Is it possible to take frugality too far?

I was watching Rich Bride, Poor Bride today on Slice, and the bride-to-be was a real frugal bridezilla, turning every conversation about every aspect of wedding planning into a conversation about how to save money, even going as far as... fighting over a few pennies.

Now, I'll admit, I try to cut as many corners as possible when shopping. I use coupons, try to earn air miles or other types of rewards on purchases as much as possible, and try to find ways of using old products for new purposes in order to save cash. But I wonder... do I take it too far? Do I ever annoy those around me, particularly my boyfriend H, with whom I talk about personal finance on a regular basis?

Here are three signs that I think indicate you're obsessed with personal finance:

1. You are heard uttering personal finance related words in your sleep (i.e. "lower my interest", "we need to rebudget", "i can't afford it", etc.).
2. You have so many coupons in your purse or wallet, that you can no longer close it.
3. You've thought about how much money you could potentially save by reusing unsanitary items (e.g. toilet paper, old toothbrushes, etc.)

If you think your financial behaviours may be bordering on obsessive, seek professional help. And email me your story - I may feature it on my blog!

Today is Swagbucks's 2nd birthday! Apparently, this has sparked a website makeover, including changes to their rewards system, so now, instead of earning 1 or 2 swagbucks per search, you will now be earning 10x that amount. Of course, that means the prizes (gift cards, t-shirts, etc.) are now more expensive in terms of the number of swagbucks required to redeem them, but the frequency of wins is increased, as is the number and variety of prizes available.

If you're new to Swagbucks and are wondering what it is exactly, it's an online website and utility that lets you earn points (i.e. swagbucks) for doing things like searching, blogging, submitting polls, participating in free trial offers, and even shopping or playing games.

You can then redeem your swagbucks for such things as gift cards (Starbucks, amazon.com and amazon.ca, Sephora, restaurant.com, Paypal, itunes, wii, and many more!).

If you're looking for a referral to join swagbucks, click here.

How does a person construct a functional budget from scratch?

Many people only learn to budget out of necessity, after having raked up a significant amount of debt and deciding that this way of operating their finances is simply not sustainable. For many, this is an epiphany, but does not answer the question of HOW; as in "how do I make a budget"?

The following steps will aid you along your path to building a functional basic budget.

1. Calculate your actual net pay. There are two basic ways to do this:

1. Take your gross pay, and use a "net paycheck" calculator to work out your net pay (that is your pay after you've paid your income taxes).
2. Figure out how often you're paid and how much, and work out a monthly figure.
   (e.g. if you get paid $1200 biweekly, that's $1200 x 26 weeks / 12 months = $2600).

Now, you have how much you can spend.

2. Make a table with a list running down the left column side of expenses you might incur in any given month. The trick to this is not to make it too specific (e.g. "underwear", "accessories", "makeup", etc.) and not too broad (e.g. "stuff", "bills").

The following is a list of common budget categories, sorted into "fixed" and "variable" categories (you can eliminate the ones that don't apply to you).

Fixed Expenses
Note: these are the ones that you have to pay every month, the amount is more or less the same, and you have no room to play around with the amount.

Rent or Mortgage
Car Payment
Property Tax
Child Support or Other Family Support
Insurance (house)
Insurance (car)
Insurance (life)
Property, strata, or condo fees
Electricity and Water
Child care

Variable Expenses
Note: these are the expenses you can play around with to cut extra weight out of your expense budget, in order to put more money aside or pay down debt.

Clothing
Entertainment
Food (groceries)
Furniture and Home Decor
Donations & Gifts
Transportation costs (public transportation, oil change, repairs, etc.)
Pets
Health and Dental costs
Prescription costs
Phone, cable, internet
Jewellery
Sports or memberships
subscriptions
Personal care
Vacation
Bank Fees

Finally, Make a category for:
Note: these are the ones you want to maximize so you don't have the debt weighing on your shoulder, and so that you have enough saved to have peace of mind.
Debt Repayment
Emergency savings (for when your car breaks down, you get sick, etc.)
Retirement Savings
Savings for Children

Remember, that the quicker you pay off your debt, the less you pay in interest costs.

3. Go through your credit card statements and bank statements, to figure out how much you have actually been spending on these categories to date. Input these figures into the table you have just constructed (in pencil). The actual numbers may shock you.

