Give Me Back My Five Bucks

A recent reader made this comment:

ps said...
If you have already closed your TD chequing account, then well, end of story. If you haven't, then don't, if you possibly can. The reason is that since you have had the TD account for so long, it is reflected in your credit score. If you close down your older financial association, you might hurt your credit score or so I've heard. You can find a lot more info on bankrate.com

Is this true? I thought the only way a chequing account would impact my credit negatively is if I had a bunch of overdraft on the account, or if I had bounced a cheque ... at least that's what I've been reading after Googling the heck out of it before I came to post on my blog. But after reading the comment, now I'm scared that I've closed an account that I've had open for over 20 years. Because anyone can open a chequing account, right? My mom opened it for me when I was just a baby.

It's not like I can do anything about it now since the account is definitely closed, but for future reference, I should probably know for certain what the answer is.

Well I've put the new header up. Yes, that's my real wallet. Also, I had to borrow the money from the BF for the photo shoot, which is pretty funny. He actually kept saying "give me back my five bucks!" as I was taking the photos. It's been really hard to keep this blog from him, since we live together, our computers are side-by-side, and I stole his $5 and started taking pictures of it for seemingly no good reason. Oh, and I've basically told him about the blog, but refused to give him the website address. But really, if he just did a simple search in Google for this blog, it'll come up. I've already tried. And who knows, he may already be reading it without my knowledge. Not that I have anything to hide, I just like the idea of this blog being mine and anonymous to anybody that I know in my real life.

Anyway, the graphic is kinda cheesy, but I also kinda like it because it's unique, and I made it. But, if you guys completely hate it, then I can change it back to the railroad picture I had up there for the past couple of days. My feelings won't be hurt.

The layout is basically finished. I have working links for the tabs on the header, and everything seems to be in place. If you see any errors or something that doesn't look quite right, please let me know. :)

Note: the following post is sponsored

Yesterday evening, I was talking to the BF about my upcoming trip to Seattle. He's still on the fence as to whether he wants to come or not (since he doesn't really like baseball, and is already planning two other trips this summer), so I told him I would look into pricing and come up with a budget for how much things would cost.

Of course, the first thing I did was look into private rooms at Hostelling International. I've stayed there a few times in the dorms, and loved it. It was super cheap, and smack in the middle of downtown. But to my disappointment, they've closed!!! Arggg! So, even though SF Money Musings warned me about the Green Tortoise, I decided to check them out. It was $77/night for two people, and considering it was right downtown, that seemed decent (although it still seemed rather pricey for a hostel). I called them to see if they had any availability for the dates I was thinking of, and they told me they don't rent out the private rooms during the summer! THEY SHOULD PUT THAT ON THEIR WEBSITE!!!

So it was just really good timing that the opportunity came up to try Hotel Reservations. This site is your all-in-one travel stop, because you can search for Cheap Hotels, flights, cars, vacation rentals, and entire vacation packages ... all for up to 70% off.

There is a really great feature I like about Hotel Reservations: you can select your country's language and currency, so that you know exactly how much you'll be spending. I wanted to search for a cheap place to stay in Seattle, so I typed in all my information and searched. Then when I was searching through the results, you can sort everything by Best Value, Quality, Price, or alphabetically - very handy. Of course, I sorted by price.

I found hotels as cheap as $49.65/night! And if I stayed 3 nights, I'd get an extra 10% off the total. That's cheaper than the hostel! I like how you can compare your choices, get more info on each hotel, and there's a handy map there so I knew exactly where each hotel was located in relation to where I needed to go.

If you're travelling with a bunch of friends or family, you can choose to do a group booking and save even more on your travel costs. A bunch of my relatives are planning on flying down to San Francisco later this year, so I'm definitely going to recommend this site to them. And lucky for them, they can book their flights by phone using Hotel Reservation's toll-free number, since I know for a fact that a few of them refuse to give their credit card information over the internet, even though the site gurantees privacy and safety.

Anyway, with the great rates I've found on hotels in Seattle, I'm definitely going to book through Hotel Reservations. I still can't get over how cheap some of the places are. I always thought I was saving money by staying in hostels, but I guess there really are hotels that are cheaper than that.

Ugg, this is getting so frustrating. At home, the new layout looked great in Firefox, but now that I'm at work and viewing it through IE, it looks like crap on a stick. Most of the text looks smushed, and isn't going the full width of the sidebar ... but some things (like my progress bars) do utilize the full width. I'm not sure what's wrong, and I don't want to fiddle around with the layout because it looks perfect in Firefox. At least, from what I can remember, it looked perfect. And I haven't even tested it in Safari yet. Sigh. At least I got the whole "Published on" date stuff corrected ... even though I had to get rid of the Time Stamp, and just go with a Date Stamp. But no one really cares what time of the day I posted at anyway.

*** EDIT 11:15am -- The sidebar text isn't smushed anymore! Hoorah!!! Now it looks normal in IE ... but I did have to tweak two things in the code to get it to work. Does it look okay in Firefox still? I guess I'll have to check it out when I get home this afternoon, unless any of you are using FF to view this site.

In PF news, my first PPP post got approved, so all I have to do now is wait for PayPal to confirm the new chequing account I added to my profile. I originally had my chequing and savings accounts with TD Canada Trust, along with both my registered and non-registered mutual fund accounts, a Line of Credit, and a Visa card. But last year, I discovered the wonders of no-fee/unlimited transaction banking from PC Financial (plus high interest rates on their savings accounts!), so I opened up a chequing/savings account with them, and had my pay cheques deposited at PC Financial instead.

