Year Over Year Totals

Here's how my money has looked over the past few years:

January 2010
Assets: $3,162.22
Liabilities $22,432.67
Net Worth -$19,270.45

January 2011
Assets: $5,238.92 (+$2,076.70)
Liabilities $18,346.90 (-$4,085.77)
Net Worth -$13,107.98 (+$6,162.47)

January 2012
Assets: $9,040.30 (+$3,801.38)
Liabilities: $11,153.58 (-$7,193.32)
Net Worth -$2113.28 (+$10,994.70)

January 2013
Assets: $13,829.57 (+$4,789.27)
Liabilities $6,568.87 (-$4,584.71)
Net Worth +$7,261.09 (+$9,374.37)

I've increased my Net Worth by $26,531.54 since January 2010. Which is of course, awesome! But I can also see that I didn't make that much of a dent in my debt or increase my NW by as much in 2012 as I did in 2011. Of course, getting married and going on an European honeymoon will do that so I'm still quite proud of what I was able to accomplish in 2012. I'm hoping that 2013 will be even better! :)

Happy New Years!!!

TTFN,
Morgaine

January No Spend & Declutter Challenge

Challenge accepted!

Got this idea from It's Me, Sam which lead me to Half Dozen Daily. Since I am planning on starting my Shopping Fast in January, I only need to add the Decluttering Challenge onto my plan.

We have a second "bedroom" in the house we are renting where my bunny used to live. Its always been the room where the clutter goes. It is the most disorganized room in the house. So, it will be my challenge in January to organize this room and make it more usuable instead of just a room full of junk and stuff.

How about you? Any decluttering challenges for January? Any other resolutions for 2013?

I will be sharing some more resolutions/goals for 2013 next week.

Happy New Year! Have a fun and safe celebration. See ya next year!

TTFN,
Morgaine

Final Paycheque and Updated Stats

Now that I have my new net amount I can start budgeting for 2013! Hooray! (Only us pf geeks get that excited about budgeting!) I think it will change a bit in 2013 due to tax credits but this is a good amount to get started with.

Also since its the last paycheque of the year, I looked up what my approx tax refund would be (again such a pf geek!) And it looks like I should expect around $3500! That's way more than I've gotten in the last few years. Guess where its going? Right back into my RSP. I could use it to pay down debt or fund other things but doing this will put me at my 1st house savings goal of $25K at the end of June! This will give us some flexibility in when we could look for a new home and then I can drop my RSP contribution to a much more reasonable level (probably $100 a paycheque) and save for closing costs, up my emergency fund, AND pay off debt!!! I have to admit that this is making me very excited and now I can't wait until I get my T4 and receipts. In related news, this is the first year since 2008 (and I think that was the only other year since 2003 and now) that I will only be getting 1 T4. Even though I worked at the same job in 2011 I was a temp for 2 months and my agency paid me for those months. This will make tax time a lot quicker (oh, and our T4s are online) and easier to deal with. I only have 1 investment at the moment too plus my 2 charity contributions and my taxes are organized!

I've updated my side bars as we are closing in on 2012. I'm very happy to say that I am over 50% to my RSP/home downpayment goal, I am under $6K left in debt, and I am just shy ($58) of a net worth of +$8K. This is a great way to end off the year, if I do say so myself. We also paid for a wedding and honeymoon in cash.

All in all 2012 was a good year but I'm hoping 2013 to be an even better one with a house and (consumer) debt-free on the horizon.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas, spending time with friends and family.

TTFN,
Morgaine

Why I'm not in love with shopping anymore ...

I haven't been in love with shopping for a while now. This is a combination of a few things ...

