Back to Reality

Yesterday I got back from Cuba. I had a lovely time and I came back with money in my pocket, which makes me very HAPPY!! After getting off the plane I got back to reality. I went to the bank traded money around, paid bills and picked up my BF at the airport who spend the past 10 days in Newfoundland.  I also have just set up my 'The What if...Fund'. This fund is basically designed to be an in between fund for things that come up that are just A) oops forgot to put money aside for this or B) money has not been budgeted for this but I want it/need it or C) something needs to get fixed. Option C is currently in effect as my sewing machine is in repair.

Bi-Weekly Budget

                                               Amount: $1,093.89

                                               Amount after ING: $1,043.82 ($-25)

Retirement fund: $50.00

Storage unit $75.00

TD Line of credit: $300.00

Xmas Fund: $80.00

Cat fund: $100.00

Cell phone: $94.86

Car Fund: $50.00

Visa: $50.00

Cat food fund: $10.00

Emergency Fund: $25.00

The What If… fund: $10.00

Licensing fee: $50.00

OSAP: $82.55

Spending money: $67.00

Two Week Spending Recap Feb 14-27, 2011

February 14 (Monday)

$-17.91 Cineplex

February 15 (Tuesday)

$-24.00 for Transit Tickets

February 16 (Wednesday)

No Spend Day

February 17 (Thursday)

No Spend Day

February 18 (Friday)

No Spend Day

February 19 (Saturday)

$-168.37 self store fee for march

February 20 (Sunday)

 $23 budgeted, $13 spent

February 21 (Monday)

$70 budgeted, $30 spent

February 22 (Tuesday)

$60 budgeted, $29 spent

February 23 (Wednesday)

 $60 budgeted, $23 spent 

February 24 (Thursday)

$80 budgeted, $69 spent

$25.00 to retirement fund

February 25 (Friday)

$80 budgeted, no idea who much was left over/ spent

$-2.00 for a tea at the airport

February 26 (Saturday)

$-94.64 Roger’s bill

$-50.00 for visa bill

February 27 (Sunday)

$-7.55 Go train ticket from Whitby to Toronto 

I took $500 cash as my spending money for Cuba. After converting it I got $457.35 CUC back. Through out the week I budgeted $23, $60, $70 and $80 depending on the day. I never once spent the full amount on any given day. As such after paying my exit tax ($25.00) and converting my money back from CUC to Canadian dollars I had left Cuba with $205.00 in my pocket. I debated what to do with it. In the end I have decided to use it to pay for the repairs on my sewing machine and for my Anime North ticket. This way I can 1) finish my Halloween costume for reuse at Anime North and 2) pay for my ticket with out affecting my March budget. 

Frustrated, Stressed and its all my FULT!!

I am feeling frustrated to the MAX with myself and money right now. Last year a friend of mine and I agreed we would go up to Ottawa to skate on the Canal and watch Question Period while the House was in session. Both of use are major political junkies. Only last year it didn't happen because of schedules and such. This year she she asked if I was still interested I said yes of course, this was before I became more money wise. We were going to do the trip on the cheep, crash on a friend's floor so we didn't have to pay accommodations. I had hoped and truly thought that I would have a car by now. My boyfriend had offered to join us and because he has a car drive us. She would rather have a girl's weekend of it, I understand but now its going to cost $155 plus tax to take the train.

I did not budget, I DID not budget, I DID NOT budget, I DID NOT BUDGET!!!!!!

And I am STRESSED over where the money for this weekend is coming from. I don't even want to go, but at the same time I hate that I am allowing myself to not be able to not enjoy something that only last year I would have enjoyed!! All the while I could say well if I only pay 300 in to my Line of credit and not put anything into my 10% fund I would have it covered. But I don't want to do that I WANT to have my line of credit down to $32,000!!! And I WANT to put money into my 10% fund. I seam to have had to many excuses of late for why I am not putting money into it. I would also have to dip into it a little to cover the cost of the ticket.  I could maybe ask her if I could pay her the 100 now and the 55 + tax on the next play but at the same time I don't want to owe her any money. I WORKED SO HARD TO BE SUNDRY DEBY FREE!!

All the while I am still saving for this trip to Cuba which will enable me to complete my Duke of Ed one of my 2011 goals.

Add to all this my boyfriend earlier this week asked me how much I had in my car fund. I lead him to believe that it was up in the middle 2000's like 2700 or 2800 not 2500 which is what it currently is.  I feel like a smuck, a fraud, a lier and a variety of other low life things. So of course I want to put a little bit of money into my car fund so as to boost it a little bit.

I'm frustrated with myself six ways to Sunday and I have no one to blame but me.... being responsible is such a Witch.

Why I went Prepaid with Bank of Montréal

I have mentioned before that I am looking to take a trip to Cuba. The purpose of this trip is two fold 1) to attend an academic conference 2) to complete the residential portion of my Duke of Ed award. Thus completing another aspect of my Duke of Ed Award requirements. 

