Let's see if I reached my goals I set for this month, shall we:
Assets - Up 2.8%
Goal set: +5% increase
Yeah, so the idea of making February a frugal month? Didn't really pan out. Our expenses were almost identical to those of the previous month, though it was distributed differently. I purchased a expensive board game, there was an impromptu trip to Moncton, and dining out, while less frequent than it has been in several months, still reared its ugly head. Still, there was an increase.
Goal for next month: A 4.2% increase should be doable since I will be on practicum and the ability to eat out will be much reduced. As well, much of my time will be spent making lesson plans, negating my ability to go out and spend money.
Debt - Down 4.5%
Goal set: 4% decrease
I accomplished this goal rather easily despite not spending much less than usual. Paying off the credit card every week is a good idea that helps in this area and the little chunk I'm paying on the student loan is doing its work as well.
Goal for next month: A 6% decrease is more than what I did this month, but should still be achievable provided less money is heading outwards.
Overall Net Worth - Up 4.5%
Overall we did ok and we are still experiencing steady growth.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
72 Goals in 1001 Days - 9 month update
Missed the 6 month update, but meh.
For various reasons (most of which were laziness) I haven't been working on these as much as I would like. I am going to try some visual reminders for some of them to keep me on the ball.
Here is an update to my list of goals that I originally posted here.
Here is an update to my list of goals that I originally posted here. Numbers that are missing are goals that were complete before this update
2. Obtain my Bachelor of Education Degree
3. Sort through my comic books and see which ones can get the boot Started June 17, 2007
Currently I have 8 short boxes and 2 long boxes of single comics. On this date I went through all of them and immediately cut 4 short boxes worth of issues to get rid of.
4. Read the complete works of William Shakespeare
6. Make my own windex
7. Have $18,000 in savings IN PROGRESS
We are actually not too far away from this, so I think this should be reasonable.
8. Measure my body fat percentage in some scientific fashion
I plan to purchase one of the scales that measures body fat as well as weight after researching whether or not they actually work. And suggested by Sam, the official way is to be submerged in water and there is some displacement measure or something. I don't know the details yet though.
9. Become lighter by on average 0.5 pounds a week
10. Get Married
11. Open an RRSP
Deciding whether to get one now for compound reasons or hold off until I need the tax break and contribute several "back-years" worth all at once. Apparently if I start one now and expect my income to increase significantly in the future (I do), then I will be taxed a higher rate than I was paying when I put it in, negating the benefit. However, this will have to be evaluated against both the growth of the RRSP and inflation.
12. Invest in a mutual fund IN PROGRESS
The first step here is to become educated on the subject and I've chosen The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing and you can read a review here. This is on my wishlist for both Amazon and Chapters.
13. Buy stock in a single company
14. Liquidate unwatched DVDs IN PROGRESS
This process has been made much easier due to the move to our new apartment in June. A move is a very nice excuse to go through old junk and get rid of it.
15. Purchase a Paderno pot set COMPLETED
I'm calling this one completed as we received 4 decent Paderno pots for Christmas, negating the need to purchase a set of our own. We may pick up a few other pieces this summer, depending on how far along my culinary skills are.
16. Beat Halo 2
17. Beat Jet Set Radio Future
18. Get rid of my old computer COMPLETED
A friend in the education program had a ridiculously old computer so I formatted my old hard drives, installed windows XP and put some programs on that I thought she could use. My reward? A delicious meal at the Gahan House.
19. Liquidate old books SEE #14
20. Make 5 homemade gifts for people for various events (birthdays, Christmas, etc...) (1/5)
1. Book of Coupons for Mother's Day
21. Go on 10 relaxing drives around the island with Pam (0/10)
23. Walk the equivalent of Summerside to Toronto not including every day walking (104.3/1700 km)
I've decided to include biking in here as well because I enjoy that MUCH more. I purchased an odometer for my bike and it seems to be pretty accurate, so I will be using that to chart my progress. FYI my average bike ride is about 12-15 km.
24. Watch Season 1 of The Shield
25. Read the Complete Cerebus series (4/16 TPBs)
26. Talk to Sam about his history with money
27. Plant and grow my own tomatoes
29. Vacation in Vancouver
30. Play 5 games of Ultimate Frisbee (0/5)
31. Cook 12 romantic dinners for my fiance and I (2/12)
32. Become an Ebay seller
33. Open an online trader account
34. Get flowers for my fiance "just because" 5 times (2/5)
35. Paint another 2 paintings in the Bob Ross style (0/2)
36. Do 100 push-ups without taking a break (personal best: 21/100)
37. Spend 30 complete days with my fiance (4/10)
I've increased this from 10, because 10 is really low. 30 is low too, but I'm not going to push it ;)
38. Help my fiance's parents clean out a room in their house
40. Offer to babysit 3 times for my friends so they can go out (0/3)
44. Plant a tree
45. Attend a farmer's market and if I like what I see 30 more times (5/30) IN PROGRESS
46. Determine my personal CO2 emissions (estimate)
47. Reduce those emissions by 20%
48. Convince 5 people to switch to PC Financial for their banking (1/5)
1. Matt Angus, a student that works at Resolve
52. Read 52 in one sitting to see if it makes much sense
53. Make 10 jars of homemade pasta sauce and salsa and give it as gifts (0/10)
54. Finish the few pieces of the puzzle for the paper based on my masters project IN PROGRESS
My supervisor contacted me again in January to get back on things. Simulations are currently running with some modifications to our old technique. Unfortunately, many of our results will change and some rewrites to the manuscript will have to be done.