4. Make another column next to your "actual spending column" to reflect your new designated amounts for each spending category. This is the part that will require thinking - honest, critical thinking. Depending on how much you've been spending, you may find you need to trim a little, or a lot, of your spending. Where can you pare back your spending? Maybe you're spending $80 every friday night with your friends at the local pub, costing you a whopping $320 per month to entertain yourself on friday nights alone. On the other hand, maybe your fixed costs are too high.

Here is a simple rule of thumb for figuring out where you're spending too much money:

Life (entertainment, vacation, fun, buying stuff) should cost - 25% of your net income
Transportation should cost - 15% of your net income
Savings should take up - 10% of your net income
Debt Repayment should cost - 15% in order to be at a manageable level (of course, if you're carrying a crazy amount of debt, you may need to up this amount, and trim in the other areas).

While these are widely accepted numbers in the personal finance community, depending on special life circumstances, the percentage figures can be difficult to follow strictly.

For example, when I graduate from law school, I will likely be spending 50% or more of my net income on debt repayment, for at least the first year - because otherwise, it will take me a good portion of my life to pay the school debt off.

What problems do you have with these guidelines?

Krystal at Give Me Back My Five Bucks is having another contest/giveaway! Head over to her post here to find out how you can enter to win a copy of Quicken Cash Manager 2010.

You can post on your blog for one entry, comment on her post for another entry, and tweet about her post for yet another entry! Hurry though, because the contest ends on March 2, 2010.

Because I've been back in my hometown doing interviews at law firms for the past week, I haven't really had to splurge on any groceries. As it stands, I've only spent money on that first grocery shop of the month, so I am still way under budget, at only $34.74 for the month. Of course, that doesn't include my eating out budget, of which I've spent $21.74 altogether this month, still leaving me with $3.26 or so (perhaps for a cup of hot chocolate or something)!

I'm really happy with my underspending, however, I realize that it's because of the special circumstances surrounding this month (interview this past week, and a week off from school starting tomorrow).

It looks like I won't be spending much more on groceries this month.

On the other hand, I bought a nice black suit at Banana Republic, a black blazer, and a black leather briefcase, all of which added up to $625, which is a whole $625 above and beyond what I had budgeted for clothes this month :$

I guess I'll have to make up for that somehow, although... they were definitely necessary items given the nature of the field I'm going into.

So, the big law firm I had my eye on, decided not to offer me a second interview, which would have been a reception dinner and a chance to further sell myself to the firm partners and associates. I have to say that I am very disappointed. I actually got the voicemail message, blinked, and then cried. It was of no consolation that they thought "I was very well qualified, and would like to flag my application for review in the future for an articling position" - I suspect they've uttered these words to nearly every applicant they've turned down.

Why did I want to work at this particular big law firm? In addition to the "soft" factors, like the wonderful people who I met, and the various and diverse practice areas, the pay and benefits would have been nice. Here is a small comparison of Big law firm and the two smaller firms I am still in the running for:

	Big Firm	Small Firm
Summer Salary	$850-880/wk	$700-750/wk
Articling Salary	$880-910/wk	$750-800/wk
YR1 Associate	$67,000/yr	$45,000-55,000/yr
YR2 Associate	$75,000/yr	$55,000-65,000/yr
YR3 Associate	$90,000/yr	$65,000-80,000/yr

However, just as I told my housemate yesterday when she found out she didn't get the country she wanted for her 3rd year exchange, everything happens for a reason, even if you can't see or understand the reason right this moment.

8 of the 15 firms I applied to never even responded to my application. In fact, I just found out this is typical of smaller law firms, who get hundreds of applicants, yet don't have the resources to screen, evaluate, and actually respond to unsuccessful lawyers-to-be.

I have 2 more interviews tomorrow, so I can't really let myself get caught up in the past. What's done is done. There is still more to power through.

I'm heading into my first job interview at a law firm tomorrow morning, and then having my most important job interview at my favourite firm in the afternoon. You can rest assured that I have spent the day researching and preparing for these two interviews. I thought I'd share some of the most salient features and points I've picked up throughout my preparatory endeavours. It is for this reason that I call this article "Law Firm Interview Do's and Don't's".


