Debt Free Kid

July was certainly the most expensive month this year. Thank Murph I'm tracking my expenses, so I know exactly where I went wrong (Miscellaneous spending!). In addition there were the car repairs (water pump, coolant pipe, and belt tensioner replaced) with more repairs (brakes, exhaust pipe) to come in a few weeks. ALSO I had orthotics made, and while my insurance company should reimburse me for them, I will likely not be reimbursed for the footwear. AS WELL I had a massage and Bowen treatment, both for which I will be reimbursed next month. I went to the bank to make my first student loan payment, and they did not have the loan on record. We called the number on the letter of arrears that I received, to be told that this loan actually DOES qualify for Interest Relief. I took my $66 payment and bought another $42 bottle of multi-vitamins from my Naturopath. Can't afford to get sick! Seriously, Karissa

First of all, I always express gratitude for my life whenever my car breaks down at the side of the road. This time wasn't as serious as times past, but I still felt lucky to be alive. Second, now that I'm facing a $600 repair bill, I feel like I should switch to public transit! Luckily I had already pulled off the highway to grab a bite to eat, when I discovered my power steering was no longer powered. I called my dad and he predicted a broken fan belt ... I wasn't comfortable taking the car back onto the busy busy highway so I had my friend take over the wheel and get the car twenty minutes east to my mom's place. The next day I used my CAA Plus membership to access my free 200 km tow to a mechanic in my own town. The mechanic is fixing the belt, as well as a leaky water pump and rusty coolant pipe, for just under $600. He said with my CAA membership I will get 3% back to apply towards my next round of annual membership fees, which are actually due next month. ...

I think I have come up with a strategy that works for paying off the debt as well as contributing a little to my savings. The debt payment system seems a tad strange, but will make sense to people with OCD :) As soon as I receive an email statement I check to see how much interest was added for the month. I pay that amount immediately. This keeps the balance at a nice round number, to which I apply $50 or $100 payments throughout the month as I can afford them. I was concerned that I wasn't padding my TFSA sufficiently, so I came up with a snowflaking plan that does not make me feel as though I am taking priority away from the debt repayments. What I have decided to do is snowflake the odd amounts from my pay, child tax credit, and GST. For instance, my GST rebate is $156.50 every three months, so I put $1.50 into the TFSA. I added up all the snowflake amounts year-to-date and just deposited $35.40 into my TFSA account. It isn't much but if I keep doing this each month it will ...