55. Do 150 sit-ups without taking a break (personal best 20/150)
56. Wash and wax our car 4 times (1/4)
57. Clean and vacuum the car interior 4 times (0/4)
58. Check the car's air filter and replace/clean if needed 4 times (every 6 months) (1/4)
59. Calculate our net worth COMPLETED
See this post about how I calculate the numbers.
61. Have the only animal I eat be fish/seafood for 4 consecutive months
62. Have my only beverage as water for 8 consecutive months
63. Try being a vegetarian for 5 consecutive months (no animal flesh - eggs/milk/cheese OK)
64. Organize our filing container IN PROGRESS
65. Pay off completely the debt I expect to incur over the next 2 years from my Bachelor of Education degree
66. Sit down and work the numbers to see if my Mosaik Mastercard is worth paying $100/year for it.
This goes hand in hand with #41 except by downgrading the card and not paying this year's fees, it gives me some time to actually do this.
67. Help Mark finish his basement
68. Obtain my class 4 license so that when I get a teaching job, I am qualified to drive a bunch of kids on field trips etc...
69. Catalog our possessions for insurance purposes
71. Learn how to swim
72. Give Blood 10 times (1/10)
1. August 29, 2007
Total goals complete (16/72)
For various reasons (most of which were laziness) I haven't been working on these as much as I would like. I am going to try some visual reminders for some of them to keep me on the ball.
Here is an update to my list of goals that I originally posted here.
Here is an update to my list of goals that I originally posted here. Numbers that are missing are goals that were complete before this update
2. Obtain my Bachelor of Education Degree
3. Sort through my comic books and see which ones can get the boot Started June 17, 2007
Currently I have 8 short boxes and 2 long boxes of single comics. On this date I went through all of them and immediately cut 4 short boxes worth of issues to get rid of.
4. Read the complete works of William Shakespeare
6. Make my own windex
7. Have $18,000 in savings IN PROGRESS
We are actually not too far away from this, so I think this should be reasonable.
8. Measure my body fat percentage in some scientific fashion
I plan to purchase one of the scales that measures body fat as well as weight after researching whether or not they actually work. And suggested by Sam, the official way is to be submerged in water and there is some displacement measure or something. I don't know the details yet though.
9. Become lighter by on average 0.5 pounds a week
10. Get Married
11. Open an RRSP
Deciding whether to get one now for compound reasons or hold off until I need the tax break and contribute several "back-years" worth all at once. Apparently if I start one now and expect my income to increase significantly in the future (I do), then I will be taxed a higher rate than I was paying when I put it in, negating the benefit. However, this will have to be evaluated against both the growth of the RRSP and inflation.
12. Invest in a mutual fund IN PROGRESS
The first step here is to become educated on the subject and I've chosen The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing and you can read a review here. This is on my wishlist for both Amazon and Chapters.
13. Buy stock in a single company
14. Liquidate unwatched DVDs IN PROGRESS
This process has been made much easier due to the move to our new apartment in June. A move is a very nice excuse to go through old junk and get rid of it.
15. Purchase a Paderno pot set COMPLETED
I'm calling this one completed as we received 4 decent Paderno pots for Christmas, negating the need to purchase a set of our own. We may pick up a few other pieces this summer, depending on how far along my culinary skills are.
16. Beat Halo 2
17. Beat Jet Set Radio Future
18. Get rid of my old computer COMPLETED
A friend in the education program had a ridiculously old computer so I formatted my old hard drives, installed windows XP and put some programs on that I thought she could use. My reward? A delicious meal at the Gahan House.
19. Liquidate old books SEE #14
20. Make 5 homemade gifts for people for various events (birthdays, Christmas, etc...) (1/5)
1. Book of Coupons for Mother's Day
21. Go on 10 relaxing drives around the island with Pam (0/10)
23. Walk the equivalent of Summerside to Toronto not including every day walking (104.3/1700 km)
I've decided to include biking in here as well because I enjoy that MUCH more. I purchased an odometer for my bike and it seems to be pretty accurate, so I will be using that to chart my progress. FYI my average bike ride is about 12-15 km.
24. Watch Season 1 of The Shield
25. Read the Complete Cerebus series (4/16 TPBs)
26. Talk to Sam about his history with money
27. Plant and grow my own tomatoes
29. Vacation in Vancouver
30. Play 5 games of Ultimate Frisbee (0/5)
31. Cook 12 romantic dinners for my fiance and I (2/12)
32. Become an Ebay seller
33. Open an online trader account
34. Get flowers for my fiance "just because" 5 times (2/5)
35. Paint another 2 paintings in the Bob Ross style (0/2)
36. Do 100 push-ups without taking a break (personal best: 21/100)
37. Spend 30 complete days with my fiance (4/10)
I've increased this from 10, because 10 is really low. 30 is low too, but I'm not going to push it ;)
38. Help my fiance's parents clean out a room in their house
40. Offer to babysit 3 times for my friends so they can go out (0/3)
44. Plant a tree
45. Attend a farmer's market and if I like what I see 30 more times (5/30) IN PROGRESS
46. Determine my personal CO2 emissions (estimate)
47. Reduce those emissions by 20%
48. Convince 5 people to switch to PC Financial for their banking (1/5)
1. Matt Angus, a student that works at Resolve
52. Read 52 in one sitting to see if it makes much sense
53. Make 10 jars of homemade pasta sauce and salsa and give it as gifts (0/10)
54. Finish the few pieces of the puzzle for the paper based on my masters project IN PROGRESS
My supervisor contacted me again in January to get back on things. Simulations are currently running with some modifications to our old technique. Unfortunately, many of our results will change and some rewrites to the manuscript will have to be done.
