2011 Goals

Ah, 2011 has been here for a half-month already. But I was away so that's my excuse. Anyway, these are my 2011 goals.

FINANCIAL:

Contribute another $5000 to my TFSA. It's currently standing  at $6350.

Contribute another $500 to Travel Fund. I wiped it out to go to Dominican, so it's currently at $0. I may or may not travel in 2011 but would like to put money toward travel anyway.

Contribute another $1000 to RRSPs. I currently have $1000 tucked away into two $500 RSPs. I know this is still a small amount but anything helps at this point.

In 2011 want to make an extra $2011 in ways OTHER than teaching.

I want to start a computer fund as well. Mine turns off when it feels like it and I am not sure it will last too much longer. So a fund will help when the time comes. I'm going to set this at $500.

I loved having money at Christmastime without having to use my credit card. I want to contribute $800 again to Christmas/Gift Fund. This was soo helpful!

PERSONAL:

I want to STRETCH daily. I am still not very flexible but I want to work on that more. I stretched a lot more last year and want to keep that up.

I want to maintain my body weight and tone it up. I am 5'6 and range from 115-125lbs. Typically hovering in the 120 region. I am not very strong though so would like to tone up. Let's say 15 boy push-ups and 50 sit-ups no problem by the end of 2011. I'll try to work on this most days as well.

I want to take a fitness class of some sort. I am thinking kickboxing, or a dance class. The trouble with living in a small town is finding things like this that allow beginner adults to join. I took fitness classses here when I first graduated and didn't sign up again because the other members were so much older than I was. I can't let this get me down.

I want to go SCUBA diving at least once this year. Now that I am certified and love the sport I want to go again. Maybe with D sometime this summer in our area.

Take a sign-language class. I LOVE this language and want to learn more about it. I NEED to sign up for another one. Hopefully there will be one held close to my region sometime soon. I feel like I am already losing a bunch of the signs I once knew.

Read 10 books. I only got to 6 or 7 last year. I really enjoy reading so I think 10 is doable.

All Financial Goals Accomplished!!

I paid off $5000 to my family loan!

I saved over $500 for Christmas!

I saved $1000 toward retirement!

I saved $500 for travel!

I made over $2010 doing work other than teaching!

And today I contributed to my TFSA to push it over the $5000 mark too!!

Met Another Financial Goal

I really enjoy these three paycheque months. I put $800 toward my TFSA today. Yay! That brings me past my goal of $4000, but now I want to hit $5000 for the year. I'm thinking it's now doable. I also want to begin to add more to my Travel Fund. There are still 2 and a half months left in this year.

I have also babysat a few times this month. Not exactly my favourite thing to do after a day spent working with kids, but it's nice to have a bit of extra income!

On my off time that's not spent with family or D, I've been working on my rag quilt. I have ALMOST all of the squares cut out. I have no pattern so we will see if it works! Hopefully, the flannel fabric is so soft! I'll keep you updated on how it is coming along. If I can complete it before new years that would mean I get to cross off a non-financial goal of mine, and I'm not doing very well at those this year!

This weekend there is a cranberry festival going on close to where I live. I am thinking I might take my mom there if D doesn't want to go. She and I went several years ago and it would be nice to go again. D and I are also going to try to go to the movies and see "Red" tonight. Our theatre only has early show times so it depends on whether he gets off early enough. I hope everyone has a great weekend!!

September Goals

I have not done a goal post in a while. I want to keep them fairly simple this month.

Put $500 toward TFSA.
Finish at least one book.
Make at least one new dinner/recipe.
Get my car serviced. (hopefully not too expensive!)

If I have some extra money at the end of the month I'll put it toward the RSP.

Merry Christmas!!

April Fools! It's not Christmas. Did I get ya?? Okay my April Fools jokes are pretty lame. My mom did trick me this morning. She asked if I was working, and when I said no she said, "Well if you do get work today make sure you wear something warm because it snowed again." It was early and I believed her for about 2.2 seconds then said, "Haha April Fools." She did get me though. Then I texted my BF and roommate who are both coming up this weekend and told them the same thing, that we have snow again. My roommate believed me! BF hasn't texted me back yet, but I'm sure he won't be fooled.