Before the Interview, Do...
1. Shower, wear deodorant and pop a breath mint before hand. This cannot be stressed enough. If you radiate body or breath odor, the interviewer(s) will likely not be able to focus on much else.
2. Practice your "firm" handshake. Firm as in strong, not firm as in "law firm". Limp handshakes are not only physically disappointing, but some firm recruiters actually believe that they are an indication of the type of personality (strong or weak) that a candidate brings to the firm.
3. Pump yourself up. Remember that the very fact that you got the interview indicates that the firm believes you to have the intellectual capability to do their work, now they just want to see that (1) you can persuade them of this in person, and that (2) you are as sociable/socially capable as you are attractive on paper.
4. Pack emergency supplies: toothbrush and toothpaste, mints, pantyhose, a pair of "outdoor shoes" if it's winter, some cash (for parking, food etc.), tissues and hand-sanitizer (especially if you're sick).
5. Look like a million bucks. I'm not saying spend a tone of cash, but keep in mind that your hands and your face may make or break a deal. Dirty or callous hands and/or fingernails are really off-putting to a potential employer, so make sure your nails are trimmed and filed, your hands are moisturized, not scaly, and make sure your face is groomed and clean.

During the Interview, Do...
1. Make eye contact, but don't stare or be creepy about it.
2. Be a Better Version of Yourself. You've already managed to land the interview, so just smile, be polite, and turn every question which potentially prompts a negative response into a positive (i.e. if the interviewer asks what your weaknesses are, point out some "positive weaknesses" such as perfectionism, overanalytical, and detail oriented to a fault).
3. Smile, and be positive about your experiences. Avoid making negative comments about colleagues, past employers or any experiences you've had. Like a person complaining about an ex-lover, these types of comments will only leave the listener or interviewer in this case, wondering whether they will be the subject of future complaints.
4. Thank your interviewers for meeting with you to discuss your candidacy.

After The Interview, Do...
1. Send a thank you note to your interviewers. Thank them for their time and tell them you look forward to hearing from them.
2. Send a thank you email to any articling students, support staff or other individuals who gave you a tour, spent time discussing their own experiences with you, or otherwise made the interview more comfortable. Often, these individuals are consulted about their impressions of potential candidates.
3. Keep a journal of your interviewing experiences to help you prepare for future interviews. Think of it as your own personal resource manual. Possible categories to include might be: "jokes or comments that received positive feedback", "problems to avoid next time", "questions that were asked that caught you off-guard", "what people were wearing around the law firm", "qualities or achievements that the firm mentioned or was impressed with".

Don't!
1. Self-deprecate. DO NOT minimize your experiences or achievements in an effort to appear modest. You will only end up appearing to lack confidence in your own abilities.
2. Interrupt. Resist interrupting your interviewers at all costs. You will appear impatient and/or nervous.
3. Fill the Silence with filler words. Umm, like "ummm" and "uhh" and "like". You're not 14 anymore, and it's no longer cute.
4. Wear open-toe shoes if you're a woman, or anything but dress-shoes if you're a man. I know some of you will think this goes without saying, but it needs to be emphasized.
5. Memorize your answers to interview questions verbatim. Instead opt for a more natural approach to answering interview questions, say, by memorize your speaking points (i.e. Why do you want to work at this firm? Memorize "location, diverse practice areas, friendly colleagues, reputation"). You can work out the exact wording at the interview, which will translate into a less robotic, less rehearsed answer.

Are there important preparation and presentation tips I've missed? If so, drop me a line and let me know! :)

This is just a quick post to announce that Krystal at Give Me Back My Five Bucks is giving away a copy of QuickTax 2009, and there are 3 ways of entering the contest! Head over to her blog to check out the details of this fantastic giveaway!

Note that the contest is only open to Canadian Residents.

Sorry for my late post! It's been a hectic week, full of assignments, deadlines, and interview scheduling and preparations, which is all very exciting but also extremely time consuming.

So far, I've got 4 interviews for PT school-year and/or FT summer positions, all are law-related at a minimum.

I have:
-2 interviews at medium size firms in my hometown
-1 interview at a MEGA law firm in my hometown (200+ lawyers at this one firm)
-1 interview for a job in the government (this is the one I recently wrote an exam for - with a 10% pass rate!)

Well, I had the government interview this morning, and it went well, but they only gave me 10 minutes to prepare to answer 6 questions, which were convoluted and required long, detailed explanations. I did my best though, so we'll see how that turns out! :)

As for the other interviews, there are still 8 firms I haven't heard from at all, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed :$

I can't wait for all of this to be over, provided of course that I end up with a job! :)

I know I already posted today, but I just redeemed my swagbucks for $20 worth of Amazon.com gift certificates using my Swagbucks points, and I've been signed up with swagbucks for only a few months.