I've kept my TD Canada Trust chequing account opened (and have been paying $3.95 in monthly fees) so I could finish paying off my LOC and my student loans ... but now that I'm done, why should I pay $3.95 a month for 20 transactions, when I can get unlimited transactions for free?! So I went into TD last week to close my chequing/savings account, and they tried to get me to come back to TD by offering me a free iPod (depending on what you did, you could get a shuffle, nano or video).

I didn't really get any more information passed that. I was sure I would have come out on top if I had decided to re-open my accounts with them, pay the $3.95 monthly fee and whatever else I had to do, get the free iPod and sell it, and then close the accounts again as soon as the required time passed ... but that just seemed like way too much effort. And I'm glad I didn't take the offer, because Canadian Capitalist just wrote a post about what the stipulations are to get the iPod video, and you have to sign up for a Visa with a $99 annual fee! The nano offer is a bit better, but it requires transferring money, opening up $5,000 worth of GICs, and setting up pre-authorized debit payments. It doesn't seem worth it for the low interest rates they offer. Besides, I already own an iPod video.

So thanks, but no thanks, TD.

While switching over to a new template, I forgot to save all my widgets, so I have to start my entire sidebar over again from scratch. I'm such an idiot.

Also, my new template has some glitches to it. For example, if I make two posts in one day, only the last post will say the date it was published on. That really irritates me. Hopefully I can fiddle around with the CSS and fix it ... or maybe someone who's really into CSS can check out my code and help me out?

The header graphic is hopefully only temporary until I can finish the real one ... which will hopefully play into the name of my blog a little more.

Hopefully I'll have everything sorted out by tonight, or by the latest, tomorrow.

I'm trying to switch to a new layout ... something a little less generic. So please, excuse the mess if everything looks out of place and ugly.

Note: the following post is sponsored

So I found this site called Bid4Prizes. I know that this is supposed to be a sponsored post, but after reading NIUiceprincess’ post on the site, I was going to write about it anyway.

This site has the weirdest concept ever: basically instead of like an eBay auction where the highest bid wins, with Bid4Prizes, the lowest bid wins. And all the bids are fake, because you don’t actually have to pay to win the prize! You don’t even have to pay for the shipping!

Basically how it works is this: the bid for every prize listed on Bid4Prizes starts at 1 penny. But only one person can bid 1 penny. If more than one person bids a penny, then the lowest bid becomes 2 cents, and so on. The winning bid could be any amount, depending on how many people bid on the item.

Right now, they have a 2008 BMW 3 Series on for bidding. I want this car. A lot. I mean, I don’t even own a car, so any car would be great, but a BMW would be fabulous! As I’m typing this, the bid range is currently between 536 – 556 cents. Imagine if the lowest unique bid ended up being less than $10? Chances are it won’t, as you’re allowed to bid up to 20 times in one day, and there are 63 days left for bidding, but a gal can dream, can’t she?

Nothing much to report on the financial scene. Without really trying, I haven't spent any money since Friday, and it looks like clear sailing until this coming Friday as well. It's interesting how, once I make it a goal not to spend money for 7 days (my failed NO SPENDING CHALLENGE attempt), I end up screwing it up on Day 3 ... but when I'm not concentrating on spending money, I can go so much longer without spending a dime.

Yesterday the BF and I went for a 3 hour hike with his dad through Goldstream Park, and all the way up to the active train trestle 300 ft. above the river. On our hike back down, we also saw two abandoned gold mines. It was a great way to get in some exercise, since the BF hates going to the gym. He thinks it's too boring, and would rather exercise outside doing something fun. Afterwards, we were invited back to his parents' house for dinner, and who are we to say no to a free meal! :)

Below are a few pictures I took:

When we were up on the train trestle, I was pretty much scared for my life. The BF kept telling me not to look down, so obviously I spent the entire time looking down through the wooden beams to the river 300 ft. below. We were so high up I started to get dizzy from concentrating so hard. I have a huge fear of heights (and the train was scheduled to come by any minute!), but the BF is really adventurous and just ran off the bridge.

Today the BF is off canoeing with some friends down by the inner harbour area while I'm stuck in the office on this gorgeous day. I need a M-F job. While I really like having Fridays off, I really despise having to work Sundays every week. :(

Note: the following post is sponsored

This is a follow-up to the previous post I made about joining Pay Per Post. PPP now has this really cool feature called PPP Direct, where the basic idea is advertisers can contact bloggers directly to inquire about them writing a post about their product/service. The best part is as a blogger, you get to earn more because PPP Direct cuts out the middle man. This is a great way to make money online because PPP Direct only charges a 10% fee for its services, and half of that goes towards transaction fees through PayPal and credit card processing. Other pay-to-blog sites like ReviewMe charge a 50-100% mark-up, and keep up to half your money!!! That's ridiculous.

Another great feature of PPP Direct is you get to choose how much you want to charge for each post you write, and with the cool PPP Tools available, potential advertisers are able to contact you right from a fill-in form you can put on your website sidebar.

This is something I'd definitely consider doing in the future once this blog becomes more popular (and I can figure out how to drive more traffic here) because you're able to control how much you think your blogging skills are worth, and it seems so simple too!

The refund for the $200 I spent on my prescription sunglasses got deposited into the BF's bank account today, so next week on my day off I'm going to deposit it into my EF, to bring the balance up to $1,200! The refund came much quicker than anticipated, so I'm happy about that.

It's too bad I managed to scratch up the frame and lenses the day after I bought them when they fell off the seat of my scooter and onto the cement. :( At least it's not too noticeable.

Well, I returned the silk trimmed tank top that I bought from RW&Co. because 1) I was feeling guilty for having spent so much over the past few weeks, and 2) it's really too fancy for someone like me to be wearing. I know my goal was to update my look, but I couldn't really pull it off. Plus, I'm happy that I have $62.15 back on my Visa card. :)

Also yesterday I took my mom out for a belated Mother's Day lunch, since she's been busy or away for the past 2 weekends. We went to a yummy sushi restaurant called Yokohama, and it cost me $27 for the both of us.