I want this trip to be the first one I will completely pay for in cash. However I came a cross a snag in the plans, the company I want to book with do not do debt… sigh. So I have been looking around for other options on how to pay for this trip.  I have been kicking around a couple of options

1)      Put it on my credit card. I currently carry a balance on my card, so I would use the money to pay off the balance and then rack it up with the trip. This is an option that several people have suggested to me (friends and family). I think this is a bit of a counter productive option and would not given me any satisfaction. Swapping one debt for another does not make it any better them having travel debt in the first place.

2)      Sign up for a new credit card. Once again the purpose of paying in cash is not to acquire more debt. Second why would I want to increase my debt to income ratio? O.o?? And despite what people tell you having more credit cards does not give you more benefits (see my post on Plastic Crazy).

3)      Gift Cards. Not an option with this travel agency.

4)      Pre-paid Credit Cards. The befits of a credit card including Purchase Security and Extended Warranty with out any of the downsides like interest rates (depending on the provider).

I chose option number 4. After making this decision I then had to choose the pre-paid card that worked best for me. In Canada there are two different banks that I know about that offer Pre-paid credit cards: Bank of Montréal (BMO) and The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC).

I decided to make a chart to compare the two bank pre-paid credit cards

Bank/card type	fees	Interest rate	features	What kind of card is it?
BMO/MasterCard	$9.95 purchase fee (valid for 3 years),	0%	The card is prepaid and reloadable – your limit is the amount you’ve loaded on the card. Load your card as a bill payment from any bank account at most financial institutions. Extended Warranty & Purchase Protection	This is a pre-paid MasterCard. Treated the same way as a regular  master card would be used
RBC/Visa card	One time fee of $3.95 charged to the person purchasing the card. No maintenance fees charged for the first 6 months after the Card is purchased. After this time, a monthly $1.50 will be charged until the balance on the Card reaches $0. Upon the expiry of the Card, a fee will be charged equal to the value of the balance remaining on the Card.	0%	Because RBC Visa Gift Cards are non-reloadable, cards cannot be used make recurring payments.	This is a pr-paid gift card treated the same way as a store gift card but with the flexibility to buy at any store not at a specific store. “RBC Visa Gift Cards are not credit cards, there are some fees in place to cover the cost of providing certain services.”

Based on the above, I decided that getting the BMO Pre-paid MasterCard would be the best idea. Thus I have applied for it. What do you think?

PS: please let me know of you can read my chart... I posted this while at work and my work version of my blog doesn't show the chart all that well. It should have 5 collums ( bank/card, fees, intrest, features and what kind of card is it?)

Bi-Weekly Finances and Funds

Today is pay day! last night I moved the last of last pays money into my line of credit YAH! for snowflakes. A grand amount of $28.64 which brings my jar to $63.53. All in my line of credit *big smile* the faster I can get that principle down the happier I will be.

I mentioned in a earlier post in December that I was increasing my TD line of credit payment to $300 starting in Jan. I had thought it might be a tight budget because I had anticipated having a car by now. But that hasn't happened and its not likely to happen until maybe March or April... sigh. That fund is on hold until my vacation fund catches up because I have a conference in Cuba in Feb. that I am going to and haven't even booked it yet. *EKKK* I want to pay it all in cash, truthfully there isn't any other option any ways, since I have no available credit., which is not a bad thing really.

I have applied for a part time job. Stats Canada is hiring part time staff between early March - end of July. The hourly pay is $14.72-18.04 (for supervisors). I really hope I get the job.  This will be a great way to add extra money to my line of credit. As all the money I get from a second job will be allocated to debt repayment.

With out any further ado:                       net pay:  $1,178.98

TD line of credit: 300.00
Cat fund: 50.00
Vacation fund: 450.00
Xmas fund: 40.00
Storage unit: 100.00
10% fund (general savings): 153.40
Spending money: 85.58

Transactions have been done I will endeavour to update my trackers. I no longer pay my visa bill on the first pay of the month because of what happened last time. So it will get paid next pay along with my cell bill.

HST/GST Cheque and Vacation Fund

Today I came home from work to find a letter in the mail. It came in a nondescript grey envelope with Revenue Canada as the return address. It turns out the Government is sending out Christmas bonuses as well this year as they sent me a cheque for $100. Getting 'free' money in the mail is always good however the dilemma is what does one do with it now... sigh

So yesterday I said I would put what was left over from my chequing account into my TD line of credit. Now though with this cheque (which is definitely going into my line of credit) maybe I should use the extra money for my vacation fund; which needs major work.

Oh I have great news I got the vacation I wanted so besides being able afford it and booking it I am all set to go to Cuba for my academic conference. I am so excited!!!

decisions decisions...

This is such a pain I had it all mapped out yesterday. I was feeling really happy about it all the bases (car fund, vacation fund, student debt) were all getting a little something, something. Now its all off balance.

Who ever thought that having something would be more complicated then having nothing.

Any advice?