Debt Free Kid

I felt so alone when I began our debt free journey at the end of 2008. I was exhausted from going to work every day and the evenings felt excruciatingly long while I was at home on my own with my two year old. Up until that point I had my old friend Ebay to keep me company, but when the VISA bill came in with a balance over $20 000 and the minimum payment was $250 (which I could pay, but then not pay the hydro bill), I broke down and admitted to myself that everything had to change. A few months later we were settled into our apartment and I started dating a man I met at work. As I got to know him I became extremely self conscious about my financial situation. He came from an upper middle class family, and his parents paid for his post-secondary school tuition, up to his Master's degree. When he received scholarships for his PhD, they gave him the rest of the saved education funds to buy a house. By the time I was getting to know him, his house was sold at a profit and he was liv...

In three years I will be 44. Bean will be 13. In three years our car will be paid off. As soon as Bean's legs are long enough, I will teach him to drive it, and we will share it until it no longer runs. I don't plan to buy another car. In three years I will owe less than $10 000 on my student loans. In three years I will owe just over $110 000 on the mortgage. In three years I will either be working full-time, or I will take the leap and reduce my work hours and practice living minimally and mindfully. In three years we will be thinking about which high school Bean will attend. Will he go into the international baccalaureate program at our local school, or will he commute to the other end of town to continue French Immersion? We will have another year to decide. In three years I will have hopefully reached my savings goal. In three years I will have struck another couple of items off my bucket list in the sidebar.

I opened my first savings account when I was six years old. My mom was a bank teller and she set my sister and I both up with Calculator accounts at the Royal Bank. I loved playing with my passbook, pretending to push the little buttons on the cover. I loved rolling up pennies and giving them to my mom to deposit, watching the typed numbers increase in the passbook. I always had a little bit of cash, even as a little girl. I got an allowance of $2 a week and I liked to spend it on books (usually Judy Blume). I remember coming up with extra chores lists, and would charge my parents 25 cents for anything above and beyond my usual chores. My sister always spent her money right away and would come to me to "borrow" my money because she knew I always had some. I had an ATM card when I was twelve, and used it wisely. I knew how to write a cheque. I took a business class in high school, with a component in personal finance and did very well. I took business math and marketing an...

I way way way overspent in May. There were two trips to the big city, the second one involving a trip to the thrift shop where I scored three dresses, a blazer and a pair of leather flats for $40. I would like to make a picture post with my deals, and some of the frugal meals I have been making, but it's not often I get to an internet connection long enough to do so. I am still reading most of the blogs I am following on my smartphone. For a few days last week my facebook-addiction was seriously challenged, when I couldn't get it to load on my phone. I tried to convince myself that it was a good thing, that I could now downgrade to a simpler phone and drop the $15 unlimited web access from my phone bill. I even pulled out one of my old phones to make the switch. Then I figured out how to fix the facebook and practically kissed my smartphone in relief. It's kinda like when I quit coffee when I was sick. I lasted almost three weeks, and slowly the coffee addiction has crept b...

So much is going on in my little life, and I have to start somewhere, so here's a list: - union issues bumped my good friend and co-worker out of our adjoining offices, so I'm dealing with the change of missing what was and getting used to what is - I'm thinking of taking a summer school course in first-year accounting, which can lead into a degree in Business, if I decide to go that route - the Bean is beautiful and challenging, just like life should be Finances: March spending was about the same as previous months, with a little overspending in the food/house category, and underspending in car fuel/oil. Debt payments are excitingly moving along (as you can see in the sidebars). I received my income tax refund today of $1687.49. I put $860 into an RRSP account, bringing it up to $2500 or so. I put $300 on my line of credit and $500 on my credit card. Financially I'm feeling good. As for the rest of it, I'm feeling a little low lately, which is why I'm having a ...

Reading this post by Frugal Dad today reminded me of how grateful I am to have done it my way, against all odds, despite all criticism. I was thirty years old when I found myself pregnant by my ex. We had reconciled briefly, but I was in the process of getting rid of all my stuff and moving to Thailand for eight months or longer. I had already arranged a leave of absence from a position I despised at the university, and was looking for a geographical cure for my misery. I was already thirty, with a B.A. in International Development and no overseas experience under my belt. It was time to go. But there were other plans in store for me. Under my belt was a little sprawn, who would inspire me to stop smoking, stop living by my four credit cards, and get real about life. I mean, GET REAL. I found out I was pregnant a week before I left for Thailand. I felt it was too late to change my plans, my job was given out on contract and my apartment was already rented to new tenants. Trying to arr...

