October and November 2011 Recap

Holy moly.  How did we come to December so quickly?

October and November were fairly expensive months.  In addition to putting work expenses under my credit card, and paying for travel, I also indulged in some shopping for clothes, make-up, jewelry and some “renovation” materials.

Overall, I do not regret spending the money on the extras, I will go into details of my shopping (with pictures and all my excuses in the world) in a separate post.

For now, let’s look at where my money went.

Here’s the damage.

Income (Oct & Nov): $7,751.10

Spending (Oct & Nov): $2,509.97 *

*Please note that I presented things a little funny – I have not included travel costs in my budgets; however, I have taken the money out of my net worth since it was money spent.  I have yet to tally up my travel expense, but I hope to get it done soon.

Both October and November were normal 2 pay cheque months.

Click on any image to enlarge.

Here’s where the money went in October:

And in November:

On or under budget

November.  Overall, I was very happy with my (lack of) spending.  Of course, I was also away for 2 weeks, so almost half my expenses for that month was on rent :).  I can only do so much damage in 2 weeks.

Over budget

Clearly, I went a little wild in October 😛

Toiletries/Grooming: I just downloaded this Shoppers Drugmart app for my iPod Touch and it is so awesome.  I snagged 5 Revlon lippies for $3.99 each when regular price is $10.49 each.  I practically stole them from the store, right? I mean, it’s almost like saving, right?!

Clothing: Since I already broke my shopping ban, I then proceeded to do a full on closet clean out What-Not-Wear style with the lovely Fabulously Broke.  Will do a full post on this, but my closet looked very sad after our clean out. 😦  And so, we went shopping for things that would actually work for me. There was also an Amrita Singh sale… Yep, that’s all the excuses I got.

Groceries: When BF comes over, we usually go out and buy groceries and cook together.  Even this saves us money from dining out, it is usually more than I would spend on groceries for myself, alone.

Medical: I got a cold while traveling for work, so I had to stock up on some medication.  Cold medicine is expensive!!

Misc: I needed to take my passport photograph and renew my passport.  On the bright side, my passport picture looks awesome (how often do you hear that, right?) and I am satisfied with it for the next 5 years!

Rent/Mortgage: I wasn’t sure where to put my costs for “Phase II” renovations.  I think it makes the most sense to put it under rent since it is for housing, and I don’t usually have reno/housing items.  I bought a closet organizer, a book shelf divider, a bathroom sink shelf and many hangers and storage containers.  My closet looks so much better now.

Wow, are we done, yet? 😉

Here is my net worth update for Oct and Nov:

So, basically, almost no change to my net worth since September.  Which is really a bit depressing. Even though I did spend a bunch of money traveling 😦

Summary:

Overall, I guess I am ok.  I would be happier if my networth increased, of course.  I think this is the first month that it has decreased…:(

My only consolation is that December is going to be a good month for income.  It’s a 3 pay cheque month and I get a modest work bonus.  *Fingers crossed*

How was your spending in November? Did you meet your budget goals?

Cheers,

September 2011 Recap

Since August was an expensive month (or so I thought), I tried to keep September quasi low. And my budget was shot to hell. Let’s just day that I got a curve ball and I gave into temptations. Oh, and the markets haven’t helped either.

Here’s the damage.

Income: $3,917.29

Spending: $2,348.92

Just a normal 2 pay cheque month. I am also including some money BF owes me. I’m desperate!

Click on any image to enlarge.

Here’s where the money went in September:

On or under budget

Cell Phone: New plan kicked in. Saving me $10 a month 🙂

Medical: No massage this month. But I did see my dermatologist.

Groceries: Lots of fresh veggies!

Eating Out: Not sure if this was cheating since I increased my budget to $200. I anticipated lots of getting together with girl friends and family.

Over budget

Clearly, I did not anticipate all this spending! 😛

Toiletries/Grooming: I stocked up on moisturizer from Pure and Simple during their Midnight Madness Sale. Then, I got some other stuff that my dermatologist recommended. Ugh…. Yes, I got carried away.

Entertainment and Recreation: I wasn’t sure how much volleyball was working out to be, or camping. I paid for 2 leagues and spent about $50 altogether for camping.