All I do is conduct some of my internet searching through the swagbucks search toolbar each day (which you can sign up for and download here). I rake in 1 or 2 swagbucks each day on average. So far, I've redeemed 180 swagbucks, or $20 in gift certificates!! And this is all without referrals or taking on a lot of promotion activity.

This is pretty crucial to achieving my money saving objectives, since this means I can order stuff (personal items, books, music, etc on the amazon.com website) all using these e-gift certificates I've earned, and then put the money I would have used to buy those away for a rainy day!

You can check out Swagbucks and sign up for it by clicking on the banner below:



Enjoy! :)

For a few years now, I've been following and learning from other PF bloggers who emphasize the importance of learning basic investment principles, and the difference that investing your own money can make (i.e. purchasing your own stocks) vs. letting someone else invest it for you (i.e. buying mutual funds).

The major difference I perceive is that, when I contribute to my MF account and the unit price for that MF rises, I don't have the ability to pick and choose which of the stocks that forms that MF I'm going to keep and/or sell, as they all come in a neat little (indivisible) package.

I've also experimented with stock market simulation websites such as Stocksquest, and barring any emotional attachment/overpowerment, the simulation indicates I would be able to obtain a much larger return on my investments than if I bought Mutual funds.

So, Yesterday morning, I went to Scotiabank to open a trading account. The representative advised me to open a TFSA account from which to purchase stocks, saying that any capital gains would be exempt from taxes, as long as I didn't exceed the $5,000 contribution limit for the year. Little did I know, however, that the contributions I've already made this year to my Tax-free mutual fund account with ING direct actually counts towards the TFSA contribution limit.

Overall, this means, I have $3,247 left that I can contribute (or invest) through my Scotia TFSA.

I also decided on a few books I'm going to be buying in order to prepare to begin investing my own money. They are:

• Intelligent Investor: The Classic Text on Value Investing by Benjamin Graham
• Get Smarter: Life and Business Lessons by Seymour Schulich
• Warren Buffett and the Interpretation of Financial Statements by Mary Buffett and David Clark.

The total for these three books at Chapters.Indigo.ca comes to $51.85, but because I'll be redeeming some of my airmiles for a $50 Chapters Indigo gift card and shipping on orders of $39 is free, I will only be paying $1.85. The money I had originally allotted to buying these books ($25 out of my budget) is now going to be redirected to savings.

I'm looking forward to reading these books and gleaning the little nuggets of information that, in my mind, will turn this $1.85 investment into much more in the long term :)

So, this morning I had a cup of Hazelnut coffee I had left over from last month (with chocolate soy milk for foam), two pieces of whole wheat bread with peanut butter (still using my $0.99 jar!) and a few scoops of Activia yogurt.

Then I went shopping to replenish food supplies...


Items I bought today:
-sweet onion
-3 golden delicious apples
-flax bread
-caramel dip
-2L skim milk
-2 x 650 g Activia Strawberry yogurt
-egg whites
-1 box of Dare chocolate chip cookies
-3 packs of Mr.Noodles
-Grillem's cheesy sausages
-medium container (450 g) of Chili with bun
-medium container (450 g) of penne with meat sauce

Total for this grocery shop = $34.74

Total for this month = $34.72/$80

While I was originally going to post today about the progress made on my February challenge, there is as of today, nothing to report. I have not gone grocery shopping yet; instead, I am subsisting solely on food already in the fridge and pantry (including that $0.99 jar of peanut butter I mentioned in an earlier post). Mmmm peanut butter...

But I digress...

I am posting tonight only to announce these cool ninja hook coat hangers being given away by Spinning Hat, and hosted by Fabulously Broke here. So make sure to visit and get as many entries in as possible!

As for my February 2010 anti-resolution challenge, I'll be posting again tomorrow night about the $80 I've allocated towards groceries for this month, but have yet to dip into!

So, I thought it would be useful to do a recap of my current academic, employment, and financial situation at the end of each month, so I can track my progress over time.

This month, I opened the door to many employment opportunities and more or less stayed on top of all of my academic responsibilities. As for my progress on the financial front, I'll let you be the judge!

