Freedom

Finally! I can say that I AM DEBT FREE!!

Some of you out there know how that feels, and for those of you who don't, you'll get there eventually; however sooner is better than later!

I've gone back and forth with what I want to do with this blog since my last post in February. Do I continue it or do I push it down the stairs and see if it gets back up again? To be honest, I've written this post about 10 times and none of the entries seem to have the right tone with how I should feel about completing my goal. But how am I supposed to feel other than overjoyed, and why the h-e-double hockey sticks wasn't I feeling that way. I had finally reached the end of the roller coaster and all the thrills and excitement were gone and I didn't want to invest another $40,000 to take the ride again. Some people have asked me what I'm going to do now that the debt is gone and I told them I was going to go on a $40,000 shopping spree now that my credit is all freed up -JOKING of course!!

The main reason that I was hesitant to write a "woohoo I'm debt free post" initially was my income tax bill. In an effort to scramble and get all of my debt paid off, I earned too much money and didn't invest any of it into RRSPs or other tax-deductable expenses. This left me with a $2,600 tax bill. I was really pissed off when I got that bill. It felt like a slap to face and a kick to the balls at the same time. There I was, prepared to have my big moment here on the Internet, but now I was back in debt. To add to that bill, I had already gone out and booked flights home for my sister's wedding and went on a trip to Halifax . Now, I was left with a credit card bill which delayed my payments on my taxes. My focus became making sure that my credit card didn't hold a balance (which it doesn't) and getting this tax bill paid off as soon as possible.

Yesterday, I finally bit the bullet and spent some of my savings to pay off my income tax. It was a hard pill to swallow, especially as I am about to go on vacation for 2 weeks and I was hoping that I would have more cash to spend. But the universe is cruel sometimes, so I just accepted the fact that this debt had to die once and for all, so I threw a punch to the jugular and watched that debt monster crash to floor dead, hopefully for the last time.

It's been several months now since I initially paid off my debt and tweeted back and forth with Gail about it, so people have been wondering what I have been doing now that I don't have any more debt to tackle. One question I often get is "Why do you still have two jobs?" I've really grown to love the yoga studio and the work that I do there. Yes, it takes up a lot of my time, but I am really getting to know a lot of amazing people with incredible stories of strength and courage which keeps me motivated to strive to be my best. Not only that, I get paid to be there. If you ever think about finding a second job, I highly recommend working in some kind of fitness place. Eventually I know that my second job will have to come to an end, but for now, I'm enjoying the extra income.

The biggest question which I'm not even sure of the answer is: "What is going to happen to this blog?"

Part of me really wants to keep this blog going somehow, and another part of me wants to end it so that something else can be born from it. I have been floating around the idea that I could turn this into a book (with A LOT of editing) or maybe making a new blog that follows how I go about saving my money. What I can see myself doing is becoming a not-for-profit financial advisor. I really like to help people with their money troubles and I know that there are millions of people out there who don't have a clue about what to do to get into the black. I've amassed a lot of knowledge about money and I know in my heart that I need to keep supporting people with their goals.

I remember one of my earlier drafts was heavily focused on how depressed I was about the way that things fizzled out (admittedly due to my own lack of writing and posting). But that wasn't the way that this happy story was supposed to end. When I met Gail Vaz-Oxlade, I hoped for something that was going to take me to another level and maybe turn this blog into something that was read by the masses. I think that I had set the expectations for myself really high. The reality is, that's the attitude that carried me to the end of my goal in record time. I aimed for the moon and settled for nothing less.

There's something that I have learned from all of this. Debt never goes away. There will always be someone that you need to pay back, whether it's $20 from a friend for a meal, or income tax, even just bank fees. The trick is to stay one step ahead. Know your enemy. Debt isn't designed to be easy to get rid of. It takes a lot of personal strength and the right attitude to beat it.   

When I started doing this journey, I had no idea how big an impact it would have on my life. Before I started, I was seriously anxious and depressed about my future. I didn't want to become another one of those people who was trapped without any way to escape their debt. Being open and honest with my friends and family has brought me closer to them. There was an outpouring of love and respect that I never imagined. Admittedly, I had my doubts about whether or not I could do this. I went from being the guy who bought a $300 sweater to being the guy who hadn't bought a pair of shoes in 3 years. I learned that a brunch cooked at home with your loved ones will bring you so much closer together than an $100 meal or $200 bar tab. The question is, can you make those sacrifices to get you that big reward?

Take some time to really look at yourself. You can do this to! You are not alone, and you can be debt free. When I met Gail, I thanked her for helping me get out of debt and for all that she had done for me. Gail frankly said to me "I didn't do anything. You did all the work, I simply gave you the tools to get there."