Transportation: Gas is still expensive. I do get reimbursed for mileage, but I include that in my “income”, so it’s easier that way. I still buy tokens, and gave some to my sister when she came to visit. Oh, and I got some major work done on my money pit car.

Clothing: Yes, I broke my shopping ban! Pictures to come (you want to see them right?)

Gifts: Forgot about mid-autumn moon festival. I got mooncakes for my aunt, my parents and my land lord/land lady.

Here is my net worth update:

Somehow, I managed to eek out with a 1% gain, again! I am happy with that – considering everything (both of my own fault and the markets).

Still need to re-balance my portfolio, do some research and buy some stocks :).. maybe.

Summary:

Overall, I am not too happy with this month’s outcome. I did go a little crazy on my spending of toiletries and make-up. It mostly had to do with my acne, and I know I shouldn’t use that excuse for everything, but I have been trying different lotions and make-up to hide it while it heals. Vanity, I know.

October should be better. No more toiletries!! 🙂

How was your spending in September? Did you meet your budget goals?

Cheers,

August 2011 Recap

I knew that August was going to be an expensive month with a rafting trip, food and booze farewell parties, and spending too much time with friends on a patio.

Income: $3,766.17

Spending: $1,532.16

Just a normal 2 pay cheque month.  I also included the $100 I got from ING for opening up a Thrive checking account!  Love free money – take that, TD Bank!

Click on any image to enlarge.

Here’s where the money went in August:

On or under budget

Clothes: Shopping ban – check!

Cell Phone: New plan kicked in.  Saving me $10 a month 🙂

Gifts: For birthdays and goodbye gifts & cards.

Medical: No massage this month.  But I did see my dermatologist.  So that should be $18.  Oops.  I’ll add it now but not fixing the picture.

Over budget

Clearly, I did not anticipate all this spending! 😛

Eating Out: Socializing is expensive.  I also took out my family for dinner.  And I’ve been going for drinks and food after volleyball. Grrr…

Toiletries/Grooming: My acne flared up A LOT.  I panicked and went out to buy some new products.  I also got a foundation – I don’t count this as a cheat on my shopping ban.  But, whatever.  I didn’t have a good foundation for covering up my acne.  I also stocked up on blotting powder and dry shampoo. *tear*

Entertainment and Recreation: This includes only the car rental and gas for rafting trip.  I also bought food and booze for a party and attended a friend’s  party.

Transportation: Gas is expensive.  I bought more tokens.  I also signed up for Zipcar with a Groupon.  $29 for 1-year membership and $30 driving credit!

Groceries: No biggie.  There is some good wine and cheese in there. 🙂

Here is my net worth update:

I managed to eek out with a 1% gain and I am happy with that – considering the market and the drop in my portfolio.  Ouch.  Everything went down and the only reason my RRSP is positive is because of  automatic payments.

I’ve also got a lot of cash on hand.  I’ve finally topped up my Emergency Fund to $10,000 (yay, me!).  My “General Savings” includes my travel fund, as well.  Ideally, I would like $10,000 in Emergency Fund (done), $15,000 cash savings, and $4,000 in travel fund.

Time to re-balance my portfolio, do some research and buy some stocks 🙂

Summary:

Overall, I am happy with this month’s outcome.  Nothing I can do about the markets, c’est la vie  🙂

How was your spending in August?  Did you meet your budget goals?

Cheers,

June & July 2011 Recap

I’ve been slacking on posting my monthly recaps and missed out on June’s monthly recap, and decided to do another combined my recap for both June and July.

I knew that July was going to be an expensive month with a pending vacation with BF, so my goal was to lay low in June.  Let’s see how I did.

Income: $9,050.00

Spending: $5,374.12

July was a 3 pay check month which helped to pay off my big ticket spending items.  I will post a separate budget for my vacation spending.

Click on any image to enlarge.

Here’s where the money went in June:

Here’s where the money went in July:

On or under budget

Clothes: I dry cleaned my winter jackets and haven’t spent any money on my shopping ban.  I did have a few slips on my shopping ban I need to confess.  Another post for that.

Groceries: Most of July was on vacation and I try to not buy groceries the week before vacation and eat out of my pantry.

Travel: I budgeted $2,000 for my vacation with BF and $1,500 for plane tickets for a trip with my family later this year.  Travel costs will be a separate post.