This month, I:

• applied for summering positions at 15 law firms in my hometown;
• budgeted a year-end surplus of $3,680, which means that I will only owe $3,420 for my second year of law school (which cost a total of $25,000+);
• applied for a PT law student position with the federal gov., and successfully wrote the exam (it turns out that the time commitment is actually only 15 hours/week instead of the 25 hours/week initially advertised); and
  
• came up with a solution to my make-it-and-break-it New Year's resolutions pitfall: I will be challenging myself to reach one major objective each month, instead of one ginormous one all year.
  

So... Starting tomorrow, I am on the hunt to live on $80 of groceries all month. I'm a little frightened at what exactly this means I will have to eat... It will take some planning on my part, but it will be well worth it. Plus, a challenge is always fun! I am, after all, a student and would rather invest the money and watch it grow than to spend it away and watch my balance on my line of credit grow.

Also, if I end up being offered the PT job (following the interview, of course), I could potentially end up being completely debt free for the current year of law school with a little extra padding in my savings account, which is unheard of among my peers, as most are scraping approx. $10,000-15,000 in debt each and every year - even those from wealthy, financially supportive families.

I've decided that rather than have one overarching resolution for the whole year (which clearly I don't have), it might be better to split it into smaller goals or objectives, to be implemented on a month-to-month basis.

Next month, I'll be challenging myself to live on only $80 worth of food. No, this doesn't mean I'll be starving myself or stealing food. Rather, it means I'll be scouring the grocery store flyer to find the best deals (once I found a jar of kraft peanut butter for $0.99 that lasted me almost a month). I'll also be steering clear of prepackaged and premade food, since these tend to be rather expensive. Instead, I'll opt for fresh fruits, vegetables, canned corn and peas, whole wheat bread and pasta, and of course, I'll be buying less meat.

For those of you wondering if I'll be cheating by over-inflating my "eating out" budget, I will not be. That one is set at $25 for the month of February.

It's going to be tough, but I'm pretty excited about seeing how it all turns out!

In her post today, Krystal at Give Me Back My Five Bucks blogged about the micro-lofts that are being built in the Vancouver downtown core. Apparently, these new 270 square-foot bachelor apartments are going to be rented out for about $600-750/month. While the price tag may seem expensive at first glance, the premium price comes with an underrated advantage: location.

Setting up tent in the downtown core of any big city can save you lots of money, even if the cost of housing is at a premium. First, if you live close to where you work, you can virtually eliminate expenses such as transportation (Car, insurance, gas, repairs, etc.). So while you may be paying $600 or so per month for the advantage of living close to work, play and a plethora of other amenities and activities, you can save almost the entire cost of transportation simply by being choosy about where you live. You know what they say - location, location, location.

I myself have chosen to live close to school. While my housemate and I pay $1200 per month for our apartment ($600 each), we save on the following:

• utilities included - a $100/month value (based on what I paid last year)
• free parking (we get one free parking spot) - an $80-100/month value based on the going rate in the neighbourhood.
• transportation (we're a 7 minute walk from the law school) - a $100+/month value
• cable and internet at half the price (as students living on campus, we qualify for the student rate from our local cable and internet service provider) - a $30/month value split in half - $15
• food (the fact that we're a 7-min walk to campus means that we can score free food whenever the law school has visiting guest speakers for lunch or dinner) - $50/month savings
  
• gym pass (again, since the school's gym has just been renovated, a $30-million project, we score access to brand new facilities that include a newly built Booster Juice store, all for the price of nil). - $50/month savings
  

Cost of housing: $600/month
Savings: $395-415/month

Clearly, there is more to be factored in than just the price tag when shopping for a new place. There is always room to negotiate extras if the landlord won't come down on the dollar price. All you need is the capacity to think outside the box a little. In our case, we asked for a rent-freeze in advance because we knew we'd be around for a full two years. We got the stability of knowing our rent wouldn't increase, and the landlord has reason to believe he won't have to go hunting for a new tenant at year's end. That's what I call mutually beneficial.

I got a call yesterday from the federal government about a part-time student employment opportunity (from February to May 2010). The job would entail reviewing and analyzing legislation relevant to the department's work as well as conducting comparative analyses using the legislation.

Although I'm extremely excited to be on the shortlist for further consideration for this position, there are many things that I realistically have to consider before I take the jump. I'm a little bit torn about whether I should even consider this position. For one, it's an incredible professional opportunity since I would get to develop my legislative analysis skills outside of the classroom and get paid to do it, not to mention I'd have the opportunity to develop my network of professional contacts. However, there are some downsides to it.