I got the BF to log into Blue Cross online to see if my claim has been received yet. It's "in progress," and he doesn't think I'll get it in time for June 5th. It's not really a problem, because I can pay for it all on my credit card, and then pay off $1,000 of it right away from my EF. The remainder I can just leave on the CC until the refund comes in, or until I get paid on June 8th. I called Visa to make sure if I did this, I wouldn't incur any interest charges. I still don't really know how credit cards work. It's just weird that all the purchases I've made over the past two weeks won't incur any interest until July 1st (statement will come out on June 10th). That seems so far away! Ever since I've started caring about getting out of debt, I've always paid off the credit card balance in full on the next pay cheque, so I knew for certain I wouldn't be incurring any interest. But I guess it seems right; statement drops June 10th, and you have until the end of the month to pay it.

Note: the following post is sponsored

Well, after much thought, I decided to join Pay Per Post. After weighing the pros and cons, I decided to go for it. After all, I post every day (sometimes 2 or 3 times a day), so why not make a little extra cash doing what I love? The biggest reason why I decided to join PPP is because a lot of my PF friends have also started joining, and they've been making pretty good money doing so. Now that my blog is old enough, I'm really excited to start earning some money! I'm going to stick to PF-relevant posts, because that's what my blog is all about, and I don't want to get away from that.

I think the best part about PPP is the fact that you get to choose the opportunities you want to write about, and you can write your post whenever you want. It's like a really flexible part-time job. I haven't made any money through PPP yet, since this is my first post, but I hope to make $200 by the end of the summer. NIUiceprincess is using her PPP money to pay for her figure skating lessons, so I hope to use my earnings to help pay for my field hockey fees come September.

I'm really glad I found out about PPP through my PF friends. I'm also glad that Canadians are eligible to participate as well, because I know a lot of money-making sites on the internet like Cash Duck and Prosper are only open to residents of the US. It'll be interesting to see what other kinds of PPP posting opportunities I'll be eligible for once I start to post more.

Can you believe it's already June? This month will be a lot better for me financially than May was, mostly because I won't be spending a ridiculous amount of money on clothing. Although, I do have a trip to Seattle planned at the end of June.

June 2007 goals:

• Don't go into debt. This goal is self-explanatory. I use my credit cards to pay for everything so I can get the rewards/cash back ... I just have to make sure I keep tabs on what I'm spending, so I don't go over budget.
• $100 towards RRSP.
  
• $500 towards Emergency Fund. Since my EF is going to be wiped out thanks to my dental surgery on June 5th, I'll have to start all over again. It's kinda depressing since it's taken me nearly a year to get to $1,000 ... but that's what an EF is for, right? Emergencies. And if I didn't have the EF, I'd have to put the surgery on my Visa.
  
• $500 towards Condo Down Payment Fund. Sometimes I just wish my parents would hand me a huge cheque for a down payment, but they're definitely not those kinds of parents. So many of my friends have gotten gifts of money from their parents or a rich relative to fund their down payment. Unfortunately, I have to save up the old fashioned way, and I'm okay with that. Although it does kinda bother me that I've had to pay for my entire education by myself (the 2 years I spent in Michigan were on a scholarship, but I still earned that scholarship myself) ... and my parents are so willing to help out my sister and pay for her education if she runs out of money. When I ran out of money I had to take on student loans!
  
• $300 - $350 budget for my trip to Seattle. Depending on what I do, it could extend to be a 3 night/4 day trip for me because I was thinking of going down for 2 days by myself, and then my friend would drive down and meet me since she isn't able to get the time off work. Of course I'd stay at the hostel while I'm there by myself (that's what I usually do when I take solo trips to Seattle) ... and maybe switch to a B&B when my friend comes down. I'm still trying to convince the BF that he should come down as well, but he definitely would not stay in a hostel, so we'll see!

I updated the sidebar today. My EF and my condo down payment fund are both at the $1,000 mark, which I'm pleased about.

May Goals (end of month review):

• Pay off my Line of Credit. I achieved this on May 11th, and I officially became DEBT FREE!!! :)
  
• $100 towards RRSP. Done!
• $500 towards Emergency Fund. Well, I was only able to contribute $451.66, and I also had to take out $239.45 to pay for my prescription sunglasses. As of today, I haven't received the refund from Blue Cross yet.
  
• $300 towards Condo Down Payment Fund. Contributed $375.
  
• Find another part-time job. I was able to get a contract job from the book publisher for $25/hr, and although I have yet to be assigned any work, I'm confident that this will pan out nicely in the end. I'm still cruising a few job boards to see if any super easy part-time jobs are available, but it's not a big deal anymore. Especially when I know I have my part-time job waiting for me in October when the hockey season starts again.
  

Well, my no spending challenge is over. I can't believe I couldn't even make it passed Day 3. I had my interview today, so I had to pay $5 for 2 hours of parking. Then, after I'm pretty sure I bombed the interview, I went to the mall with my sister and spent $75 on a casual, but fitted button down jacket (with a mandarin collar). It goes great with the work clothes I just bought. Normally I would think the spending was to try and make myself feel better from the crappy interview, but I've been looking for one of those cute fitted jackets for a while now, and I'm happy with the purchase. Although, I may return it because I think I bought the wrong size. If they don't have a smaller size when I go back to the mall tomorrow, then I'll get a refund.

I've debated whether to join Pay Per Post for a while now. Actually, the only reason why I haven't joined already is because this blog isn't 90 days old yet. Since I've been waiting for my blog-birthday (which is on Friday), I'm still on the fence as to whether I'm going to submit my blog for approval. Yes, the extra cash would be great, but do I really want to clutter up my blog with sponsored posts that people will just end up skimming over? Will it dilute the content of this website?