Over budget

I think I’ve been more realistic in budgeting as there is generally less red.

Eating Out: Argh.  This is such a weakness for me, as I spent $300 in June.  Socializing is expensive.  I tried to make up for this by pushing back my hair cut, no facial and no massage, this month.

Toiletries/Grooming: I got sunscreen from Pure and Simple, some hair ties, dry shampoo and conditioner.

Entertainment and Recreation: I paid for my volleyball league fee’s, paid for a rafting trip in August and went to a friend’s cottage.

Transportation: Gas is expensive.  That is all.

Here is my net worth:

I am happy that my networth went up, but again, a little sad that it went up only 3% over 2 months.  It’s the traveling .  But I have been saving for the travel in my ING Travel fund, so I had the cash.

Summary:

Overall, I am okay with this month’s outcome.  I would have liked to see a bigger increase in my net worth, but c’est la vie  🙂

Also, the Canadian dollar is stronger and the value of my US stocks in my TFSA aren’t as high.

How was your spending in June and July?  Did you meet your budget goals?

Cheers,

April & May 2011 Recap

I missed out on April’s monthly recap, and decided to combine my recap for both May and April.

As I discussed in my April Luxury post, it was an expensive month.  I was going to try and lay low for May… that sort of happened.  Here’s how things went down.

Income: $8,727.21 

Spending: $6,190.32

My income for April was $3,440 and $5,279.21 for May (yay, for tax refund!).   The bad news was that I spent more than I earned in April.  The good news is that I saved almost 75% of my income in May to make up for it 😉

Click on any image to enlarge.

Here’s where the money went in April:

Here’s where the money went in May:

On or under budget

Clothes: Success!  Although, I did spend money, I bought it from my $25 of “reward money” for thrift shopping.  I did go over budget by $3, but no biggie.

Thrift shopping was so much fun, I’ll write another post on that.  Basically, I spend hours trying on stuff and browsing with my sister, only to walk out with an armload of stuff for under $30!  I highly recommend anyone to try it out.

Groceries: I did amazing these months!  Mostly because I’ve been going home and my parents send me back with lots of left overs. 🙂

Over budget

What can I say, I think I went over budget in almost all categories. le sigh.

I must be more realistic when I come up with these budgets, because it’s a little dampening on my spirits when I come in over budget.

Eating Out: This is such a weakness for me, and I spent time (and money) catching up with friends and eating out. The summer patio’s just call out to me!  Time to break out that Entertainment Book more.

Electronics: BF got me an iPod Touch for my birthday and so I had to get it clothes! 😉  And I also bought a used Netbook ;).  My netbook is now my computer at BF’s or when I go home.  It’s 100 times better than lugging my laptop around, and I get to read and comment on my favourite blogs! 🙂

Gifts: My sisters and I cooked some extravagant meals for mother’s day and my mom’s birthday.

Medical: I wasn’t sure if I should count my facials as medical.  It was to deal with my blemishes and skin problems, not sure if it should fall under toiletries or entertainment. Meh.  I got 5-pack Clear Complexion facials to help treat my skin.  So far, I am very satisfied with them, and my skin looks amazing!

Toiletries/Grooming: I re-filled my blotting powder, and got some products to help hydrate my skin from Pure and Simple.

Entertainment and Recreation: I paid for my volleyball league fee’s, took BF out for a movie and went to a launch party with friends.

Transportation: I paid for car insurance for the year.  Good thing my tax refund also came in at the same time.  This was painful watching $3,000 just “disappear”.  I admit that I am still bummed about my networth taking a hit. 😦  Also the price of gas is getting ridiculous.

Here is my net worth:

I am happy that my networth went up, but again, a little sad that it went up only 3% over 2 months.  It’s the car insurance… (Don’t worry, I will eventually get over it, but not yet).

Summary:

Overall, I am okay with this month’s outcome.  I gave into some of my impulse buying (i.e., a netbook), but it was a great deal and it has made my life better.  🙂

I will work harder to make my June budget as realistic as possible.  BF and I are planning to take a trip in July, so I’m really excited about putting together a budget for that.  My rough calculations should be about $2,500 each but I will post a detailed article about that as soon as I finalize some more prices.

How was your spending in April and March?  Did you meet your budget goals?