Thank you for all the love and support over the years. I know that I will be back here again, but only time will tell what's next.  

Back to the Drawing Board

Gail's Newest Book! 

You know, I have been really kind of silly these past few weeks. Instead of writing my blog on a Sunday, I use my Monday nights to write my blog instead of tuning in a watching my idol, Gail Vaz-Oxlade’s show Til Debt Do Us Part. She now apparently has 4 different shows, one for homes, one for babies, one for “Princesses” and the last is the original. Let me tell you, girlfriend has been busy! It just goes to show, that when you work hard at something, you can achieve a lot and Gail seems to be the shining example of that. Not only is she shooting all these different shows, she also manages her own blog and gives her own musings on a variety of financial subjects and she does so more than once a week. Add in all the books she's written and this woman is out of control! That being said, I am seriously going to start committing to writing my blog on the weekend so that I can start tuning in to Gail on Monday nights!

I like to believe that my blog is a bit more on the ‘real’ side than hers since I am the one who is actually still paying off their debt, whereas Gail is really getting far ahead and doesn’t really have anything new to say that I haven’t heard her say on her shows, but maybe that’s because I can’t go more than a couple of days without talking about her. Who knows, maybe one day Gail and I will be partners in crime, helping people everywhere pay off their debt – and there seems to be more and more of these people everyday. Can you imagine having your debt get so out of control that you need to take another mortgage on your home, or having to sell your home just to stay afloat, or even worse - move back in with your parents? None of those options sound like something that I want to have happen in my life! These sorts of thoughts help keep me in check and on track to paying off my debt, for sure (more so the idea of getting to work with Gail).

It was definitely the worst of times. 

It’s hard to say lately, but although I have been able to maintain my goal of having 33% of my debt paid off within a year, I am letting a number of other things slip between the cracks. For example, I am in a book club and I have had more that 6 weeks to read one simple book, A Tale of Two Cities. Sure it’s a classic and it’s a bit heavy, but really, there is no excuse for me to be on page 20 out of 386 pages and the book club meets in 2 days! Maybe it’s because it got rotten plums all over it, or perhaps the fact that I put some of my commitments to the wayside in order for me to just spend money and ignore commitments. Sure, this isn’t the end of the world, but the reality is, that I feel like I am letting myself fall short on things that I actually get quite a bit of enjoyment from. If I would have just allowed myself 30 minutes a day from the moment that I bought this book up until now, I would not be in this situation.

You know when you live paycheck to paycheck and by the time you get to the day before your next check you don’t even have enough money leftover to make a withdrawal from your account? Well, that’s been me for the past two paychecks. Mind you, I have been dumping a lot of money into my savings account and I have been keeping all my bills paid, but I think that I am putting myself into this situation simply because I am getting way to lax on my planning. Truth be told, I am very happy that I have not yet had to resort to using my credit card or transferring any of my money out of my savings account, but it’s a hard pill to swallow when I look into my checking account and only see $22.02! However, I do know that that’s how much money I have in my account without even having to look it up, so at least I am somewhat responsible, right?

Yes, even KFC's picture of it looks gross. 

With the risk of writing another blog with no point looming, I’ve decided to take on a challenge, and no, I’m not talking about KFC’s Double-down; I’m talking about a financial challenge. I start my weekly budget on Wednesdays (because that’s the day I get paid) so I want to make sure that I have a solid plan to make my weekly budget of $140 actually last until the next Wednesday. I figure that the best way to do this is to use resources that I already have, as well as throwing in a little bit of something different to spice things up a bit. I recently discovered a website called Gojee.com and let me tell you, I am in love with it so much, that if I spend any more time with it, it could get pregnant. The concept is really simple, you login, tell the website what you are craving, and it gives you a cornucopia of recipes for your perusing pleasure. What is even better, you can tell the website what ingredients you have, and it will find you all sorts of recipes that use ingredients you currently have. Even better, if you have allergies or hate certain types of food (i.e. ketchup or raw apples – disgusting) you can tell Gojee and they’ll leave those ingredients out! Yes Caitlin, there are other websites that do this, but this one is effing sweetest, so in yo’ face! My hope is that this website will really give me a leg up when it comes to planning my grocery list and I can buy items that complement the items I already have and let me shop for things with common ingredients in order to save a fortune!

Gojee!
Even their new logo is awesome!

