likely wouldn’t benefit much from the tax savings of an RRSP. Storing my funds in a TFSA and waiting until I know my total taxable income for the year is my best bet for now. In later years when I have a higher income and no education credits, I can use all of my RRSP room, including carry forward amounts to max out my RRSP.

What now?

From hereon out, I’m going to try to put about $1,000 into savings every month. Key word being ‘try.’ Yeah.  As much as I wish I already had a ton banked away, I’m a saving ninja so hopefully I can make up for lost time with a healthy mix of working hard, frugality, and just plain ass-kicking.

Note: Because I don’t want to get sued for stealing images, because I don’t want traffic sent to my blog because of random titles of pictures I’ve innocently stolen, and because Jeremy scared me into thinking I’ll go to jail, going forward I will no longer be using images I stumble upon on the internet. Instead, I will be subjecting you all to my bad Photoshop skills as I practice. I promise I’ll have mad skill soon and won’t have to subject you to my awkward photo manipulations.

Do you have any tips for me and my savings plans? Do you like my awkward photos? Do you want me to stop?

LF