Today was also a payday! Early payday because tomorrow is a holiday! So I paid off my MC and paid $300 to my TFSA. Side bars are updated. I also threw an extra $40 to my Family Loan just to make it an even number.

Some April goals are to pay $1000 to my family loan. I'm hoping I get enough work in the next two weeks to be able to do this!! I want to put at least $150 toward the Holland fund, and another $150 toward my roommates wedding fund. We are buying them a wii. I think I will end up buying the gift (if I can FIND one available somewhere!!) and BF will pay for the hotel. Ideas of where to buy a wii?? Has anyone seen one available in Ontario somewhere?!? They have been sold out for the past two months I have been looking!

February Spending, March Goals

February was an expensive month. I spent a total of $1669 eeeeek! The breakdown:

Expenses (Total $959)
Car - $506 (I had some repairs, an oil change, not typical)
Food - $4
Restaurant - $22
Clothing - $0
Gifts - $6
Personal - $77 (pills and some foundation)
Education - $50 (applied to several jobs)
Phone - $42
Everything Else - $252 (this was for some books, $26 mailing fee, fabric, and some CC payment leftover from Jan, no interest was paid at least)

Debt (Total $300)
Family loan - $300

Savings (Total $410)
Christmas/Gifts - $60
TFSA/E-Fund - $250
Travel Fund - $100

Wasn't a great month with car expenses and buying books I really didn't need.

Looking forward to March, I want to spend way less on my car. At least $300 to my family loan again. I'm hoping at least $400 also to savings. I also want to get my hair cut and highlighted. I hope to be busy with work this week to help with these things!

Did you get your GST cheque yet?

I got mine today woohoo. $74! I was counting on it this month!! I have big plans for it, I am going to put it toward an ASL winter retreat. It's a weekend in February and they lodge you and feed you AND teach you ASL all for the low low price of $150. So I thought it was a pretty good deal to brush up and learn some more ASL.

I am going to sign up for it on Monday since all weekend and tomorrow evening I will be at a different ASL course. Once the end of February hits I'll be done that new years goal of completing TWO ASL courses! At the end of Feb, I think if some more come up and they are reasonably priced that I'll likely do more than just the two I had as my goal.

Oh yes, also going to update status bars now, I like that some are no longer going to be at 0!!

What are you going to do with your GST cheque if you get one?

Updated Progress Bars

I've added new progress bars that reflect my 2010 goals. Right now they are kind of sad. Most at 0%, but that will change in time. I did not add the retirement goal because I know I won't even start contributing to that one until the family loan is paid off. Next paycheque I will be able to add some money to those goals and up the percentages.

2010 Goals

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas, was Santa good to you?

Financial

• Pay off the $5000 I owe to my family (This is my priority right now)
• Contribute $4000 to TFSA (which will also serve as my E-fund)
• Save at least $500 for Christmas (approx $60 per month, as I want birthdays and wedding gifts to go in here too, but by Christmas 2010 I want to have $500 in that account)
• Start and contribute $1000 to Retirement (Won't start this until after debt is paid off)
• Make an additional $2010 in ways other than teaching (tutoring, babysitting, summer and holiday part-time job, etc)
• Save $300 for a shopping/travelling trip (BF and I were talking about going to the states for a NFL game, I want to do some shopping if this happens)
• Purchase my parents a new freezer and/or couch set (my parents are going on a vacation in Feb for their 25th wedding anniversary. I wanted to redo the basement for them but there would be some issues there, so my brother and I were talking and we want to hoepfully replace their freezer which is probably as old as my mom, and/or get them a MATCHING couch set as a nice suprise for when they return) This will prolong my debt but it will be worth it.