NIUiceprincess over at Life and Debt in Chicago recently posted about her PPP earnings, and it would be awesome to earn that much for so little effort ... but I'm still not sure. For some reason, I see it as selling out to "The Man," much like when an indie artist sells out for the big record label and starts doing TV commercials. And when you see that artist on TV, all you can think about is how much you loved them "back in the day, when it was about the music, and not the money." But then I see the stuff people are writing about, and it doesn't really bother me to just skim over the sponsored posts. I still visit all my favourite blogs every day, whether they PPP or not. And the extra cash would be nice ...

What do you think? Do you use PPP or a similar pay-to-blog system? How do you feel when you see another blog start to post for money?

So, since I've decided to try and not spend money until the end of the month (except for necessities like groceries, gas, bills), I realize that this is going to be harder than I thought. I have three separate coffee dates with three of my very best friends coming up, so how can I avoid that? Maybe I'll suggest getting the coffee "to go" so we can walk around the water, and just bring a water bottle instead. But that'll only work if it's nice out.

I also lent a co-worker $1 yesterday. Does that count as spending? I don't expect to get the money back, and technically I didn't spend it ... but I'm $1 poorer as a result. I guess I should just pretend that it doesn't count, otherwise my NO SPENDING CHALLENGE will have ended on the first day, and that's just sad.

And speaking of spending, does everyone have to pay money to see their credit score? I paid back in March when I wanted to see mine, but I don't want to be a chump and spend the money again if I can just see it for free somewhere, or even pay a certain amount and see all 3 ... I think in the USA they have an option to monitor their credit score, but I have yet to see something like that for Canadians. I don't mind paying money to see my credit score, but when I'm paying something like $15 for just a one-time score with one of the three companies, it seems like a raw deal.

So I was just reading an article about a gas station clerk up to her eye balls in debt. She found $10, bought a lottery ticket, and won $1 million. This is probably my greatest fantasy - winning the lottery. Reading the article really made me want to go out and buy a ticket, because you never know! But this is only Day 1 of my NO SPENDING CHALLENGE, so I'd better not.

Anyway, this woman that won the $1 million, she opted to receive $50k for the next 20 years ($34,500 after taxes) because she said if she got a lump sum, she'd be broke again in 5 years. I notice a lot of lottery winners end up broke again in a ridiculously short amount of time. I guess they couldn't handle the money, or lived well above their means.

I can't help but wish I were friends with this woman, because even if she took the entire lump sum, she could at least stash it away in an RRSP or even GICs, where the money can't really be touched (if she's worried about spending it all) ... because at least then, it'll be earning her interest. And it'll be HUGE interest too, even if she put it in a savings account earning 4%. If she continue to work, she could probably live quite comfortably on the interest earned alone each year.

Although I do understand the psychological advantages of having a yearly "bonus" of $35k ... but over 20 years I bet she'd get pretty comfortable with that kind of cash. It might come as a shock to her in Year 21, when she gets nothing. I only hope she's going to save most of that money each year for her kids and for her future. And what if for some reason in 15 years, the lottery corporation is abolished, and there's not enough money to pay out all the winners? Another reason to just take the cash and run!

When I win the lottery, I'm definitely going to opt for the lump sum payout.

The bad news is I spent a bunch of money yesterday. The good news is I'm back on the frugal/saving wagon, and I'm ready to go! My Visa bill is going to be ginormous, but at least I budgeted for it (somewhat), and I can afford to pay the entire thing off on Friday when I get paid.

So, what did I buy? 2 new pairs of shoes for $136.62. I was originally just going to buy a dressy pair since I have to give the ones I've been wearing back to my cousin, but then I saw they were having a buy-one-get-one-40%-off sale, and it's not that great of a sale, but I thought why not? I needed a new pair of casual shoes anyway for the summer. I felt exactly like Becky Bloomwood when I was justifying the purchase in my head. But for some reason, that still didn't stop me from buying them!

Then I had to fork over $35 to get 3 pairs of pants hemmed (the ones I bought over the weekend). It sucks being short! The only pants that have ever fit me in length are from The Gap, and I have to buy their "ankle" or "short" sizes for them to fit properly. But at least they fit. It's too bad I don't really like that store.

Also, I treated the BF to lunch yesterday since I dragged him shoe shopping with me. And let's face it, any guy who sits through an entire morning of "do these shoes make my calves look big?" or "do you think the stitching on the toe is too much?" deserves a treat. Not that I actually said those things, but you know what I mean.

So there you have it. My spending confession for yesterday. Dreamy over at Blogging My Way Out Of Debt challenged herself to not spend anything for 7 whole days, and I think I'm going to try and do the same thing, but I will try it out until the end of the month. So I can't spend any money from now until June 1st, unless it's on necessities like groceries and obviously bills I have to pay. We'll see how it turns out! Today is Day 1.

Just as a little "hoorah" sidenote, my friend Belle starts her new job today! :)

Since I forgot my water bottle at home, I decided to buy a water out of the vending machines for the first time since I started working here. There's just something about tap water that grosses me out, plus I can taste the difference between tap water, and the Brita water I usually drink.

I saw that we were offering a "lemon" Dasani water for the same price as the regular kind, so I decided to give it a try. BIG MISTAKE. YUCK! I thought it would be a refreshing subtle lemon taste, kinda like a few drops of squeezed lemon ... but instead, it's just an over-powering, sickening sweet taste that feels like it's rotting my teeth to the core. Plus, now I have a gross aspartame taste in my mouth.