Another way that I am going to get more organized is to actually start using my agenda in my phone. I have so many different events and things that to do (I know, I know, shut up Mr. Popular) but sometimes I find myself wearing thin both mentally and financially. This way, I am going to check my agenda every week and see what I have committed myself to and how much money I plan on spending there. For example, if I am going to be going to book club, I will probably need to buy some kind of barbecuable (I know that’s not a word) item which I will need to budget for, so let’s say $7.50. Now I know how much more money have left to spend for the rest of the week and that will cover me off for that day. I think what is most important is that I figure out a way to average the same kinds of costs each day and not go overboard when I don’t have to. Now that I think about it, it might be even smarter if I were to look at the month ahead to figure out where I will be spending extra in order to really plan ahead and save up the money for those special events. I have a cooking class coming up on the 21^st with my aunt which will be lots of fun, but it will cost me $60 (I think) so it would be in my best interest to take $20 from the next three weeks and put that aside in order to keep my budget in line.

Oh boy, budgeting can be both so challenging and both so boring at the same time! I don’t know how you guys can continue to read all the stuff that I ramble about sometimes. Alright, I am going to take a page out from the book of one of my subscribers. Starting on Wednesday, for each day that I do well and stay on budget, I am going to give myself a gold star, or better yet, a golden Gail face, and put it into a chart at the end of the week. If I do well, I should see nothing but shining happy Gail faces across the board! Wish me lots of luck, because I think I really will need it to re-break my bad habits and get back on my budget track!

p.s. This post is specially dedicated to my blogging friend Caitlin who is going to be “jumping the pond” for a year to study in the UK. All the best Caitlin!

If you are looking for delicious recipes, be sure to check out her blog (with a banner designed by yours truly)!

Revisiting my Goals

Douchebags? 

Last week when I was doing my budget analysis worksheet, I noticed the list of goals/wants from when I first started this process which I had completely forgotten about. One of Gail’s most important exercises in the debt repayment process is to make a list of the goals that you have in order to keep your eyes on the prize and learn how to plan your spending instead of just throwing away your cash on a whim. I had made a list of things that I wanted which really ranged from smaller material things like records and furniture to bigger and broader goals like a condo and a big fat emergency fund. Back in the old days, I would hardly think about my purchases and just go out to buy the latest album I wanted and walk out of the store with 3 albums and a $65 bill. Anyone who knows me well knows that I have an addiction to purchasing music. I have easily accumulated 500+ CDs and another 100 records. I don’t even have a working record player and my computer is so old that I can’t even use my CD or DVD drives! Some of the titles are pretty embarrassing too – yes I’m talking about you Nickelback. I know. Now, it’s not wrong to pay money for music and support artists (unless it’s Nickelback), but when you have $38,000 worth of debt, it’s pretty stupid to spend at least $65 a week ($3,380 per year) on music. You don’t even have time to really sit back and listen to the albums and appreciate them or ask yourself why you wasted your money on this $hitty piece of Nickelback. Thanks to my incredible will power, I’ve not stepped into a music store since I started this process.

Learn to sew and even
 you can look this sexy.

Certainly, this process has finally been beat into my brain with a sledgehammer and now I have much more spending restraint than I used to have. There are some things on my list that I did avoid buying, but there are things that I still went out and purchased, but I did a good job doing it by keeping the costs at a fraction of what I had originally intended to pay. For example, I had a sewing machine on my list of things to purchase because back when I was starting the debt repayment, I was taking sewing lessons from this cah-razy sewing teacher, Peggy Lee, with my friend Caitlin. She told us that she had her son’s girlfriend saved in her phone as “$lut” – way too much information. I was looking at sewing machines in little boutiques that ranged in price from $300 - $500. Now these were some high-quality machines and I really wanted them, but I had to remind myself that I had a $15,000 credit card bill that needed to be paid off and that $400 a month (the cost of the sewing machine) was coming off my checks just to pay for the interest. I remember the MasterCard statements had a line on the bottom of them that said something like if you continue to only make your minimum payments you will pay of your credit card in 30+ years! Needless to say, I was able to avoid buying an expensive machine and found a vintage machine for $25 and even had it delivered for free. It really is a great machine – but I’ve NEVER used it yet! How ridiculous is that? I’ve had buying sewing supplies on my list of things to buy for quite some time but I’ve never wanted to go outside my budget. I’m also afraid that if I start up a new hobby I will throw myself off my budget. This just proves that sometimes the things I really want can be a complete waste of my money. Anyway, I guess what is important is that I never went overboard on my spending on wants in the past 8 months.