Personal

• Stretch everyday (I am not flexible at all and I want to work on this)
• Complete a 5k run (hmmm since I hate running this will likely be the hardest goal on my list)
• Complete TWO American Sign Language courses (already signed up for one in Jan)
• Read at least 12 novels (average of one per month, this can be done)
• Complete a full-size quilt (completed a baby's quilt this year, next is full size, I think I want to try to do a rag quilt)
• Volunteer twice at a new place (I already volunteer at a Girl Guides group, and at teen dances)
• Learn how to crochet (maybe make a cute baby's blanket, or at least a dish cloth)

November and December Goals...and a little baking

November goals recap:
Go to the gym at least twice a week. FAIL. I went twice in total :S

Read a new book. PASS. Somewhat of a pass, it was a children's chapter book (217 pages). Still counts right?? Mmm maybe not.

Complete the quilt I started. PASS. It's done, and so are all my pillowcases and a pillow. I am working on a second pillow and a second quilt.

Complete Christmas shopping for my friends. PASS. This is all complete, I just need to mail them, but will wait until the second week of December to do this.

20 no shopping days. FAIL. It was close though, I had 11 spend days and therefore 19 no shopping days.

Keep $1500 in my account. PASS. Of course this is going toward my family loan but that was the goal. Yay I will avoid monthly bank fees for the first time in a long time!

New December Goals:
Go to the gym at least twice a week. Let's try this goal again.

Finish buying and wrapping all Christmas presents. Hopefully this will be done in a couple of weeks.

Try to get  work over Christmas break. I think it might be possible to work at the rec centre over the Christmas break for at least 5 days. This will help as otherwise I have very little income for December.

Open ING account. I have sent the $100 in the mail but once it gets deposited I want to look more into the different options ING has. In January I want to set up a TFSA with them.

Determine some personal and financial goals for 2010. I have a few in mind but want to lay it all out.

Do some Christmas baking. I think I want to make and decorate Christmas sugar cookies. If I can find some cute cookie cutters!

Yesterday I made some braided bread. I think I could have let it rise a bit more, but it turned out pretty well for baking bread for the first time!

November Goals

I'm glad November is here. I think that I am OSAP debt-free today however it is not updated yet on the NSLSC site (usually takes 5 days) and it has not been withdrawn from my account yet. If it's not done tomorrow I will call them. I will not update the sidebars until I see that my OSAP account is at $0.

This weekend I went to Toronto with the boyfriend. He had a conference there and then I met up with him at the end of it and we stayed one night. It was really fun. He received spending money from his conference so basically everything was covered for our dates. We went out on Halloween, and went to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs in 3D on Sunday. Was very cool, I have not seen a 3D movie since I was a kid (back when the glasses were one red, one blue). It also covered our eating expenses, was great! I hope he gets to go to more conferences!

I have six new goals for November:

Go to the gym at least twice a week
I didn't do so well at this in September, but am going to give more effort to it this month.

Read a new book
I read one last month right near the beginning and didn't get into a second. I have one on hold at the library but it hasn't come in yet. Hopefully early this month so I can get a good start on it.

Complete the quilt I started
I have all of the materials to do this, I just need to get motivated. I want to start new projects before this one is finished so will have to resist that urge and just get the baby quilt done.

Complete Christmas shopping for my friends
Then I will only have my brothers and dad left to buy for. I can do them in December.

20 No Shopping Days
No spending of any sort. Minimum 20 days this month.

Keep $1500 in my account
This will avoid bank fees at the end of the month, and also start my savings for my family loan. $1500 is somewhat out of my control, but I think I should be able to do it if I continue to get fairly regular work and don't overspend on anything. I have never not paid for this account, so that will be a new experience if I can attain this goal!

Happy November!

Let's Talk About Life

In my last post I briefly touched upon some of the goals I have for myself. I would like to one day, hopefully sooner than too much later buy a house, get married, buy a new (used) car, purchase furniture for the house, and still be able to pay my bills and have a bit of a life.

Let's break down the cost of those items:

House - or I should say downpayment. Now the downpayment can vary. But if you can pay 20% or more then you can avoid purchasing the high-ratio mortgage insurance (which can range from 1-3.5% of the principal amount of the house). Let's say I want to purchase a $250,000 home with a $50,000 (20%) downpayment, that would work out to be (at 6% interest) $1288 per month, or $595 bi-weekly after the downpayment and we are living there.