55. Do 150 sit-ups without taking a break (personal best 20/150)
56. Wash and wax our car 4 times (1/4)
57. Clean and vacuum the car interior 4 times (0/4)
58. Check the car's air filter and replace/clean if needed 4 times (every 6 months) (1/4)
59. Calculate our net worth COMPLETED
See this post about how I calculate the numbers.
61. Have the only animal I eat be fish/seafood for 4 consecutive months
62. Have my only beverage as water for 8 consecutive months
63. Try being a vegetarian for 5 consecutive months (no animal flesh - eggs/milk/cheese OK)
64. Organize our filing container IN PROGRESS
65. Pay off completely the debt I expect to incur over the next 2 years from my Bachelor of Education degree
66. Sit down and work the numbers to see if my Mosaik Mastercard is worth paying $100/year for it.
This goes hand in hand with #41 except by downgrading the card and not paying this year's fees, it gives me some time to actually do this.
67. Help Mark finish his basement
68. Obtain my class 4 license so that when I get a teaching job, I am qualified to drive a bunch of kids on field trips etc...
69. Catalog our possessions for insurance purposes
71. Learn how to swim
72. Give Blood 10 times (1/10)
1. August 29, 2007
Total goals complete (16/72)
Friday, February 1, 2008
Net Worth Update January 2008
Ala The Simple Dollar, I have started tracking our networth and began several months ago. I hope to post monthly updates as percentage increase/decrease as actual numbers are somewhat relative.
I calculate the numbers in a relatively (I think) straightforward manner. On the first of every month before out rent comes out of our account, I add up the values in our bank accounts and add the value of our car into the mix. To find the value, I researched the Blue Book listing for it. This is the only real uncertainty in my numbers, which is only mildly disconcerting. I plan to relook at the value of the vehicle every 4 months to see how much it has depreciated. However, since it is a 1999, I believe the rate of depreciation will be low.
I then add up all of our debts and subtract this number from the assets. The monthly progress is done through the formula (current month - last month)/last month. The simple spreadsheet that forms the basis for what I do can be found here.
Assets - Up 9.6%
I attribute asset growth this month to several factors:
1. Being somewhat frugal by not buying ridiculous amounts of boardgames even though I really wanted to.
2. The Island Student award granted to Prince Edward Island students at UPEI.
3. Refund from dental costs.
Goal for next month: I plan to make February a mostly frugal month so I would like to see an asset increase of 5%
Debts - Up 129%
Wow, what an incredibly large number! The main reason for this was of course second semester tuition payments which are funded through a student loan. Credit card balances on the first of every month are included here as well. These tend not to be high month-to-month as we pay it off weekly.
Goal for next month: I am unsure. The debt is accumulating, but I am wondering if paying small amounts on the student loans now is worth it or not. This will be the topic of a future post. Let's say 4% though.
Net worth - Down 4.7%
Despite the large debt increase, our overall networth did not change as much as I thought it would, which is great. This will hopefully be a positive number next month.
I should note as well that since we have a "low" net worth any increase/decrease will generate larger swings in the overall percentages than someone who is well established on the financial track. For example, if my networth is $1000 and I increase it by $100, that's a 10% upswing. Someone that has a net worth of $100,000 would have to increase their NW by $10,000 to generate the same 10%. Not an easy thing to on a monthly basis. Though I could be wrong!
I calculate the numbers in a relatively (I think) straightforward manner. On the first of every month before out rent comes out of our account, I add up the values in our bank accounts and add the value of our car into the mix. To find the value, I researched the Blue Book listing for it. This is the only real uncertainty in my numbers, which is only mildly disconcerting. I plan to relook at the value of the vehicle every 4 months to see how much it has depreciated. However, since it is a 1999, I believe the rate of depreciation will be low.
I then add up all of our debts and subtract this number from the assets. The monthly progress is done through the formula (current month - last month)/last month. The simple spreadsheet that forms the basis for what I do can be found here.
Assets - Up 9.6%
I attribute asset growth this month to several factors:
1. Being somewhat frugal by not buying ridiculous amounts of boardgames even though I really wanted to.
2. The Island Student award granted to Prince Edward Island students at UPEI.
3. Refund from dental costs.
Goal for next month: I plan to make February a mostly frugal month so I would like to see an asset increase of 5%
Debts - Up 129%
Wow, what an incredibly large number! The main reason for this was of course second semester tuition payments which are funded through a student loan. Credit card balances on the first of every month are included here as well. These tend not to be high month-to-month as we pay it off weekly.
Goal for next month: I am unsure. The debt is accumulating, but I am wondering if paying small amounts on the student loans now is worth it or not. This will be the topic of a future post. Let's say 4% though.
Net worth - Down 4.7%
Despite the large debt increase, our overall networth did not change as much as I thought it would, which is great. This will hopefully be a positive number next month.
I should note as well that since we have a "low" net worth any increase/decrease will generate larger swings in the overall percentages than someone who is well established on the financial track. For example, if my networth is $1000 and I increase it by $100, that's a 10% upswing. Someone that has a net worth of $100,000 would have to increase their NW by $10,000 to generate the same 10%. Not an easy thing to on a monthly basis. Though I could be wrong!
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Status: Not Dead
So I'm back after a lengthy hiatus. School started up in September and that occupied much of my time. As such, I lost site of many of my goals and the state of our finances. Upon reflection, I think that it was in keeping up with various blogs and posting here that really kept my eye on the prize in terms of making good financial choices. How did things derail you might ask? There were three main things of note:
1. Dining out. November, and December were terrible months for this. Mucho $$$ was spent on a Jr. bacon here, a quarter chicken dinner there which ended up totalling over $300 for the combined months. This money was spent needlessly as I need to be cooking more food at home. It should be interesting to look at things in a few days to see how January fared.