Cheers,

March 2011 Recap

This year, I embarked on a Shopping Ban and allowed myself 3 exceptions.  To read more about my shopping ban, please refer to this post, and this post.  I will write a separate post on my first month of shopping ban, but for now, let’s move on to my spending re-cap.

Income: $3,334.00

Spending: $1,387.83

This month was over my $1,000 budget, and over my March budget!  The only reason it looks like I am just over, is because BF and I didn’t actually go on our weekend away ($300), so it’s actually worse than it looks. Definitely, no reward for thrift shopping 😦

Click on any image to enlarge.

Here’s where the money went:

On or under budget

Clothes: Success!  Although, I did buy a pot and some storage/organizing boxes (see Misc) below.  I am not doing a “No Spending” challenge, but I need to be careful that I don’t start substituting clothes with pots and pans!

Over budget

Eating Out: This is such a weakness for me, but and as I alluded to in my spending recap, this month, I have been spending a lot of time meeting up with friends, and family over yummy food.  I’m debating if I should increase my budget to $175 – $200, since that is more reasonable for me.

Electronics: Magic Bullet was a little more than I thought. No biggie.

Gifts: I decided to go out and buy a nice gift for my co-worker going on maternity leave.  She is super nice, and I just wanted to show her I appreciated her kind gestures.

Groceries: I did some stocking up this month on sauces and other non perishables.

Medical: I went for 2 massages this month, and I went to see my dermatologist and refilled my prescriptions.

Misc: I bought a dutch over and some clear shoe boxes for organizing my cupboards and closets.  I also renewed my allegiance to the office lottery pool.

Toiletries/Grooming: I re-filled my blotting powder, moisturizer and got myself a dry shampoo to try out.  Will do a review when I get a chance!

Entertainment and Recreation: I paid for my volleyball league fee’s (again).

Transportation: I spent a little extra getting to Hamilton for a weekend trip. About $25, so that would account for the discrepancy.  Must account for these things in my budget, next time!

Here is my net worth:

Spending Recap in Google Calender

When I first posted my spending recap, Investing Newbie commented

I can confidently say that there are no days that I don’t spend. I don’t know. I feel like in NYC, if you breathe, you spend about 10 bux. Maybe if I invested a bit of energy, I could actually not spend anything…

And after seeing my spending tracked on my calender, I agree completely.  There were only 5 days that I didn’t spend any money.  Usually those days, I’d go to work and come home.  Although there were days where I spent $0.80 and still counted that as a “spending day.”

Even though, I think I like looking at the bigger picture, but all these little spending add up!

Summary:

Overall, I am okay with this month’s outcome.  I went over budget, and over spent in almost every category (which is a little depressing), but I was able to stick to my shopping ban and I increased my net worth by 2%!

Note to self: budget better!

Will post a April budget and a goal recap, soon.

How was your spending in March?  Did you meet your budget and goals?

Cheers,

February 2011 Recap

This year, I embarked on a Shopping Ban and allowed myself 3 exceptions.  To read more about my shopping ban, please refer to this post, and this post.  I will write a separate post on my first month of shopping ban, but for now, let’s move on to my spending re-cap.

Income: $3,384.94

Spending: $957.51

This month was under my $1,000 budget (but over my actual budget)!  For some reason, this weekend, I thought I had $6 left in my budget to carry me through, and BF and I resorted to frugal habits, such as walking to a house party and back instead of taking a cab.  Now I get my $25 reward for thrift shopping 🙂

Update: As you can see in the chart below, I am actually over budget, but I meant that I was under my $1,000 monthly budget.  I’ve changed the text accordingly, so it’s clear.

Here’s where the money went:

On or under budget

Clothes: Success!

Transportation: This could have been a bit lower (in fact, $18.62 lower), but I returned a rental car for work late and had to eat the cost.  Traffic in the City is sure expensive.  Drats!

Over budget

Eating Out: This is such a weakness for me, but at least I’m getting closer to my budget.

Toiletries/Grooming: Got my eyebrows done since I’m not sure when my next opportunity will be.

Entertainment and Recreation: I paid for my volleyball league fee’s and went on an unexpected cottage weekend trip.