Now, instead of feeling fresh and hydrated, I'm pissed off because I'm thirsty and $1.75 poorer.

I complained on one of the Technorati message boards, and my blog pings are now being recognized. :) So, hoorah! Not that I've gotten any traffic from Technorati before ... but still. At least it's working.

It feels like I've been away from my blog for ages, but it's only been 3 days! My mini-vacation was terrific, although I must admit I spent way more than I thought I would. Not a ridiculous amount, but definitely not something I'd just spend on any weekend, and it was all due to the most beautiful two words in the English language: outlet mall. Now, I went to this mall last year, but I was in so much debt back then that I didn't even THINK about going into all the fabulous stores. But this time, I was on a mission. When I first stepped foot in the Banana Republic outlet store, it was like the mother ship calling me home. I was in heaven! And I swear I could have spent about a bazillion more hours in there had we not been on a tight schedule. The worst part was, we only had 1.5 hours at the mall, and I only ended up having time to visit BR and Ann Taylor! Although maybe it was a good thing, considering how much I spent.

Just so I can feel bad about my spending, let me list it all out for you:

Thursday

• $12 - ferry
• $2 - oat bar (mostly I bought it to get change for the bus)
• $2.25 - public transit
• $34.00 - dinner for 2 at Mongolian Grill

Daily Total: $50.25

---
Friday

• $35 - fabulous gray work pants from Esprit. Discounted from $75!
• $65 - beautiful tie-in-the-back tank top with silk trim from RW&Co. It can be dressed down with a cardigan for work, and it would also be really nice for the summer. I'm still really debating whether to keep it or not, but it's so darn cute.
• $2.25 - public transit
• $78 - two silk/cotton blend cardigans (cream & navy) from the Ann Taylor outlet store. They were on sale for 40% off.
• $139 - 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of black pants, 2 camisoles (black & cream), and a brown sleeveless work top from the Banana Republic outlet store. The two pairs of pants were 30% off, and the brown top was 40% off, but the camisoles were regular price ($20 each).
• $8 - dinner at Panda Express. Hey, we were in a hurry!
• $5 - ticket to the baseball game. My friend's friend had 4 tickets to the game that he had won by calling in on a TV sports talk show that he gave us (2 for our admission, and 2 he wanted us to try and sell). The tickets were valued at $45 each, and the seats were awesome! Anyway, we sold the extra pair to a scalper for $30, and then chipped in another $5 each, so we could give $40 to her friend.
• $7 - beer at the ball park (who goes to a baseball game and doesn't have at least one beer?)
• $10 - gas money to my friend
• $20 - gambled the rest of my US money at the Tulialip casino. I know, I probably shouldn't have done that. We have driven passed that casino a million times before, and have never gone. There's no way I can really justify this though.

Daily Total: $369.25
---
Saturday

• $15 - lunch for 2 at Metrotown
• $45 - zip up Billabong hoodie. I know, a hoodie is not considered work attire, but it was SO cute, and it was 50% off. I'm kinda kicking myself for impulse shopping like that, and I can't even return it because I wore it on the ferry trip home because I was cold.
• $1.50 - tea at Tim Horton's
• $20 - dessert treats for my mom, dad, sister, and the BF from the Granville Island market. They were pretty expensive, but I really wanted to get them something for some reason.
• $8 for 11 pieces of sushi and a bottle of water at Granville Island
• $6 - ferry (we scored a super saver ferry, so the price was pretty much half off)

Daily Total: $95.50

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Grand Total Spent on clothes: $362
Grand Total Spent on food: $75.50
Grand Total Spent on presents: $20
Grand Total Spent on transportation: $32.50
Grand Total Spent on entertainment: $5
Grand Total Spent on miscellaneous dumb things: $20
Grand Total Spent: $515

That was a pretty expensive weekend!!! Granted, $317 of it was on work clothes. And if I end up returning that top from RW&Co, then that brings the total down to $252 on clothes (even though I really don't want to return it ... but should I?) So that means, I spent $198 for everything else (without the hoodie, the total would only be $153), and that isn't really that bad. The killer was all the dining out we did. My friend is in the process of moving apartments, so she had no food at her place, and all of her dishes/pots/pans were packed up. So we really had no choice. Although, I'm sure if we had planned better, we could have eaten more frugally.

All in all, I'm pretty satisfied with the clothes I was able to buy. I still want to get some button-down shirts, maybe a skirt, and a couple of tops ... shoes, purse ... LOL but over time. No rush to get everything all at once. Plus, I don't think my budget could handle another spending spree like I just had. :)

So, aside from the $20 for gambling, I don't think I did too badly ... but when we go back down to Seattle next month, I'm definitely not going to spend anywhere near that amount.

I'm taking the 5pm ferry today to Vancouver, then tomorrow we head down to Seattle to watch a baseball game. Saturday is dedicated to shopping, and I will hop on one of the last ferries home that night. With the Canadian dollar being so strong now, I hardly had to pay any extra for the exchange rate to take out American cash at the bank today. It used to be really expensive going down to the states, so I always had to really save up and watch my spending. Now, it's much more convenient because I know the sticker price of an item is going to be almost the same after the exchange rate.

So, this will be my last post until Sunday. I hope everyone is doing well, and if you're travelling this long weekend, have fun and be safe! :)

The past few days, I've been reading a message board about Canadian student loans. Basically, the hundreds of people who have joined this message board want the Canadian government (i.e. the tax payers) to pay off all outstanding student loans. They are starting a petition, and contacting politicians, etc. To me, this under minds all the hard work it took to pay off my stupid loans, and all the hard work all my classmates are going through right now, trying to pay back what they owe.