2. Christmas. Despite the fact that we had continuously saved each week for several months for presents, when it came time to buy stuff, we didn't pay attention to cost. The two have to go hand in hand. I honestly have no idea how much was spent on presents. My fiance has some idea as I found a sheet of the gifts she bought with their costs written down. This is a fabulous idea: jot things and the cost as you get them. I just wish she had of told me about it before I went out and bought stuff.
3. My lack of making a fundamental choice. I just don't think I'm quite there yet in making the root/default position in my life frugality. In fact I know I'm not and the reasons for this are still being worked out in my head.
Stay tuned...
1. Dining out. November, and December were terrible months for this. Mucho $$$ was spent on a Jr. bacon here, a quarter chicken dinner there which ended up totalling over $300 for the combined months. This money was spent needlessly as I need to be cooking more food at home. It should be interesting to look at things in a few days to see how January fared.
2. Christmas. Despite the fact that we had continuously saved each week for several months for presents, when it came time to buy stuff, we didn't pay attention to cost. The two have to go hand in hand. I honestly have no idea how much was spent on presents. My fiance has some idea as I found a sheet of the gifts she bought with their costs written down. This is a fabulous idea: jot things and the cost as you get them. I just wish she had of told me about it before I went out and bought stuff.
3. My lack of making a fundamental choice. I just don't think I'm quite there yet in making the root/default position in my life frugality. In fact I know I'm not and the reasons for this are still being worked out in my head.
Stay tuned...
Thursday, September 13, 2007
The Plan
Recently I began my Bachelor of Education degree at the University of Prince Edward Island. In order to do so, I willingly accepted a debt burden in the form of student loans. However, unlike most people who use that money for both living expenses and tuition, I am hoping to cover basic needs with several jobs. Thus student loan dollars should only be going into tuition.
With that being said, I am hoping that my final assesment of the loan will give me enough to cover two-years of tuition so I don't have to reapply next year.
To keep track of the amount I owe, I plan to put the full amount of what I get into a seperate high interest savings account through PC Financial. Not only will it be easy to see how much is there, but I will be able to gain some interest before repayment time hits.
Finally, as part of a repayment strategy, I plan to start putting money into that savings account while I am still in school. I beleive with this plan I will be in good shape to pay off most of the balance relatively soon after obtaining my degree.
With that being said, I am hoping that my final assesment of the loan will give me enough to cover two-years of tuition so I don't have to reapply next year.
To keep track of the amount I owe, I plan to put the full amount of what I get into a seperate high interest savings account through PC Financial. Not only will it be easy to see how much is there, but I will be able to gain some interest before repayment time hits.
Finally, as part of a repayment strategy, I plan to start putting money into that savings account while I am still in school. I beleive with this plan I will be in good shape to pay off most of the balance relatively soon after obtaining my degree.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
66 Goals in 1001 Days - 3 Month Update
Here is an update to my list of goals that I originally posted here. Numbers that are missing are goals that were complete before the last update
1. Read the complete archive of The Simple Dollar Website DONE August 14, 2007
I work in a low/medium volume call centre, so downtime between calls gave a perfect opportunity to go through the archives. As I went, I jotted down articles that I found interesting and would read again at a future date. Some may form the basis for my own posts.
2. Obtain my Bachelor of Education Degree
3. Sort through my comic books and see which ones can get the boot Started June 17, 2007
Currently I have 8 short boxes and 2 long boxes of single comics. On this date I went through all of them and immediately cut 4 short boxes worth of issues to get rid of.
4. Read the complete works of William Shakespeare
6. Make my own windex
7. Have $18,000 in savings IN PROGRESS
Viewing this goal may be unrealistic with school costs...I will think about it and re-evaluate.
8. Measure my body fat percentage in some scientific fashion
I plan to purchase one of the scales that measures body fat as well as weight after researching whether or not they actually work.
9. Become lighter by on average 0.5 pounds a week
10. Get Married
11. Open an RRSP
Deciding whether to get one now for compound reasons or hold off until I need the tax break and contribute several "back-years" worth all at once. Apparently if I start one now and expect my income to increase significantly in the future (I do), then I will be taxed a higher rate than I was paying when I put it in, negating the benefit. However, this will have to be evaluated against both the growth of the RRSP and inflation.
12. Invest in a mutual fund IN PROGRESS
The first step here is to become educated on the subject and I've chosen The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing and you can read a review here.
13. Buy stock in a single company
14. Liquidate unwatched DVDs IN PROGRESS
This process has been made much easier due to the move to our new apartment in June. A move is a very nice excuse to go through old junk and get rid of it.
15. Purchase a Paderno pot set IN PROGRESS
We had set up a "Big Item Account" in May for this very purpose. Essentially we put $25 per week into the account until we have enough for the set free and clear (ie. no consumer debt). However, some car maintenance and an impromptu trip to Halifax has made it so we can not achieve this until next summer when the next Blowout sale is.
16. Beat Halo 2
17. Beat Jet Set Radio Future
18. Get rid of my old computer
19. Liquidate old books SEE #14
20. Make 5 homemade gifts for people for various events (birthdays, Christmas, etc...) (1/5)
1. Book of Coupons for Mother's Day
21. Go on 10 relaxing drives around the island with Pam (0/10)
22. Get in touch with Jon Ben DONE August 2, 2007
- he was online in MSN and we got caught up. This may or may not have been provoked by my entry into the Facebook world. He also promted me to think about veganism which is a very interesting topic.
23. Walk the equivalent of Summerside to Toronto not including every day walking (104.3/1700 km)
I've decided to include biking in here as well because I enjoy that MUCH more. I purchased an odometer for my bike and it seems to be pretty accurate, so I will be using that to chart my progress. FYI my average bike ride is about 12-15 km.