When I looked past all of my material wants, I got to the root of what really mattered to me. Here’s where it gets a bit more “real.” What I REALLY want out of this process is: retirement savings, an emergency fund, a sizeable down payment on a condo, more time to take care of my health, more time with my family, friends, and my partner, and most important, to be debt free. My debt really weighed me down back before this process began and I would avoid it ignoring my bills and telling myself I would get to it later. My favourite release was retail therapy – especially in home décor stores. I have spent money on things that really were not worth it.

Make a list backwards on glass, that works best.

In order to get to my number one goal of being debt free, I had to work out a real plan. Here’s what I wrote back in October, 2010:

Goal: To Be Debt Free

-        I want to pay my debt off because I want to use my money for savings and clean up my credit history.

-        I want to have all my debt paid off in 3 years or less.

What do I have to do to achieve this goal?

-        I will cut my spending on restaurants and alcohol and other "stuff" that I don't really need.

-        I will stop bringing my credit and debit cards with me to bail me to prevent me from resorting to credit.

-        I will commit myself to paying more than the minimum payments on my debt.

-        I will do this by sticking to my budget, learning to say no to eating out unless it is a very special occasion.

-        I may need help from my family.

-        I need my friends to be supportive of my decision not to spend as much and not encourage me to spend my money on non-essentials.

-        I need my partner to help me stay focused and be supportive of my choice to cut my debt.

I must say that all of these statements have remained the case and my debt repayment process really has changed the way I live my life; I have even had some friendships positively affected by this process. I really worried that my friends would think that I was rejecting them when I turned down dinner invites and outings, but the reality is that I was rejecting the spending, not them, and they understood that. At the beginning of the process I really put my guard up because I don’t want to get too caught up in the spending process, but I had to stop and remind myself how important it is to keep my friendships alive because at the end of the day, they are my biggest support in all of this.

Maintaining my goal has been possible because I really had to change my attitude toward spending and just flat-out not go to restaurants, not drink as much, cut my costs, quit using my credit card, and turn to family and friends for support when I want to spend. I’m getting closer and closer to getting rid of all this stupid debt and I am right on track to getting there! Lucky for me as well, this process has helped me achieve other goals too, like taking better care of my heath. If I hadn’t looked for a cheap way to work out, I never would have found the yoga studio where I made lots of friends and have been able to keep my costs down too! My health is better than it’s ever been now! Thanks for following me on my journey keeping me in check! I’ve had 1,000 readers in the last month, so I hope that you’re all learning something and that this amazing gift of taking control of my life is being paid forward a little!

xoxo

John

P.S. I bought the Nickelback album back when I was a teenager, we all make mistakes back then! No judging!! lol

Promotion! Aka: Back to the Books!

If you're seeing this on your eye chart, there may
be something wrong with your eyes, or
you have an awesome optometrist!!

Oh boy. Let me start by saying that my budgeting skills have been on the decline lately. Summer has snuck in leaving me eating takeout (especially pizza), neglecting my yoga practice, drinking more ($80 bill at the pub the other night) and all around not planning for any of my expenses. For example, today I had an optometrist appointment which cost me $80 and I also had to order new contact lenses. They aren’t too expensive ($80 for a one year supply), but now I’ve left my self shortchanged for the essentials like rent! So silly. Now, I have a dentist appointment next week and I’m looking at another $120 for a teeth cleaning that will come out of my pocket. However, I finally have insurance! My benefits package kicked in this week which means I am going to get reimbursed for most of my costs so I guess you could say I planned it a little bit, but since we have a postage strike, my benefits package has not arrived (not to mention all the stolen contents of my wallet) and I’m left footing the bills in the interim. Yeah yeah Complainy Complainerson, what’s your freaking point? I'm getting to it! I promise this isn’t going to be one of those negative blogs again. All my $hitty preparation has left me thinking that it’s time to revisit my budget analysis worksheet and redo the math so that I am not completely screwing myself over when it comes to my day to day spending. But, there is one more variable that I am going to have to include in my new analysis…

Whoo! More money! Less Problems???

This blog post is coming to you later than usual this week because I wanted to write about some news that will affect my financial future greatly but it couldn’t be shared until now. Last week I was offered a promotion and I accepted it! I wasn’t even looking for a new job, this one just seems to have sniffed past all the bull$hit and found the wonderful rose in the garden which is moi! At my new job I will be receiving more money (whoo!) and I’ll be able to pay off my debt while being able to give myself a little spending boost as well. I’ve been learning to live on less for so long that I never even imagined that I would end up making more money to put toward my debt. Now I’m going to be getting almost a 10% increase in my salary – and it can only go up from there. My apologies for my outpouring of happiness during a time when finding work is proving to be more and more challenging for people, but I really did not expect something so wonderful to happen after losing my wallet and having my cards stolen. I suppose my optimism has been rejuvenated. Admittedly, I was already planning a ‘good news’ blog for this week since some of my past entries seem a little blasé.