Wedding: I would like to have an average wedding. Nice but not too over the top. Still either way, weddings are expensive! Considering everything involved (minus honeymoon and engagement ring) I think $15,000 would be reasonable.

Furniture: Seeing as though I currently have almost nothing except what I had as a student, almost everything would need to be purchased except kitchen supplies. How do you estimate the cost of that? Let's say $5000 to begin with, I am sure if we needed things that family would be willing to give us some of their things.

Car: I would definitely buy used, not too old but not too new either. I think $12,000 would be reasonable for a good running vehicle. I bought mine for $2000 and it's working well but it has some issues and will need to be replaced eventually.

Let's say I want to get married, move into a house, have furniture and a car in three years...That would mean saving a total of $2278 each month starting now. Which is NOT going to happen. Let's say all of those in 5 years, well that is $1367 per month. Much more reasonable, but by then I will be 29 and wanting to have kids, which are another major expense....does it ever end? Compromise, and say 4 years, that is $1708 per month. Split between myself and my boyfriend that is $854 each per month but neither one of us will be able to start that for several months at least. However when he graduates this June he will also owe about $35,000. So that means that we either have to push back plans or decrease the downpayment, find a cheaper house, or make more money. How do you do it?

I do eventually want to move out and live in an apartment with my boyfriend which also costs rent, furniture expenses, and everyday household expenses. I do not like not knowing what will happen because I am a planner...Still, I look forward to the future!

Life Is So Expensive!

I going through Gail's website last night and came across the questions page. This one woman asks how to prioritize the things she wants in life, wedding, house, car, retirement savings, etc, in addition to having a small student loan. I think about this a lot in my own life. How am I ever going to be able to start life?

Supply teaching is great, but the paycheques are irregular which makes it difficult to stick to a savings budget. I would like to save for a downpayment, house furniture, have some money in retirement savings, and get married within 2 years, but is this possible? I will have to do some calculating to see what I need to save in the next 24 months to have some of these goals possible. Will post more on that later.

In the meantime, check out the beginnings of my quilt. Look past the uneven squares and the lack of ironing!

Can someone help me to rotate these pictures? That is not how I took them, and not how I have them on my computer, only on blogger...hmmm.

Life Goals....

Do you have them? Things you want to learn or accomplish at some point in your life.

I started one of mine last night. I asked my mom to teach me how to machine-sew. Yes learning how to sew was a life-goal of mine. I have always wanted to learn but just never did. Now that I have the basics (was literally a 15 minute lesson, it's much easier than i thought) I think my first project I want to make is a quilt. Either a baby quilt or a quilt for a pet bed. Any tips??

I think that sewing is a great way to actually save costs on some things as well. Hemming your own pants, making your own bedding, fixing up a ripped seam, etc. So really, I am saving money??

I hope to start making something this weekend or Friday if I do not end up working. Lately I haven't been feeling well but was slightly better today and I received a call to work a half-day. I got another call tonight to work a full-day tomorrow. Hopefully things are picking up!

I Have Money Left!

After all that shopping, I actually have money left over! I did not anticipate being given any money from my mom or boyfriend so I did not budget for it, and saved up for the trip myself. So I probably spent a little more on myself than I thought I would, but with free money why not? I still have money left over, so I made a $500 payment to OSAP today. My progress bars reflect this change...98.01% complete!! I get paid tomorrow as well, so I might make another payment next week. Then I get paid AGAIN on the 30th. I love three paycheque months. So if I make a big enough payment with tomorrow's paycheque I could potentially be done my OSAP loan by Halloween! I still haven't cashed my GST cheque or put my leftover Canadian or US cash into the bank. Which will be about $200 all together. So new October goal to add to the list - pay off OSAP!

October Goals

Where did September even go? It's already October, which means the snow is going to be coming soon :(

Now for my first set of monthly goals!

1. Go to the gym at least twice a week
I bought a 6 month gym membership through this online auction. Great deal and I have not been in to start it up yet so today is the day! My goal here is to go twice a week minimum, and hopefully tone up a bit. I am not really into the equipment at a gym but I have always enjoyed fitness classes, so we will find out today what they have to offer in that regard. Hopefully they offer spin classes too!