24. Watch Season 1 of The Shield
25. Read the Complete Cerebus series (4/16 TPBs)
26. Talk to Sam about his history with money
27. Plant and grow my own tomatoes
28. Visit Neil in Halifax DONE August 4, 2007
We went over on a somewhat impromptu trip. My fiance was wrapping up her vacation and we hadn't really done much together as I was working most of it. She mentioned going and we made a weekend of it, visiting Neil on the Saturday and driving around, seeing the sights on Sunday. It was good we got to do this as Neil is heading to Manitoba soon and there may not have been many other opportunities. Plus we did several things that saved us money on the trip which may be the subject of a future post.
29. Vacation in Vancouver
30. Play 5 games of Ultimate Frisbee (0/5)
31. Cook 12 romantic dinners for my fiance and I (0/12)
32. Become an Ebay seller
33. Open an online trader account
34. Get flowers for my fiance "just because" 5 times (2/5)
35. Paint another 2 paintings in the Bob Ross style (0/2)
36. Do 100 push-ups without taking a break (personal best: 21/100)
37. Spend 10 complete days with my fiance (2/10)
38. Help my fiance's parents clean out a room in their house
39. Write an e-mail to the Guardian about why I won't be voting in the upcoming provincial election DONE May 24, 2007
Here is a transcript of the Letter to the Editor that I sent in:
Yesterday I decided that I would spoil my ballot in the upcoming election. Not because I didn’t want to vote for a candidate, but because I found out that district 23 only offered two options. Guess which ones? I was very frustrated that I could not support the Green Party with my vote. I feel that this is the fault of our current electoral system.
But wait, the Green Party could have run a candidate in district 23 so it must be their fault right? To that, one has to remember that the Green Party has somewhat non-traditional views on major topics. Thus I imagine that they have met with much resistance when trying to change the minds of stubborn islanders when finding possible candidates. In fact, I applaud the party for managing to have candidates in 2/3 of the districts.
So why am I so upset? I think that every islander should have the opportunity to choose between each and every party that will have a say in the governing of our province. I realize that Islanders had the opportunity to change the electoral system to mixed-member proportional representation and that it was strongly voted down. From what I can tell (I was in BC at the time), this was from the lack of quality information about what Islanders were actually voting on. A change so drastic should have warranted a media bombardment of information so that Islanders could go to the polls knowing full well that such a system was in the best interest of the Island. But we do not have such a system. We have to work with the district method. I do not particularly care if a Green Party candidate lives in my district, so long as I could help get someone elected from the one party that most reflects my opinions and values.
And that’s what voting should be: an extension of ones own values and goals. Often I’ve heard people say that they would not vote NDP or Green because those parties would not win anyways, so why bother. These people want to be on the “winning team” and fail to realize how valuable their votes actually are.
With that in mind, if you belong to districts 3, 14, 23, 25, or 27, where you will only have the choice between Liberal or PC, really consider whether those parties have platforms that are reflections of your own beliefs. If they are, then by all means mark a neat little “X” on your ballot. But if you find these parties to be lacking in an area that you feel is important, please do not let them steal your vote. That is exactly what they are doing if you do not agree with their politics but vote for them anyways.
40. Offer to babysit 3 times for my friends so they can go out (0/3)
41. Call Mastercard to see if I can get lower or no annual fees without changing cards DONE August 8, 2007 (sort of)
I didn't bother with this and instead told them to downgrade my service to the 1 air mile per $40 option that has no annual fees. I also removed the preferred interest rate option of 12.5% as it cost $25. There is no point when paying off the card each month. Unfortunately this means that I've lost the ability to fly anywhere Westjet flies for 1600 air miles. Since we wouldn't be going on the trip we have in mind for 2 years, that's fine as I can upgrade the card again later, skipping out on 2 years of fees.
42. Write a letter/e-mail to the guardian explaining my thoughts on the Nitrate groundwater issue and why debating about it in the upcoming election instead of just fixing it is stupid DONE May 25, 2007
Here is a transcript of the Letter to the Editor that I sent in:
43. Write an e-mail explaining to Diamond Publishing why Comic Foundry should be included in their catalog
Rendered MOOT because of online community's much faster response which actually convinced Diamond to offer it in the catalog.
44. Plant a tree
45. Attend a farmer's market and if I like what I see 30 more times (2/30) IN PROGRESS
First visit on June 9, 2007. Was not impressed but it was early in the growing season.
I returned several weeks later and it was a much more positive experience. I purchased the best green onions that I have ever had, tomatoes, snow peas, and fresh homemade pasta. I'll definitely be there again.
46. Determine my personal CO2 emissions (estimate)
47. Reduce those emissions by 20%
48. Convince 5 people to switch to PC Financial for their banking (1/5)
1. Matt Angus, a student that works at Resolve
49. Go through unwanted clothing and donate it to the salvation army DONE August 17, 2007
On my birthday, I did a whirlwind clean of the apartment and realized that the box of clothes I had set aside when we first moved in exactly for this purpose, was still, well, set aside and unchanged. Thus I took to box of clothing and donated it to Value Village as the Salvation Army in Charlottetown does not take clothing to my knowledge.
50. Reinforce my computer desk with a 2x4 to get the bow out of it DONE May 22, 2007
I went to my friend Mark's place because I knew he had some wood leftover from when we built a gaming table. He let me have about a 3 foot length and we attached it to the desk and it did the trick. As a bonus we put together a bench and did a rough layout for his basement renovation.
51. Reinforce my makeshift TV stand so it doesn't get a bow in it DONE May 30, 2007
Same as #50: used spare lumber from Mark and attached it with carpenter's glue and screws.