Now this job is not going to be without its challenges. I have been getting rather comfortable with my routine of coming home at lunchtime and making myself something to eat, but I think I may have to start making my own lunches and bringing them to work which is something I despise doing. Why are most leftovers so nasty? This new position will definitely be more demanding on me and when I get stressed, I do the stupid things like eat take out. This week for example I’m doing the work of 4 people and I think I have eaten every single one of my meals as takeout because I don’t have any time to go home and make something! The worst part of all of this is that I’m not even enjoying the food that I am buying. Even that General Tao chicken I ranted and raved about early on in my blog has left me feeling not satisfied and it just tastes a lot like guilt.

Anyway, back to the budget. Lately, I’ve noticed that my paychecks were averaging out lower than when I first started my analysis and that my expenses have actually gone down since I started my Fight For Financial Freedom (see what I did there), however due to unexpected variables my average monthly salary is about $400 more than I was making last year (this doesn’t include that $hit month I had in January where my income was $0). While this may make no sense to anyone, The key to my increase has been that for the first time in seven years, my income is consistent so I had one month where I received 3 paychecks! What a spoiled bit¢h I am! Ok I should also point out that all my checks from January were delayed, but I remember putting a lot of that money back into savings.

Mmmmmm Number Crunching!

This is where I get all nerdy and start crunching numbers like I did back when I started the budget, so for those of you who don’t give a $hit about how I do my budget and only read my blog for the sheer pleasure of hearing my sexy blog voice, you may want to skip this part, but I assure you, humour will be coming to the party. My debt repayment is actually right on par with where it should be based on my old budget, the problem is that now I make more money that I did back when I first did so I really want to kick my debt when it’s down and show it what’s what. I did a comparison of my figures from October, 2010.

Here is what I was spending pre budget:

• Savings: 0%
• Debt: 25%
• Transportation: 1%
• Life: 87%
• Housing: 25%

Yes, that adds up to more than 100%, remember, I was financially handicapped so I overspent by 38% each month.

What I have been spending post budget:

• Savings: 10%
• Debt: 50%
• Transportation: 1%
• Life: 19%
• Housing: 20%

Not too shabby, but not too fun either.  

What I plan to start spending as of July:

• Savings: 15%
• Debt: 45%
• Transportation: 1%
• Life: 20.5%
• Housing: 18.5%

You may be asking, if my debt repayment strategy isn’t broken, then why mess with a good thing? Well the answer is pretty simple to me. I have been pushing myself so hard lately and I hit that seven month itch. If I were dating this budget plan, it would have probably dumped it’s cheap a$$ by now. This will still keep me right on track to paying off my debt in less than three years, but I will still be getting to enjoy some of the fun things with my cash when I’m young. There’s no reason for me to bend over and take it from my budget since I don’t have any major responsibilities like kids, a mortgage, medical problems, and so on. The key to this budget is to make me as aggressive with my savings as I am with my debt repayment. Now that I am going to be making more money, all these amounts will increase and I’ll get to enjoy a better quality of life. Yes, one and half percent added to my life spending might not seem like much, but having just a couple more bucks to enjoy a night out at a concert or buy a couple bottles of wine can make a huge difference in the life of a privileged Westerner who has deprived himself of minor bits of joy over the past few months. And hey, if this doesn’t work, then I can always come back and revisit my budget plan later. 

Yay Promotion!!! 

Check Out My Tools!

For this post, I am making a promise to myself – again. This entry is going to be a short one; nothing too long and hard with hidden sexual innuendos in it; more tight and to the point. When I started this website, the plan was to have all sorts of helpful tools for you guys to help you achieve the awesome success that I intend to achieve. Alas, the tabs have remained empty without anything in them – until now! Yes that’s right folks; now you too can go from Spendy Spenderson to Savey Saverson! Check out the latest and greatest addition to my blog – my handy dandy “Amazing Tools!” section. There’s also the wonderful “About John” section, and soon to be updated “Fun For Cheap!” and “Cheap Eats” section. I have a recipe for Dirty Whore Sangria to share, and it’s just as wonderful as it sounds.

See! I told you I would keep it short and to the point! Mind you, I have a lot of stuff written in other parts of the blog, but that doesn’t count you guys. I swear sometimes you guys are on my case too much.

Enjoy!

Thanks for all the love and support!  

John

P.S. I have many friends in the blogging community so I though I would add another tab so that you can follow along with the awesome things that they all do too!