Solutions & Ideas

How I’m Saving Money at the New Job

Hello Readers!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, I know. But I’m on Week 3 of the new job, and it’s kept me quite busy. I’ve been enjoying myself immensely too, which you’ll be happy to know.

I wanted to share with you all a few ways that I’m saving money at the new job.

Money Saver #1: A public transit monthly pass

This one’s a no-brainer. Because I can now take public transit to work, I’ve bought myself a monthly transit pass. If I only just took transit to work, this would not be a good deal for me, however I also take it at least once or twice a week extra, so I come out ahead every month. PLUS, I can also claim the pass for a tax credit on my taxes next year. (Or rather, for tax year 2009, which of course I do in 2010.)

Money Saver #2: Brown-bagging my lunch

Yes I know, it’s a bit of a cliche, and I’ve talked about it before, but as long as I bring my lunch at least 3 days a week, I’m saving money. I’m actually aiming for 4 times a week, which is difficult considering all the wonderful food places in the food court in the basement of the building. There’s even an Indian take-out food restaurant! Mmm, Indian food is one of my weaknesses.

Money Saver #3: No more buying gas for my car

Taking public transit to work means I don’t have to take my car to the office, which means I don’t have to fill up the gas tank as often. When I was commuting, I was filling it up every 3 days or so, but I’ve only stopped at the gas station twice in the last 4 weeks, and didn’t even fill it up either time!

Okay, so those weren’t new or earth-shattering money savers, but it’s things that I’m doing (or not) that are helping me save money and put it where it’ll do more good: towards my debt.

Great News – New Job

Great news everyone, I got that job I interviewed for a few weeks back! This means that I’ll have to go from full-time freelancing to part-time freelancing, but that’s okay, I’ll make the sacrifice.

Besides, given my current debt load, I wasn’t entirely comfortable freelancing full-time right now. I’ll just use any money that comes in from freelancing as extra debt repayment money.

But I’m excited about the new job, as it’s a really good opportunity for a company downtown. Plus the fact that it’s with a big company means there’s the possiblity of getting transfers to other parts of the country, which would also be great. (not that I’m getting ahead of myself of course.)

My first day is in a couple of weeks, so I’ve got some time to relax and enjoy some true “time off” first.

Yay!

Saving Money at the Movies

Being a member of CAA means I get access to discounted tickets for a number of events and things to do around the country. One of them is discounted movie tickets. Instead of spending $11 for a matinee or $14 for a regular priced movie, I can buy the tickets for $8.50, which is a steal!

What’s even better about these tickets is that they’re considered “tickets”, not “passes”, so I can use them on opening weekend of a movie (like I did this weekend.) A friend dragged me to see Fast & Furious because she wanted to see Paul Walker up close. Plus I’m a bit of a gear-head, so I didn’t mind going.

People can buy these tickets at a number of places, if you’re a CAA member you can buy them through them, , and through some property management companies (my apartment building has them.) So just take a look around and see where you might be able to buy some, you can have a cheap night out!

The Dilemma With Found Money

Oh happy day, but this week I got my income tax refund from the government! YIPPIE! I think it might have been a record for them, as it took them only 13 days to get it to me. Gotta love direct deposit, that’s for sure.

But now I’ve got a dilemma-what to do with the money. Because I’m currently not working full-time, I’ve got some options for the money. I had previously blogged that I was going to split it into thirds and send the money into debt repayment, emergency fund, and something else (hadn’t figured out what to do with that final third.) These are good option, however I have since changed my mind, mainly because of course I’ve only made $5 as a freelancer so far.

So my options are:

1. Move the money into one of my Lines of Credit. This has the benefit of giving me immediate access to the money, as well as saving me money on the interest I’m being charged, since it’s calculated daily.
2. Move it into my Citizen’s Bank Global Chequing Account. This also gives me the benefit of immediate access to the money, but also earns me a bit of interest on it.
3. Move into my emergency fund. This will replenish what I’ve taken out, plus earn me more interest than Option 2.
4. Pay off the Visa card. Okay, the refund wouldn’t pay it all off, but it would take care of about 57% of that card’s balance, which of course would save me money on the interest.
5. Pay off the MasterCard. Again, this doesn’t cover the entire amount, but it would take care of 38% of the balance, and save me money on the interest.

My main hesitation on moving the  money to either credit card is simply the fact that if I need access to the money for something like rent, I can’t get to it. And since the refund amount wouldn’t clear the entire balance, I couldn’t really use it for living expenses either, you know?

For the time being, I’ve just moved it to the TD Line of Credit so I at least save on the interest, but I’m not entirely convinced I want to just leave it there, you know?

What are your thoughts? Which option do you vote for?