52. Read 52 in one sitting to see if it makes much sense
53. Make 10 jars of homemade pasta sauce and give it as gifts (0/10)
I may modify this and include homemade salsa in the 10 jars.
54. Finish the few pieces of the puzzle for the paper based on my masters project
55. Do 150 sit-ups without taking a break (personal best 20/150)
56. Wash and wax our car 4 times (1/4)
57. Clean and vacuum the car interior 4 times (0/4)
58. Check the car's air filter and replace/clean if needed 4 times (every 6 months) (1/4)
59. Calculate our net worth
60. Attempt to make my own laundry detergent as per the Simple Dollar DONE June 13, 2007
Made 1/4 batch to see how it worked and it was very successful albeit very gross as the detergent is a very slimy goop. I did this twice and realized that it wasn't very time efficient to make 1/4 batches, so I purchased a 10.5 L bucket and made a 3/4 batch which should last a good while.
61. Have the only animal I eat be fish/seafood for 4 consecutive months
62. Have my only beverage as water for 8 consecutive months
63. Try being a vegetarian for 5 consecutive months (no animal flesh - eggs/milk/cheese OK)
64. Organize our filing container IN PROGRESS
65. Pay off completely the debt I expect to incur over the next 2 years from my Bachelor of Education degree
66. Sit down and work the numbers to see if my Mosaik Mastercard is worth paying $100/year for it
This goes hand in hand with #41 except by downgrading the card and not paying this year's fees, it gives me some time to actually do this.
New Goals
67. Help Mark finish his basement
68. Obtain my class 4 license so that when I get a teaching job, I am qualified to drive a bunch of kids on field trips etc...
69. Catalog our possessions for insurance purposes
70. Search for the best rate on tenants insurance and purchase a policy DONE August 14, 2007
I didn't do much research into different companies but rather signed up for tenants insurance with our auto insurance provider. Doing so saw a 3% reduction in our auto insurance costs which means the net monthly cost for the new insurance is about $2.50. Not too shabby.
71. Learn how to swim
Total goals complete (12/71)
1. Read the complete archive of The Simple Dollar Website DONE August 14, 2007
I work in a low/medium volume call centre, so downtime between calls gave a perfect opportunity to go through the archives. As I went, I jotted down articles that I found interesting and would read again at a future date. Some may form the basis for my own posts.
2. Obtain my Bachelor of Education Degree
3. Sort through my comic books and see which ones can get the boot Started June 17, 2007
Currently I have 8 short boxes and 2 long boxes of single comics. On this date I went through all of them and immediately cut 4 short boxes worth of issues to get rid of.
4. Read the complete works of William Shakespeare
6. Make my own windex
7. Have $18,000 in savings IN PROGRESS
Viewing this goal may be unrealistic with school costs...I will think about it and re-evaluate.
8. Measure my body fat percentage in some scientific fashion
I plan to purchase one of the scales that measures body fat as well as weight after researching whether or not they actually work.
9. Become lighter by on average 0.5 pounds a week
10. Get Married
11. Open an RRSP
Deciding whether to get one now for compound reasons or hold off until I need the tax break and contribute several "back-years" worth all at once. Apparently if I start one now and expect my income to increase significantly in the future (I do), then I will be taxed a higher rate than I was paying when I put it in, negating the benefit. However, this will have to be evaluated against both the growth of the RRSP and inflation.
12. Invest in a mutual fund IN PROGRESS
The first step here is to become educated on the subject and I've chosen The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing and you can read a review here.
13. Buy stock in a single company
14. Liquidate unwatched DVDs IN PROGRESS
This process has been made much easier due to the move to our new apartment in June. A move is a very nice excuse to go through old junk and get rid of it.
15. Purchase a Paderno pot set IN PROGRESS
We had set up a "Big Item Account" in May for this very purpose. Essentially we put $25 per week into the account until we have enough for the set free and clear (ie. no consumer debt). However, some car maintenance and an impromptu trip to Halifax has made it so we can not achieve this until next summer when the next Blowout sale is.
16. Beat Halo 2
17. Beat Jet Set Radio Future
18. Get rid of my old computer
19. Liquidate old books SEE #14
20. Make 5 homemade gifts for people for various events (birthdays, Christmas, etc...) (1/5)
1. Book of Coupons for Mother's Day
21. Go on 10 relaxing drives around the island with Pam (0/10)
22. Get in touch with Jon Ben DONE August 2, 2007
- he was online in MSN and we got caught up. This may or may not have been provoked by my entry into the Facebook world. He also promted me to think about veganism which is a very interesting topic.
23. Walk the equivalent of Summerside to Toronto not including every day walking (104.3/1700 km)
I've decided to include biking in here as well because I enjoy that MUCH more. I purchased an odometer for my bike and it seems to be pretty accurate, so I will be using that to chart my progress. FYI my average bike ride is about 12-15 km.
24. Watch Season 1 of The Shield
25. Read the Complete Cerebus series (4/16 TPBs)
26. Talk to Sam about his history with money
27. Plant and grow my own tomatoes
28. Visit Neil in Halifax DONE August 4, 2007
We went over on a somewhat impromptu trip. My fiance was wrapping up her vacation and we hadn't really done much together as I was working most of it. She mentioned going and we made a weekend of it, visiting Neil on the Saturday and driving around, seeing the sights on Sunday. It was good we got to do this as Neil is heading to Manitoba soon and there may not have been many other opportunities. Plus we did several things that saved us money on the trip which may be the subject of a future post.
