Posts Tagged ‘savings’

Number Crunching February 2008

Here are the monthly numbers for February.

Total Debt: $23958.10 (+ 1062.97 from last month)

Debt Paid off This Month: Not applicable since I went back over my original debt amount.

Total savings this month: $200 (not including interest)

Emergency Fund total: $ 1,906.57 (including the savings interest!)

As you can see, I went up in my debt again, which I am not pleased about, however I did manage to pay off some from last month, approximately $3000, which is pretty good. I also managed to get myself a good balance transfer deal with another bank, so for a whole year I’ll not be charged any interest at all on about 1/3 of the debt, which I think is another win for me. So I’ll be plugging along, making my payments and lowering the debt bit by bit. I haven’t yet started my next round of eBay selling, which I’m hoping to do in March. That should net me some extra cash that will help out. Last year I earned around $600 or so, so I’m looking forward to some more of the same.

I know some of you must be wondering why I’m not completely stopping all my spending and just concentrating on my debt repayment. Well, it’s because I believe in living life, within reason. I have tried doing the “I’m not spending on anything” plan, and I found it doesn’t work for me. I know it’s a sacrifice, and it’s my issue that I can’t deal with it, but I believe that life shouldn’t be completely difficult and unenjoyable. So I reduce my spending by not going out all the time, by telling friends that I’ll pass on going out for dinner with them, but that I’ll meet them for coffee afterwards. These are methods that work better for me, and I’m able to slowly but surely make headway on my debt. I was doing just that until I had to move, so once I get back down to the waterline of debt (probably in the next two months), I’ll be back to making good progress.

Clothing Experiment is Two Weeks Old

The count is now up to 14 days, and I’m quite enjoying this experiment, I must say. I’m enjoying rediscovering my wardrobe, and I’m actually getting compliments on my sweaters. Can you believe that? Plain old cotton sweaters in funky colours like red and purple are getting me compliments.

Plus I’ve now saved $13.60 in laundry fees. Double

Why Inclusive isn’t always the Cheapest Option

In my apartment hunts over the years I’ve come across the “all inclusive” option for rent. This means that the rental price includes utilities, or cable television, or other extras like that. This can mean that you’re either saving money each month, because you can use whatever the extra is for as much as you like, or it means that you’re getting ripped off because you’re paying for your neighbour’s usage.

My utilities are not currently included in my rent, however I split the hydro bill with my landlord. This bothers me somewhat, because it’s not really accurate of my actual usage. Because I don’t have a separate hydro meter on my apartment, I just end up sharing in the usage of my landlord and her family. This bothers me because in general, I am very contientious of my use of hydro, so I don’t like paying for what I don’t use, you know?

In my search for a new apartment this winter, I came across a property management company that has both types of arrangements for their apartments. I find this a little intriguing that they would have both options, but regardless, I seem to have some choice on that front. So I crunched some numbers…

And found that if I go with one of the non-inclusive apartments, I end up saving $50-100 a month. That is wonderful news! That means that I could put that extra money towards my debt repayment and even savings. This is even considering the fact that my parking bill will go from $10 a month to $85. Don’t get all excited to hear that I’ll be paying $85 a month for parking….that’s for underground parking. Those of you in Toronto will understand why this is exciting news to me. For those of you outside the Toronto area: we got 26 cms of snow dumped on us in one night (that’s about 10 inches.) That meant 60 minutes of shovelling the driveway and digging out my car. Not fun at all when it’s -8C outside.

The rental company tells me that hydro costs for these apartments tend to be in the $25-30 range, but the thing I like about the whole arrangement is that the cost is controlled by me. If I want to save more money, I can just turn off the lights, the tv and the computer. I don’t have to rely on a price adjustment by the management company every year, you know? This is something I can control, and something that I will control. I am quite pleased at this prospect.

I’ll be meeting with the rental agent later on this week, so wish me luck with the visit! I’m hoping to have everything settled by the end of the week, so that I can concentrate on packing, hiring movers, changing my address, and all the other related moving tasks.