Yes, I understand that life happens, and sometimes your financial situation changes along with it. But student loans are a luxury offered by the government to people who can't afford to pay for their education up front. It's like a 0% interest credit card for the duration of your schooling, and that's pretty generous in my opinion. If someone racked up their Visa, and then at the end of the month, realized they couldn't pay it off, is Visa just going to relieve them of their debt? No. They don't care about life. They care about their money. So why should the government be any different when it comes to loaning us money?

And a lot of people don't even know what student loans really are when they apply for them. A lot of the people were angry because they didn't realize that after graduating, interest would still accrue during their 6-month grace period. Some didn't even realize how big their monthly payments were going to be. And we all know those people who spend their student loans on alcohol, a new TV, a vacation, etc. Sure, most aren't like that, but some are.

I empathize with the grads who weren't able to get a job right away, or who have to support a family. I really do. A lot of my friends are in the same situation, and it's hard for them. But at the same time, I don't want my tax dollars going to erasing their debt just because they aren't able to pay off their loans. It may be selfish, but isn't it also selfish to want the country's tax payers to pay for what they spent? Maybe they should have evaluated whether they were willing to sacrifice it all after graduation in order to pay the loans off.

There are a ton of ways to pinch pennies and make it work (as I've found over the months, by reading all of your PF blogs), but a lot of them just don't want their lifestyle to change because they've gotten comfortable. They don't want a strict budget to follow. Or maybe they're overwhelmed. Move home if you have to. Clip coupons, get rid of the car, move to a city with a lower cost of living! Just do something ... because complaining isn't going to make the debt go away any faster. Well, it might if by some miracle the government decided to erase the country's student loan debt. And while it may be great for those students who do get their debt erased, I'm sure it'll piss off the thousands and thousands of grads who have already paid off their loans.

And I'm not just spouting off here because I have my loans paid off. I've always felt this way. I'd love to get my B.A. right now, but I can't afford being $20k in debt again, so I'll wait a few years and save up so I don't have to take out huge loans. It has always annoyed me to see all the student protests at Parliament, wanting the government to get rid of their debt. They knew how much their education was going to cost them before they started school, so why are they so upset? Yes, tuition is ridiculously high, but what are you going to do? In North American culture, post secondary education is a privilege, not a right. And until the government changes their attitude, that's just the way it's going to be.

The bottom line is: complain all you want about paying back your student loans. Those payments suck! The system sucks! DEBT SUCKS! It's all true! But at the end of the day, just pay the loans back and stop trying to score a free ride from the Canadian tax payers.

Maybe I'm being insensitive, but I just think debt is debt, no matter who you owe money to. What do you think? Am I a complete asshole?

I am excited. My friend left me a message last night, and asked if I wanted to go down to Seattle and catch an interleague baseball game this Friday night! Sweet! The whole trip probably won't cost me more than $100 ($25 for the ferry, $10 for the PCL bus, $5 for public transportation, $30 for food, and $25 for gas = $95). She lives in Vancouver, so after the ball game, we could just fly up the I-5 and I could crash at her place. I anticipate shopping in Seattle on Friday before the game, and shopping in Vancouver on Saturday. :) Maybe in bigger cities I'll have more luck with my work wardrobe goal. I'll talk to her later tonight to finalize the details.

Seattle is by far, my favourite American city. It's so beautiful, and it has so much culture. Plus, it's close to home, and right on the water. If I ever have to move to the US, I hope to end up there. While I think I've travelled a lot throughout the states, I haven't been farther south than Missouri and Kentucky ... well I've been to Anaheim, but you know what I mean. I'd love to travel the entire East Coast one day, from Charlottetown to Miami.

In the past three days, I've been shopping for a total of 8 hours, and I haven't bought one article of clothing. NOT ONE! Since I've made it a goal to purchase new pieces for my work wardrobe, I can't find anything I like. Maybe it's hard to break out of my frugal/saving ways, and maybe I'm finding flaws just so I don't spend the money ... I'm not sure. I did find a really nice chocolate brown wrap cardigan from Jacob for $60, but I didn't buy it because 1) the pants I would have worn them with are ugly and they don't even really fit me, 2) I couldn't find any new pants that I liked, and 3) doesn't $60 seem like a lot for a stupid cardigan?

To be fair, the shopping choices in this city are pretty limited. This might require a trip to Vancouver. At least over there they have a lot more selection. A trip to the "big city" would probably cost me $50 in travel, with the ferry and PCL bus. I have friends and family I can stay with, so perhaps it's a possibility. Or maybe even a day trip.

In work-related news, my boss told me he's going to have to sit down with me and give me a formal evaluation. He said he was supposed to do it at the 90-day mark, but now we're passed the 6 months since I've been here ... so I guess that means I've been good enough to keep around at least. :) I think he's getting anxious that I'm going to leave this position soon, because I only have less than 6 months left in this contract before preggo comes back.

I'm having major problems with Technorati lately. Actually, I've always had problems with Technorati. It's just that I haven't really cared about it until just recently. It seems that no matter what I do, Technorati never acknowledges the fact that I've updated my blog. I followed the steps on their website to auto ping using Blogger, and then I've also been manually pinging them with no luck. A few days ago I e-mailed them, but haven't heard back yet.

It's not that I particularly care about being listed on Technorati, it's just the fact that it's not working that irritates me ... especially when I see other blogs hosted on Blogger being updated with no problem. So are there any Technorati-savvy people out there that might know what the problem is?

I'm an idiot. Long story short, I bashed a huge hole in my bedroom door with my field hockey stick. The bad news is the door has to be replaced. The good news is it only cost me $40 to get a new one at Home Depot. But the BF is going to have to measure it all, and then drill the holes so that the knob and stuff fit in. Lesson learned? No playing sports indoors!

