TD Line of Credit and GST

Yesterday I got my GST cheque in the mail which is $62. 50. I planned to put it in to my TD line of credit, yesterday but didn't have time to go to the bank. So when I am next there it will do it. I got my updated statement in the mail. My line of credit is at $-32, 915.15 not including the $230.00 I put on it  Dec. 31 which will show up on next month's bill.  When I called TD the current balance was 32,685.15, this includes the $230 and will be on the number I will update my tracker to on the right.

When I called TD to get my updated line of credit amount for my net worth numbers I asked the guy what my monthly bills will look like once they add the principle.  Every time I have called them or walked into a branch no one will given me an answer to the question or even explain to me how they calculate the principle amount. Now this I find rather strange, after all TD is a bank and they are in the business of making money not giving it way for free. The lack of information TD has been willing to share about the process of paying them back has been minimal. Any ways I finally got it out of him, grudgingly. It was like pulling teeth.

So hears how it works: Lets assume that I stop paying anything into the principle now and only pay the interest. When Sept. 2011 roles around my line of credit will have an outstanding balance of -32,685.15. Now they factor min. payments of 1% of the balance. So this would mean $326.68, how he explained it to me was that this would also include my interest payments which are currently $126.12 a month.  If you calculate that 326.68-126.12= 200.56 will be the amount that goes directly into the principle amount each month.  The interest is calculated at a rate of 4.5% a month and this also assuming that the intrest stays the same for the next X number of years. If these factors all stay the same it will take me 1184.24 months or  98 years (1184.24/12 months a year) to pay it off.  98 YEARS!!!!

This sounds a bit crazy to me so he said no I think they make you pay 326.68 plus the interest each month. If this is the way they do it then it would be a payment of 326. 68+ 126.12 = 452.80. This is of course assuming that the interest of 4.5% stays the same from now until Sept. 2011. If this is the case then it will take me 100. 05 (32.685.15/ 326.86)  months to pay it off OR 8.33 years (100.05 months/ 12 months in a year). THUS 8.33 YEARS!!!!!

Now how much will I have paid in interest.... I have no idea. If some one is good with numbers and wants to solve that riddle, be my guest.... actually please do as I would love to know myself. Also I would love to know if my calculations are correct.

As I write this down I am getting a budget facial... Max comes highly recommended if anyone wants to give it a go! ;)

A Kick Start to Accomplishing 2011 Goals

Today I decided to kick off the process of the 2011 New Years resolutions. The first thing that I did was create a tracker for my Christmas 2011 fund. The second thing I did was create another tracker for my extra 15,000.  On the 30th I called TD to ask what my line of credit balance was. The lady was unable to tell me as the interest was not to be added up till 4pm on the 30th. So at 4:10 on the 30th I called up and the next personal I talked to also was not able to give me an accurate figure for the same reason. Finally today I called and got an up to date figure. My line of credit stands at $32, 915.15. This number however does not take into consideration the $230 (200 normal instalment + 30 from snowflaking) I put into it on the 31st. As such the exact figure should be 32, 685.15. I won't update the tracker though until I get a statement in the mail.

In other news it looks like the cold has jumped from on kitty to the next. Max started with it and now it looks like it has made its way to Salem

Ally, Credit card, New friends, Max, boy friend

Today I called Ally to check on the status of my cheque because every time I check my accounts the money is still sitting in the account. Having money in my account unnerves me, I feel as though it might trigger impulse buying. I am not by nature bad for impulse buying but it's never good to tempt the 'pulse.' The other annoying thing is that I can't snowflake what ever is left in my account. I have no idea what will be left over, if cashing cheques have service fees and such like that. I just don't want to end up with a NSF charge because I haven't left myself wiggle room.

Pay day is tomorrow and I have made up the budget. There are a few things with it that still need some tweaking which I will do while I'm sitting at my desk bored tomorrow.