Yesterday I listed off a bunch of things I am interested in that, with some more education, could turn into career goals. Fabulously Broke asked me how would I decide between them, maybe a pros/cons list? Research and a pros/cons list are definately a good idea. I used to be fanatical about making lists: my portable notebook (the old school lined paper kind) used to have pages of Plan A to G, until I realized I was just procrastinating and living in a dreamworld of the future rather than enjoying (or not) the present moment. I checked my student record online the other day, and saw that back in 2001 I had requested transcripts be sent to a community college in the city where I grew up. I forgot that at that time I was struggling with life decisions, and was thinking of returning "home" to earn a post-grad certificate in either radio broadcasting or international project management (yes FB, I was thinking that maybe someday I could combine the two :)). I worked at the univers...

More good news this week: a letter arrived from the university Registrar's office, confirming that with my half-credit earned last semester, I officially hold an Honours Bachelor of Arts. What this means in terms of employment is not much. The General B.A. I received in 2002 certainly helped me obtain a position at the university, but none of the three jobs I have held required a degree. There is currently a hiring freeze, and when it lifts most of the jobs posted will be either more like mine, or more specialized jobs that will require additional certification or management skills. If I wanted to be promoted I would have to have even more schooling, probably college courses that lead to a certificate in, say, accounting or purchasing or IT. A General or Honours B.A. in Anthropology and International Development Studies is not going to do a lot for me unless I am looking at changing my career path altogether. And even then, I'm just another person with a B.A. What this extra bi...

From Quitnet.com: Your Quit Date is: Wednesday, September 07, 2005 at 8:00:00 AM Test Time Smoke-Free: 1217 days, 21 hours, 56 minutes and 54 seconds Cigarettes NOT smoked: 8525 Lifetime Saved: 2 months, 5 days, 2 hours Money Saved: $3,197.25 Congratulations I smoked for fifteen years and tried to quit so many times. I used the patch, the pills, and the gum. I tried rewards incentives which only racked up the credit card bill. I was finally able to quit due to two life-altering circumstances: 1) pregnancy and 2) moving to Thailand and away from the people, places and things that triggered my addiction. After slaying the smoking demon, I should be able to accomplish anything. Here's my contribution to the personal goals lists for 2009: 1) Eat breakfast. Anything. Just force something down. 2) Take vitamins: multi, fish oils, and iron pills. 3) Drink water! 4) Meal planning. So far I have a calendar of meal ideas that work around proteins. For example, Sunday is beef, Monday is beans...

My budget is in place (in Excel anyways) and so far it looks pretty good. I'm saving an average of $350 in rent and bills thanks to the smart decision to move to the apartment. I have also canceled my internet cable (hello to the kind person who is currently supplying the wireless network, when I find out who you are I will make you some banana bread), which saves me another $35 a month. My Emergency Fund is almost complete and I have made arrangements to "pay myself first" by deducting 10% of my gross pay each month and transferring it to an ING-type account. The transfer is made only once a month because, well, have I ever mentioned that I get paid only once a month? Yeah. I have my $20 a week set aside for personal spending, and 20% of that goes to my version of titheing: $2 to my self-help group and another $2 to the offering plate at the UU church. I aim to be able to offer more to each once my savings account is established and I can skim a percentage from that acco...

Yesterday I wrote my last test for my last course for my Honours Bachelor of Arts in International Development and Cultural Anthropology. I started this degree in 1998. I studied for two years full-time, and then two years part-time and graduated with a General B.A. in 2002. I was hired at the university six days after my graduation and have been completing the course requirements for an Honours with a tuition waiver that is available to members of the union to which I belong. So you can imagine how relieved I am to have this degree finished, and I look forward to receiving the parchment so that I can frame it and put it up in my office next to the one I received in 2002. I borrowed a lot of money to start and continue this degree. My first student loan was a shared-risk loan through a Big Bank, prior to the creation of the National Student Loan Centre, for a year of college in 1996 that qualified my entrance to university. The Big Bank gave me two more years of loans for full-time uni...