29. Vacation in Vancouver
30. Play 5 games of Ultimate Frisbee (0/5)
31. Cook 12 romantic dinners for my fiance and I (0/12)
32. Become an Ebay seller
33. Open an online trader account
34. Get flowers for my fiance "just because" 5 times (2/5)
35. Paint another 2 paintings in the Bob Ross style (0/2)
36. Do 100 push-ups without taking a break (personal best: 21/100)
37. Spend 10 complete days with my fiance (2/10)
38. Help my fiance's parents clean out a room in their house
39. Write an e-mail to the Guardian about why I won't be voting in the upcoming provincial election DONE May 24, 2007
Here is a transcript of the Letter to the Editor that I sent in:
Yesterday I decided that I would spoil my ballot in the upcoming election. Not because I didn’t want to vote for a candidate, but because I found out that district 23 only offered two options. Guess which ones? I was very frustrated that I could not support the Green Party with my vote. I feel that this is the fault of our current electoral system.
But wait, the Green Party could have run a candidate in district 23 so it must be their fault right? To that, one has to remember that the Green Party has somewhat non-traditional views on major topics. Thus I imagine that they have met with much resistance when trying to change the minds of stubborn islanders when finding possible candidates. In fact, I applaud the party for managing to have candidates in 2/3 of the districts.
So why am I so upset? I think that every islander should have the opportunity to choose between each and every party that will have a say in the governing of our province. I realize that Islanders had the opportunity to change the electoral system to mixed-member proportional representation and that it was strongly voted down. From what I can tell (I was in BC at the time), this was from the lack of quality information about what Islanders were actually voting on. A change so drastic should have warranted a media bombardment of information so that Islanders could go to the polls knowing full well that such a system was in the best interest of the Island. But we do not have such a system. We have to work with the district method. I do not particularly care if a Green Party candidate lives in my district, so long as I could help get someone elected from the one party that most reflects my opinions and values.
And that’s what voting should be: an extension of ones own values and goals. Often I’ve heard people say that they would not vote NDP or Green because those parties would not win anyways, so why bother. These people want to be on the “winning team” and fail to realize how valuable their votes actually are.
With that in mind, if you belong to districts 3, 14, 23, 25, or 27, where you will only have the choice between Liberal or PC, really consider whether those parties have platforms that are reflections of your own beliefs. If they are, then by all means mark a neat little “X” on your ballot. But if you find these parties to be lacking in an area that you feel is important, please do not let them steal your vote. That is exactly what they are doing if you do not agree with their politics but vote for them anyways.
40. Offer to babysit 3 times for my friends so they can go out (0/3)
41. Call Mastercard to see if I can get lower or no annual fees without changing cards DONE August 8, 2007 (sort of)
I didn't bother with this and instead told them to downgrade my service to the 1 air mile per $40 option that has no annual fees. I also removed the preferred interest rate option of 12.5% as it cost $25. There is no point when paying off the card each month. Unfortunately this means that I've lost the ability to fly anywhere Westjet flies for 1600 air miles. Since we wouldn't be going on the trip we have in mind for 2 years, that's fine as I can upgrade the card again later, skipping out on 2 years of fees.
42. Write a letter/e-mail to the guardian explaining my thoughts on the Nitrate groundwater issue and why debating about it in the upcoming election instead of just fixing it is stupid DONE May 25, 2007
Here is a transcript of the Letter to the Editor that I sent in:
The Nitrate problem in our province's water supply is nothing new. Not only have we known about the dangers of chemical contamination for years on the island, but this problem extends to anywhere in North America where there is a highly developed agricultural sector.
So why are the Liberals and Conservatives acting like this is a new problem? Why are do these parties insist on studies and committees? Just. Fix. It. You do not even need to come up with a new idea to do so. A simple Google search of "nitrate removal groundwater and side effects" yields a result about a company in the US (Basin Water Inc) that specializes in the removal of water contaminants. Nitrates have been removed from several communities in the states so why can't this ion-exchange system work here? It's relatively cheap, efficient, and low maintenance. I believe that this filtration system would bring down nitrate levels. Coupling this with legislation to curb the addition of new nitrates into our water supply would revert our island back to the pristine condition it was always meant to be. So I have a message to all parties that fail to follow through with concrete solutions: stop trying to re-invent the wheel.
As a bonus, the above letter, slightly edited, appeared in the May 29, 2007 edition of The Guardian.
Rendered MOOT because of online community's much faster response which actually convinced Diamond to offer it in the catalog.
44. Plant a tree
45. Attend a farmer's market and if I like what I see 30 more times (2/30) IN PROGRESS
First visit on June 9, 2007. Was not impressed but it was early in the growing season.
I returned several weeks later and it was a much more positive experience. I purchased the best green onions that I have ever had, tomatoes, snow peas, and fresh homemade pasta. I'll definitely be there again.
46. Determine my personal CO2 emissions (estimate)
47. Reduce those emissions by 20%
48. Convince 5 people to switch to PC Financial for their banking (1/5)
1. Matt Angus, a student that works at Resolve
49. Go through unwanted clothing and donate it to the salvation army DONE August 17, 2007
On my birthday, I did a whirlwind clean of the apartment and realized that the box of clothes I had set aside when we first moved in exactly for this purpose, was still, well, set aside and unchanged. Thus I took to box of clothing and donated it to Value Village as the Salvation Army in Charlottetown does not take clothing to my knowledge.
50. Reinforce my computer desk with a 2x4 to get the bow out of it DONE May 22, 2007
I went to my friend Mark's place because I knew he had some wood leftover from when we built a gaming table. He let me have about a 3 foot length and we attached it to the desk and it did the trick. As a bonus we put together a bench and did a rough layout for his basement renovation.
51. Reinforce my makeshift TV stand so it doesn't get a bow in it DONE May 30, 2007
Same as #50: used spare lumber from Mark and attached it with carpenter's glue and screws.