As for the Death By Chocolate thing on Friday night, it was delicious. I was a little disappointed they didn't have some sort of extravagant chocolate fountain, but I'm sure a whole table of desserts more than made up for it. We had a great time stuffing our faces with $12 martinis and about a billion calories worth of rich, yummy chocolate. It was an expensive, yet well deserved treat.

Also I neglected to mention that yesterday I had to go to a baby shower. It seems like these days, all my friends are getting preggo or married, or both. I bought her some cute pajamas from Baby Gap, and that set me back about $30. Then I ate until I could eat no more. I swear, the food must be the best part of a baby shower, because it sure as hell wasn't listening to all the women talking about their experiences giving birth. Yes, miracle of life, blah blah blah ... but did they have to go into excruciating detail about it? The act of giving birth is probably the most disgusting thing I've ever heard of in my entire life.

Last night, the BF took me out for dinner as a make-up for the fight we had earlier when he discovered what I did to the door ... apparently sticking up a piece of newspaper with masking tape didn't do the trick (hahaha what was I thinking?) - maybe I should destroy things more often if it means a free dinner out! I ate a salad as big as my face.

So, it's been a good weekend, despite the fact that I probably gained about 50 pounds in the process. I hope everyone else had a fabulous weekend as well!

I AM DEBT-FREE!!!

My hands are shaking right now as I type this. I can't believe I've finally rid myself of the financial baggage and stress I've carried for so long!!! Goodbye student loans! Goodbye stupid line of credit! You're all dead to me now!

Starting this blog was one of the best decisions I've ever made, because it made me accountable for my spending habits. So thank you all for your support! :) You might notice that I've updated the sidebar today as well. I rolled my LOC and Student Loans into one category called "My Debt" to save space. I also put July 14th, 2006 as the starting date, because that's when I made my first payment towards my debt. I put $100 into my EF, $100 into the condo down payment fund, and $50 towards my RRSPs.

Ahhhh!! I'm practically bouncing off the walls with excitement. Time to get out of the house and celebrate! Well, seeing as it isn't even 8am yet, maybe I should wait. :)

Well, I just called the dentist and made my appointment to get my teeth fixed for June 5th, and then a follow-up fitting for June 21st. I was originally thinking it would cost over $1,500 to get everything done (my medical only covered like $600 of it), but I was quoted around $1,230. It's still expensive, but it's my smile we're talking about here. I know it'll be worth it.

I'm hoping to get my medical claim back on my sunglasses by then, so I'll have almost $800 in my Emergency Fund I can use towards the dentist bill. I'm pretty sure by June 5th I can come up with the extra $400+. I have 2 pay cheques until then, so it will be fine. I think.

Bye bye, EF. It was nice knowing you.

I am a mess when it comes to my appearance at work. If you saw what I wear to the office, compared to what my co-workers wear, you'd probably be appalled. I wear skate shoes to the office. I wear zip-up hoodies. I wear khakis. And sometimes, I even wear yoga pants. Every day is casual Friday in my world. I never wear make-up, and I rarely ever do my hair. My co-workers, on the other hand, wear cute, fashionable clothes. They always look fresh and polished; they look like they belong there. I, on the other hand, look like a disheveled college student.

During the hockey season, if I had to work at the arena after my day job, I would get up extra early, take a shower, put on make-up, flat iron my hair, and dress in the few 'office appropriate' pieces I own. I took the bus to preserve my fresh appearance for the day, and dammit I looked good! But even those days were few and far between, because most games were on the weekends.

It's mostly due to a convenience factor. I get up at 6:50am, and am on the road by 7:25am. I don't put on make-up or do my hair because it'll just get ruined in my helmet during my 35 minute scooter commute. I don't wear nice clothes because it's a lot of effort to take an extra change of clothing/shoes to change into once I get to work. Plus, I don't have a lot of "nice" clothes anyway. And besides, I just sit in my office and stare at my computer screen all day long. Who's going to care what I look like anyway?

ME! I care! Just because I look like a college slob doesn't mean I like it! I want to shout from the top of the roof! "I CAN LOOK CUTE AND PROFESSIONAL IF I WANTED TO!!!" But I'm stuck. It would take a lot of effort (and some money) to look more professional. I console myself every time I look at myself in the washroom mirrors at work, that I'm saving money by continuing to wear clothes I should have given to my kid sister years ago. But I need to change. Something has to give. All in all, I have one pair of nice work pants, a work skirt, a cardigan I stole from my cousin, and a couple of tops. That's it. Sprucing up my appearance is something I need to do in order to be taken seriously in the business world - especially in the industry I'm in ... I can't just feel confident, I need to look the part as well. I'm beginning to realize that appearance is important in this world of first impressions.

Lately, I've been obsessed with that TV show, What Not To Wear. Stacey and Clinton always look so fabulous. I wish someone would nominate me for that show. I wouldn't even care about going in the 360 degree room, or being torn apart on national TV. If it meant a completely new wardrobe, it'd be worth it.

So I'm resolving to put more effort into my look. I'm going to look high and low to find classic pieces for my wardrobe. They have to be 100% perfect, or I won't buy them. And maybe I don't have to go as far as wearing a power suit to work (not that I own one), but would it kill me to spend 20 minutes in the morning at least attempting to look presentable?

I just got an e-mail back from the guy who was looking for someone to do contract work for him, and he said he thinks we'd work really well together, and wants to start handing work over to me within the next month or so. Sweet! I don't anticipate a lot of work being given to me in the beginning ... but at $25/hr, even a few hours a week is going to mean a good chunk of money coming in.

He said the work is going to be on an on-going basis, so I'm thinking that part-time ushering job is probably going to get axed from my future plans. I'd have to work over 3 hrs. at that ushering job to bring in the same amount I'd make in just an hour of contract work.