Here is my net worth:

Summary:

Overall, I am very pleased with this month’s outcome.  I went over budget but came under my $1,000 monthly budget goal and I was able to stick to my shopping ban!  I like short months :).  I’ve crunched the numbers, and I think I can come really close to a net worth of $100,000 by the end of this year.  Eeeek!  I’m so excited!

I’ve done my preliminary taxes (by hand, of course), and will be checking them against my electronic file.  I hope to be getting a return of about $1,500.  Not sure how I’m going to divvy up my little pot of gold, yet.

March is going to be an over $1,000 budget month.  BF and I have been discussing a little winter ski trip (more on that later), and I will be going skiing with my company for a day (need rentals and pay back co-workers for gas).  I also need to pay up another set of vball league fee’s.  Will post a March budget soon.

How was your spending in February?  Did you meet your budget and goals?

Cheers,

December Recap

… and can I please have another shot at my first post of 2011?

Like many bloggers, I took a mini-sabbatical during the holiday season as I stuffed my face with yummy food and slept 10 hours a night in between seeing family and friends.  However, unlike all the fabulously cool cats* out there who wrote about goals and annual recaps, and recaps of annual goals, I started off 2011 with a post on roasting a chicken.  Roasting. A. Chicken.

Palm-to-forehead.

Yes, it was scheduled.  Yes, I thought I was smart to schedule a post and buy myself some time, just in case.  No, I completely forgot what I scheduled until my post showed up on my Google Reader.  Now I feel like I was caught red-handed re-gifting a post!

Doh!

Anyway, onto my spending re-cap.  I hope to redeem myself.  If possible.

Income: $6,119.00

Spending: $2,173.99

Nowhere close to my $1,000 monthly budget.  Oh, December, let’s see why.

Here’s where the money went:

Clothes: I budgeted for new casual runners.  Also, once I gave up on coat shopping, I found one.  I haven’t decided I would keep the jacket yet, even though it’s a great price for a long down jacket (retail $275 marked down to $132+tax).

Travel: BF and I decided to enjoy a bit of time away together before the craziness of the holidays.  We took a mini vacation to Niagara Falls and enjoyed some spa, steak and time alone.

Gifts: I don’t usually exchange gifts with friends and family, though I did get BF a little something.  I also gave my little sister money for her travels abroad.

Misc: I bought the business e-books from the recent big sale.  Still haven’t gotten around to reading them, yet.

Here is my net worth:

Summary:

Overall, I am very pleased with this month’s outcome.  I definitely spent more than anticipated, but I spent with a purpose and I’m proud to say that.

My goal was to have a net worth of $60,000 by the end of the year, and I was aiming more at $63,000 since I saw my last networth update.  I really didn’t want to count that VISA bill (which had about $300 of expenses that were reimbursed)!  Oh well. 🙂

Note*: Cool cats = personal finance, minimalism and fashion bloggers.  Please see Blog Roll on the right for my favourites!

How was your spending in December?  Did you meet your budget and goals?

Cheers,

November Recap

November was a good month!

Income: $3,518.92

Spending: $1,036.67

Getting really close to reaching that monthly budget of $1,000 – even with a little bit of extra spending :)!

Here’s where the money went:

I had budgeted to buy a new wool winter jacket, since I’ve had mine for 5 years and was looking to upgrade.  Alas, it wasn’t meant to be and I have given up on jacket shopping.  I may add that item as a freebie during my shopping ban.

Nothing too crazy this month.  BF and I started to use more coupons/groupons when eating out in addition to eating out less.

Under Misc items, I bought a stainless steel skillet and pot since mine are from my university days and are rusty.  I also bought the Toronto Entertainment Book so that BF and I can still do fun things on a tighter budget.  Will review the Entertainment Book once I get a chance to use it!

Here is my net worth:

Summary:

Overall, I am very pleased with this month’s outcome.  I admit that I have fallen off the bandwagon of tracking my spending a few times this year, but the important thing was that I brushed myself and got right back on.  I’ve also made some mistakes that I’d like to share (another post).

I’ve been a little obsessive with  my net worth calculations.  It’s just so encouraging seeing those numbers go up and up.  My goal was to have a net worth of $60,000 by the end of the year, and I’m thinking that I may even surpass that goal.  Time to put together that December budget.  December budgets are always tricky.

How was your spending in November?  Are you ontrack to your goals?

Cheers,