I was reading GMBMFB and she had a blog list up of the "Top 10 Realest Personal Finance Bloggers" one of them is Paying Myself. I thought I would check out her blog. I browsed through it and found a post about Debt and her reasoning for focusing on savings and not her debt.  Point 3 is " I want to learn a lesson (or two or three). Basically she said that by having the debt on her credit card it discourages her from using up the little room she would have by putting more then her minimum payment on her credit card. When I read this I felt like OMG there is another person in the world who has the same thing as I do. I completely get where she is coming from. And she understands cat vet bills  :) So I have decided to add her to my blog role ...a new friend ... or a PF blogger creeper lol

For those that were wondering Max is doing much better. His sneezing has significantly reduced and I still have $53 in the Cat fund. He's feeling better and I have money in the bank still. I fell really good about it knowing that I will be able to afford what ever comes up with the cats in the future because of my Cat fund. I feel more in control and that's always a good feeling.

For anyone wondering where I have been for the last couple of days I was away on a romantic couple of days for my boyfriend. He treated me to a lovely trip to Niagara falls. He budgeted to spend $500 in spending cash and I am happy to report we didn't spend that much. I made a conscious effort to not let him. Of course had he known he would have been very pissed with me. He wouldn't let me pay for a single thing. Which was great for my budget because I had not planed for such an adventure. However I felt terrible about it because despite his effort to keep me in the dark I know exactly what the room cost on top of all the things he paid for while there.

Our conversation on the way home was about personal finances and money. This is a great thing because for a while I was fretting about the fact, I didn't feel we could have a conversation about money.
He told me that if him and I ever got our own place together that he would just hand it to me. To make sure it was put in all the right places as long as he was given money to do stuff with. I don't know how I feel about this. But I will tell you its a step in the right direction.  I want him to learn soon rather then later about the benefits of saving good chunks of his pay.

Tomorrow I will post my bi-weekly budget.

When Life Gets in the Way and Specific Funds Explanation

I have mentioned in a few of my last posts about "when life gets in the way" and that I would explain my reasons for splitting up my Savings into two different funds (general savings and Specific funds). I have also mentioned before about the importance of putting 10% your savings away or paying yourself first. You will also notice that I do not have an emergency fund.

The general savings fund is the place I put 10% of my income. Its strictly for savings or investing. That is I have not completely decided what to do with it. So until I make the decision, it will sit as my general savings fund, collecting 10% of my income every pay.

The first Specific fund is my car fund. Basically I spend up to 5h each day on buses and walking to and from work, were by car its 15-25 min. So I want a car so I can take the extra 4h I would save and put it towards time for a second job which is one of my goals for next year.

Now the Cat fund is a little bit more complex and has a story behind it. Two years ago this month a cat acquired me.

When I was going to university the lady who lived upstairs of me rescued animals. All animals she was not discriminating. But at the time she was focused on local stray cats. I worked while at university in the campus safety and student safety DPTM so I knew many of the first year Rez. kids. A couple first year friends of mine told me they had spotted a cat living in Chaplain North Quad which is one of the court yards that make up Chaplain College. My friends asked me if they were able to catch the cat would I be willing to foster it until they could find a home for it. I said of course and latter that week when they caught it they brought it to my place. I came back home for the Friday and Saturday to see a movie with a friend. While at home in Toronto I picked up a flee collar for the cat from a local pet store and when I got home I put it on him.

The next morning I woke up with large brown insects crawling across my chest. I had no idea what they were at the time and where they came from. But as I stripped my bed I found more crawling in and among my sheets. It didn't take long for me to isolate the source- the cat. It cost me $200 for the emergency vet on call visit, to fine out that the cat was covered in Ticks. By the time I had completely de-ticked him I had taken off over 500 ticks. I made the decision that day that if i was shelling out $200 then the cat was officially 'bought.' What followed was monthly vet visits for a variety of different things, to the point where I stated to joke about him being my thousand dollar kitty.

We surpassed the thousand dollar mark this last October when Salem (my cat) ate a piece of string and it got rapped around his tongue causing him to toss up anything he tried to eat or drink. He spent 2 nights in the vet hospital. The vet first quoted me at $1150 and it ended up coming to $750. I had $250 from the reimbursement of dental expenses I get back though my insurance and I slashed my budget to squeeze out another $250, my mom was nice enough to cover the rest. But I realized then that I needed to have a Cat Fund to make sure that if anything else like this again happened I was finically prepared. Especially now that I have another car Max and there are always yearly vet check ups.

So that's the story behind the Cat fund. I have it set for $2500 but basically I will just let it grow and grow until a situation arises where I need to dip into it. Every pay cheque I put in $50.