• I don't have as much free time as I use to. I used to shop a LOT when I was in University. I was only working part-time and there was many days when I had a couple of hours between class and work. Do you think I went to the library to study? Yeah, right!
• I get a ride home from work now and would rather have that than shop and have to take the TTC.
• I'm using my money for more important things - debt repayment and saving for a house.
• I'm finding I can't stand crowds and lines more than I used to be able to tolerate them.
• I'm finding I don't like a lot of clothes these days. It may be that I'm older and set in my ways and new trends are anathema to me. But I also think that my favourite stores have done certain things to make the clothes cheaper (adding spandex and lycra and taking away buttons and zippers) while the prices have remained the same or more expensive. There is one particular clothing store, I won't say which one, but I used to LOVE this store and bought clothes there all the time. They started with one or two styles of pants with no button/zipper but now almost ALL of there pants are this style and I HATE them. And, it does appear that this trend is contaminating more and more clothing stores. These pants are supposedly more comfortable but they roll down on me all the time and I feel subconscious in these pants with all their lycra/spandex. I feel much more comfortable in cotton pants.
• I have a lot of clothes already. I used to be able to justify buying another t-shirt or another sweater even when my closet was already full. But I now recognize that I do already have enough t-shirts and sweaters. Pants on the other hand ...
• I always had a hard time finding clothes that fit well. Especially pants. I am a 16/18 petite. When I find pants I actually like, good luck finding it in my size. It seems that no clothing stores want to acknowledge that there does exist fat short people. We all are either short and skinny or if you're fat you must also be tall. And since most clothing stores charge extra for plus sizes, having to add on tailoring fees if the pants are not petite makes it even more expensive.
• I find I don't have occasion to wear a lot different types of clothes. I don't go clubbing anymore, I don't need clothes for that. We don't go to a lot of formal affairs and I have a dress for those that I can wear to more than 1 function, I don't feel the need to wear a different dress to each occasion. I have work clothes and I have weekend clothes (pjs and schlepping clothes) and that's it.
• I've never been a jewelry, accessories type of gal, I buy the odd purse that's it. I like comfortable shoes so no heel addiction here. And although my husband likes to complain, I don't think 10 pairs of shoes is that bad. I know ladies with 10 times that amount.

The reason for this list is to remind myself that having a shopping ban for next year shouldn't be too hard. If I don't love shopping anymore why would I want to do it? Why would I miss it? I will re-read this post if I ever feel the need to go shopping next year.

How about you? Do you still love shopping? Do you hate it too and what are your reasons?

Have a great weekend!
Morgaine

Shopping Ban 2013 - Needs and Wants list

Yes:

• Rent
• Monthly expenses, including:
• food (but no coffee, pop, snacks, etc)*
• transportation (portion of gas/parking to T and TTC tokens)
• cell phone
• gym
• Personal care**, including:
• shampoo/conditioner (but no fancy hair products)
• face wash/toner/moisturizer/acne product/lip balm
• body wash/lotion/baby powder/deodorant
• hair dye
• hair cuts (but only 4x per year and not salon)
• feminine products (thinking about a diva cup for more savings)
• BC pills, Advil, medicine, etc
• Dental care
• Entertainment
• Netflix
• movies out on cheap night (Tuesday) or free with Scene points
• coffee/potlucks/game nights with friends (I don't want to shut out my friends completely)
• Other
• gifts - home-made or DIY if possible

*Food - trying to limit eating out as much as possible, I'm going to try and find more recipes to eliminate food boredom at home. Again, because I don't want to live under a rock next year, I will accept (reasonable) invitations to go out to eat with friends.

** Personal care - The #1 rule is that I'm only allowed to buy something once I am completely out of it at home. I also have to try and use up gifts and sample sizes before buying new as well.

No:

• Clothes
• Shoes
• Wallets, purses
• Jewelry
• Makeup (only basics like oil sheets and powder, and ONLY if I'm completely out)
• Home crap
• Electronics
• Movies, books (including e-reader books), music unless I have a gift card
• Craft supplies unless necessary to make a gift, but will try to use up what I already have
• dollar store crap
• stationary, unless I run out of pens (yeah, right)

I think this is a fairly comprehensive list, if I think of anything else on either side, I will add it. And the general, need vs want rule should apply to any purchase. The main thing I'm trying to accomplish is to save money (and pay off debt) by not using shopping to fill in times when I'm bored, sad, in need of entertainment, just because, etc etc etc

I have to find other things to do with my life ;p

Christmas Spending - Update

I went cross-border shopping last Sunday.

Here's what I got (converted into $CDN):

T - sunglasses $120.07
bro - jeans and t-shirts $49.85
cousin - shoes $58.30

friends (2) - bath & body works - $27.54
friends kids (2) - Marshalls - $45.58

Me:
2 pairs of pants at Eddie Bauer $95.39
Pair of shoes $42.41
Cardigan and 2 t-shirts @ Ann Taylor $59.72
Grey hoodie, undies and personal care @ Target $37.50

Total $536.36

A little more than I wanted to spend (I may have gone a bit overboard on myself, whoops) and I still have a few more gifts to pick up but I got a lot of my essentials out of the way to hopefully kickstart the no spending in 2013.

How have you done so far with this year's Christmas shopping, keeping to budget?

TTFN,
Morgaine