2. Complete half of my Christmas shopping
Yep that's right, Christmas! It's coming up fast and I am usually a giant procrastinator so now is the time to start. I am also going on a shopping trip in the States on Thanksgiving so it gives me the chance to complete a lot of my shopping that needs to be done.

3. Start volunteering at schools
I called the other board in my area to see if they were hiring. They said they were not but the best chance I  have of getting on their supply list is to start volunteering in their schools. My goal is to do about two days a week, but if I get called in to supply teach then I will obviously take that over volunteering that day. I did this last year and although nothing came of it, it was still a good learning experience. I am also volunteering one night a week as a Girl Guide's leader.

4. Advertise as a tutor
I ordered some magnetic business cards online for tutoring services and some flyers. I hope to put them up around town (mailboxes, rec centre, library) and see if anything comes of it. If I am able to tutor one or a couple of kids it would be great, it would be good experience and I would earn a little extra revenue.

5. Read a new book
I just finished a book, and I am trying to get back into reading. I have time during the day when I am not called in to work. I prefer the chick-lit books (authors like Sophie Kinsella and Meg Cabot). Any recommendations??

I finally figured out how to make progress bars! I just love them! So hopefully they will keep me motivated to fill them up! I like seeing the bar move...

In other news, I started babysitting this new family and made $30 on Tuesday. Now that I am no longer working at the rec centre this will help to have a bit of extra income. Although it may not be very often that I am called to babysit. I also made my minimum payment on my student loan today and will change the progress bars to reflect that, yay!

TFSA vs. RRSP

Alright, I've been thinking about these two for a while now. I've talked to several people and I think I understand the difference a bit more.

With regards to retirement, the key variable is how the tax rate at the time of withdrawal compares to the tax rate at the time of the contribution. Here are 3 scenarios, and how they may affect your choice of account:

• If the two rates are identical, the TFSA and the RRSP are equally effective tax-savings alternatives. You get the same amount at the end.
  
• If the tax rate at the time of withdrawal is lower than at the time of contribution, the RRSP is the better choice. Especially because with an RRSP you get a tax break at income tax time. Meaning you won't owe as much to the government at income tax time because you contributed to an RRSP
• If the tax rate at the time of withdrawal is higher than at the time of contribution, the advantage goes to the TFSA. But remember that you can only invest $5000 each year.

Of course if you can afford it, the best thing to do would be to contribute to both! 

What I was interested in knowing though, is what would be best to invest my money in for short-term (under 5 years) savings. Would it be best to put it into a TFSA or just keep it in my high interest bank account? It's not a good idea to put it into an RRSP for short-term goals because you are taxed when you withdraw it. So a TSFA is great for short-term goals. Also, when you withdraw money from a TFSA you have to wait until the next year to re-invest it but you can put it all back in.

For those who will be receiving pensions when they retire, they are limited in what they are able to contribute to their RRSPs, so a TFSA is a great way to add more to their retirement fund. Max of $5000 per year, but that can definitely add up over the years!

My goal for 2010 is to start a TFSA. In 2011 I'll also try to max out my TSFA and if there is anything extra I will put it toward an RRSP. Now to only find permanent work. Life would be so much easier with a full-time job!

My Financial Goals....the basics

I have so many goals, let's start with the money ones. I'll get into some of the life ones later on. I've seen some posts by others on their 26 goals of their 26th year. Maybe I'll do the same of my 24th year later. Okay now for the BASIC financial goals.

Pay off the rest of my OSAP by new years 2009 ($1975)

Pay off my family loans by the end of Feb 2010 ($5000)

Maintain a $1500 balance in my current bank account at all time (this is to avoid the monthly fees - what a waste!)

Create a TFSA (tax-free savings account) by July 2010

THEN after these goals have been completed I want to start saving for a down-payment on a house. I want to create a planned spending fund (AKA wedding fund). I also want to create an emergency fund. Those amounts are yet to be decided.

PS If anyone can give me tips on how to create those goal/debt tracking bars on the side of your blog please share how I can do this too! I think it would be great motivation seeing that bar move!!