52. Read 52 in one sitting to see if it makes much sense
53. Make 10 jars of homemade pasta sauce and give it as gifts (0/10)
I may modify this and include homemade salsa in the 10 jars.
54. Finish the few pieces of the puzzle for the paper based on my masters project
55. Do 150 sit-ups without taking a break (personal best 20/150)
56. Wash and wax our car 4 times (1/4)
57. Clean and vacuum the car interior 4 times (0/4)
58. Check the car's air filter and replace/clean if needed 4 times (every 6 months) (1/4)
59. Calculate our net worth
60. Attempt to make my own laundry detergent as per the Simple Dollar DONE June 13, 2007
Made 1/4 batch to see how it worked and it was very successful albeit very gross as the detergent is a very slimy goop. I did this twice and realized that it wasn't very time efficient to make 1/4 batches, so I purchased a 10.5 L bucket and made a 3/4 batch which should last a good while.
61. Have the only animal I eat be fish/seafood for 4 consecutive months
62. Have my only beverage as water for 8 consecutive months
63. Try being a vegetarian for 5 consecutive months (no animal flesh - eggs/milk/cheese OK)
64. Organize our filing container IN PROGRESS
65. Pay off completely the debt I expect to incur over the next 2 years from my Bachelor of Education degree
66. Sit down and work the numbers to see if my Mosaik Mastercard is worth paying $100/year for it
This goes hand in hand with #41 except by downgrading the card and not paying this year's fees, it gives me some time to actually do this.
New Goals
67. Help Mark finish his basement
68. Obtain my class 4 license so that when I get a teaching job, I am qualified to drive a bunch of kids on field trips etc...
69. Catalog our possessions for insurance purposes
70. Search for the best rate on tenants insurance and purchase a policy DONE August 14, 2007
I didn't do much research into different companies but rather signed up for tenants insurance with our auto insurance provider. Doing so saw a 3% reduction in our auto insurance costs which means the net monthly cost for the new insurance is about $2.50. Not too shabby.
71. Learn how to swim
Total goals complete (12/71)
Saturday, August 18, 2007
The Value of Tracking Your Spending
In the past, I mentioned that I am using Microsoft Money to track my spending and finances. Essentially what I do is the following:
1. Visit the PC Financial, Scotiabank, and Mosaik Mastercard websites and login to the online features.
2. In each case there is an option to download transactions to the program of your choice (Quicken, Excel, Microsoft Money, etc...). If you live in the states or have a US bank, you can set it up so that Money automatically downloads your information for you so you don't have to do it manually. I don't like this option because when it comes to finances you should definitely be in control of when information like that is sent over the net.
3. Once you download them, in each of your accounts in Money, the new transactions will be in bold waiting for reconciliation as shown below
The transactions in bold here are transfers to by credit card but any new ones would be similar.
4. At this point you can assign categories to each transaction. For example automobile -> gasoline, entertainment -> comic books, etc... Whatever you spend money on, you can categorize things to no end. This also works for income as well in terms of things like net pay, interest, and monetary gifts.
I perform these steps very diligently, downloading new transactions every week or so. However, I was assigning transactions to categories but not really seeing the big picture. I wasn't thinking about where the money was going other than "ok, $X spent on this, on that, goes in this or that category. I was pondering this when figuring that we should have about $800 per month to "play" with after living expenses were taken care of and we definitely weren't seeing our savings go up by that amount each month. Thus I did some digging.
Money has a nice feature that for different blocks of time you can see your expenses represented in either bar or pie chart format. This is our July 2007 Pie
When I sat down to truly look at where our money was going I was happy to see that approximately $300 was spent either unnecessarily or on one time fees (like electricity hookup). Why was I happy to see that much money basically go down the drain? It meant that things weren't as tight as I previously thought and that we had lots of ways to make improvements. I never would have realized where this money was going if I hadn't kept track of our spending. You should try it and see if you find some surprises on the way (ours was ~$100 on dining out).
As a closing note, after this exercise I am pleased to report that August is shaping up much better.
1. Visit the PC Financial, Scotiabank, and Mosaik Mastercard websites and login to the online features.
2. In each case there is an option to download transactions to the program of your choice (Quicken, Excel, Microsoft Money, etc...). If you live in the states or have a US bank, you can set it up so that Money automatically downloads your information for you so you don't have to do it manually. I don't like this option because when it comes to finances you should definitely be in control of when information like that is sent over the net.
3. Once you download them, in each of your accounts in Money, the new transactions will be in bold waiting for reconciliation as shown below
The transactions in bold here are transfers to by credit card but any new ones would be similar.
4. At this point you can assign categories to each transaction. For example automobile -> gasoline, entertainment -> comic books, etc... Whatever you spend money on, you can categorize things to no end. This also works for income as well in terms of things like net pay, interest, and monetary gifts.
I perform these steps very diligently, downloading new transactions every week or so. However, I was assigning transactions to categories but not really seeing the big picture. I wasn't thinking about where the money was going other than "ok, $X spent on this, on that, goes in this or that category. I was pondering this when figuring that we should have about $800 per month to "play" with after living expenses were taken care of and we definitely weren't seeing our savings go up by that amount each month. Thus I did some digging.
Money has a nice feature that for different blocks of time you can see your expenses represented in either bar or pie chart format. This is our July 2007 Pie
When I sat down to truly look at where our money was going I was happy to see that approximately $300 was spent either unnecessarily or on one time fees (like electricity hookup). Why was I happy to see that much money basically go down the drain? It meant that things weren't as tight as I previously thought and that we had lots of ways to make improvements. I never would have realized where this money was going if I hadn't kept track of our spending. You should try it and see if you find some surprises on the way (ours was ~$100 on dining out).
As a closing note, after this exercise I am pleased to report that August is shaping up much better.
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