Hoorah! I'm really excited to start, and that means my side business is officially going to take off and become a reality. Every penny I earn from this contract work will go straight towards my condo down payment fund.

Whoops. I ended up spending $19.22 on dinner yesterday, instead of the intended "less than $10" I thought I would spend. We ended up not having a BBQ as planned, and just went for tapas downtown instead. I also had a tea at Starbucks for $1.70 beforehand. I am officially the worst budgeter in the entire world, and the worst part is that I don't think "budgeter" is even a word. Sigh.

No, actually the worst part was the fact that I got food poisoning from the food, and ended up throwing it all up when I got home. When I was standing there in the washroom, looking at my own puke in the toilet, all I could think of was that I was about to flush away $20 of my hard earned money. I guess that's karma telling me I shouldn't have spent so much, lol!

It's a lot of money to spend when I'm trying to save up, and I know I shouldn't have, but on the bright side, I got to spend some time with my friend who has been going through a really rough spot in her life. And we all know how hard it is trying to convince someone who's depressed to get out and be social.

On Friday, we are all still going to the Death By Chocolate thing, but after that, this blogger is going to get back on track. I promise. $30/month for dining out is attainable. I just have to try harder.

I've been spending a lot lately on food. I really really need to stop, but it's only going to get worse in the next week or so ... and for that, I feel really guilty. But not that guilty.

Oh, and I also requested to transfer the $239.45 from my emergency fund over to my chequing, so I can pay for those sunglasses. Then when the claim comes back from my health care, I'll put it back in the EF.

What I've spent so far:

• $5.29 (Sunday) - bought a large blizzard at Dairy Queen for the BF and I to share while we were out for a walk during the evening.
• $9.52 Koya Japan (Wednesday) - bought dinner for my sister and I while we were out shopping for new work clothes (for her). My only saving grace was that I didn't buy any clothes, and I resisted both Baskin Robbins and Ben & Jerrys at the mall.
• $3.34 JJ's Coffee House (Thursday) - bought a tea and a muffin while out of the office for the morning running some errands with a co-worker. I should have brought my cheese and crackers that I packed for lunch, and used one of my own tea bags that I have at work, but when my co-worker suggested going to grab a snack, I couldn't say no.

Total Damage: $18.15. Now, that's not bad by any means, but all of them could have been avoided. Especially when I had set a $30/month budget for dining out, and I blew the April budget ... it sucks. And then when I think to myself that I've been doing so well repaying my debts, I deserve a little treat, I get mad. It's that whole "sense of entitlement" feeling that I hate having.

What I plan on spending:

• $17 at the Fairmont Empress Hotel for their "Death By Chocolate" dessert buffet (on Friday). Okay, this is a total want vs. need. Not only is this pre-planned, but I'm the one doing the planning! LOL! But this is 5 hours of all-you-can-eat chocolate desserts at the classiest (and most famous) hotel in town. Plus, I plan on treating my good friend to her bill as well, because 1) I didn't get her a birthday present, and 2) her boyfriend just dumped her suddenly on Wednesday. And we all know that chocolate cures all.
• $10 for my share of the groceries for tonight's BBQ with a few of my friends. I don't anticipate this being very much - at least not more than $10.

I feel like I'm 16 all over again and rebelling against my parents, except that I'm 24 and rebelling against my own budget. And that's kinda sad.

Wanda over at Well-Heeled wrote a post about the "voices" of other bloggers, and the impression that she gets from some of them. I thought it was pretty interesting, so I decided to create my own little list of a few of my favourite blogs, and why I love them so much! :)

Life and Debt in Chicago - She's amazing! Not only is she trying to save up for a wedding, get out of debt, and contribute to her retirement, but she's also not sacrificing her life in the process. And, she just bought a condo with her fiance! When I first started my PF blog, hers was one of the ones to inspire me, because we're the same age (well, I think I'm a year younger), and I think we have a lot in common. I hope when I eventually get married, I'm able to save like she is, and have the wedding I want without going into debt.

Melissa's Musings - I love Melissa. She makes me laugh every day with her stories about her future house that's being built. She visits her lot practically every day, and I'm pretty sure she'd camp out there until it's finished being built if she were allowed. She's also always looking for new ways to do things, and often has some really thoughtful posts. Melissa is always so bubbly and positive, it's hard not to feel the same way after reading her blog!

Running With Scissors - One of the newest blogs that I've found. She's so ambitious! Not only is she studying to become a lawyer, but she's also starting to really get into personal finance. I like her blog because she's quirky, and she always makes me smile.

An English Major's Money - A great storyteller. I always love reading this blog because it always gets me thinking, and the writing is always very honest. For some reason this blog makes personal finance "real" to me, but I can't really explain how or why, or what exactly I mean by it. At any rate, it's definitely one of my favourite blogs.

Saving for a Home of My Own - I love this blog. She has just started saving for her first condo, and she's already so focused on her goal by literally saving every last cent she earns. I also like that she's a female first-time-home-owner, so I feel a sense of camaraderie with her. She also has some really great tips about how you can save a few bucks here and there, and I get the impression that she has the same kind of mentality as me, that every dollar counts!

And last but not least ...

Well-Heeled: 20something life & money - I think we have a lot in common. We are both around the same age, and are both trying to to achieve some sort of financial freedom by making our hard-earned money work for us. She always has interesting tidbits on personal finance, or something thoughtful to say about a particular subject. She also takes the time to write meaningful comments on other PF blogs, and I really like that.

What are some of your favourite blogs?

Anyway, there you have it! Just a few of my favourite blogs that I read. Of course, all the blogs on the sidebar I read on a daily basis through Google Reader. I've also been getting a lot of new traffic lately through MyBlogLog (welcome!), so if you'd like to subscribe to my feed, please do!