Below are the pros and cons of taking this job:

PROs:

• it pays around $17/hour which is great for a student job.
• it's in my hometown (about 2 hours away) which means it would be convenient on weekends when I plan to go home anyway.
• it's in the fed government, which is great experience.

CONS:

• it requires a 25 hour/week commitment, which is a great deal to commit to, especially for a law student.
• the $5,000 or so I stand to earn over the next few months might affect my OSAP entitlement if that department were to find out and revise my financial aid application. This wouldn't usually be a problem but since any amount of OSAP entitlement over and above $7,000 limit is non-repayable, any earnings I make over the next few months would only be cutting into the grant or non-repayable portion of my loan, which means I would end up owing the same amount of OSAP at the end of the year. Essentially, I would be working but not making any money. But what are the chances that the OSAP people will find out anyway, right?

Let’s face it: Everyday purchases add up. And whether you don’t make a lot of money, or make a significant income and would simply rather save more of it, the following advice should apply to almost everyone, everywhere almost universally (but most definitely to U.S. and Canadian citizens).

From buying a car, to saving money on gasoline, laundry, and clothes, you should be able to find it all here.

House
1. Make monthly prepayments to your mortgage and save months or even years worth of interest off of your mortgage. For a calculation of the amount of money you will save on your house, check out the Mortgage payoff calculator at Dinkytown.
2. If possible, buy your home close to your work (preferably within walking distance). This will cause your insurance premiums to drop significantly, and your gas consumption will plummet as well.
3. Rent out any unused rooms (or the basement) to bring in more money to pay towards the mortgage. This will shave years of interest off the life of your mortgage.

Home Insurance
1. Ask your insurance agent about bundling your home insurance with your car insurance (and life insurance, if needed).
2. Ask your insurance agent if installing a security/alarm system in your home will decrease your premiums and by how much.

Furniture
1. Go to moving sales, rather than garage sales. Garage sales often sell belongings that people no longer want. In contrast, moving sales involve stuff people may still want, but may not be able to move. You can often find fabulous pieces of furniture for a steal at these events. One good way of locating moving sales is reading the newspaper classifieds.

Utilities
1. Unplug all unused appliances when they are not in use. Studies show that some electrical devices use up just as much energy when they are simply plugged into an electrical outlet as they would when turned on.
2. Wash your hair less often. Not only will it save you money, but it will also keep your hair fuller and less dried out.

Internet
1. If you only use the internet for an hour per day or less, consider buying a Starbucks card for a nominal amount (like $5); you’ll reap the benefits of free internet usage at any Starbucks for up to 2 hours per day just by using the PIN on the back of the card.

Phone
1. Download Skype. It’s a program that uses your internet to call any phone number in the world, at pennies per minute. What’s more, if the person you are “calling” also has Skype, simply call their computer and speak (and even see them on webcam) for absolutely FREE. Skype even has a new feature called your “skype-to-go” number, which allows you to call anyone in the world from your cell phone for the same rates offered by the computer version of the program.

Car
1. When negotiating the price of a car at a car dealership, beware of hidden sales costs. Be sure to ask for the “out-the-door” price of the car, meaning the price you will pay after all taxes, fees, and closing costs.

Car Insurance
1. Ask your insurance agent about bundling your home insurance with your car insurance (and life insurance, if needed).
2. As Suze Orman explains in her “Money Book for the Young, Broke, and Fabulous”, Consider increasing your deductible, to get a reduction in your monthly premiums. Chances are you’re not going to have an accident (unless you are a bad driver). Instead place the amount you save each month by increasing your deductible into a separate savings account, and you can use that if you end up having an accident.

Gasoline
1. Tire Pressure. Check that your tire pressure is the same as the number indicated on the inside panel of your car door.
2. Unload extra weight. If your car is carrying unnecessary baggage, unload it to increase Fuel efficiency by up to 20%.
3. Avoid stop-and-go traffic whenever possible.

Clothes
1. When shopping online, checkout the online coupon codes at Retailmenot.com. This site provides a list of user-submitted coupon codes (with expiry dates, and success rates) for stores like Chapters Indigo Bookstores and Victoria’s secret.

Laundry
1. Wash your clothes in cold water (even if they’re whites).
2. Wash your delicates by hand.
3. Use 1/2-cup of lemon juice instead of bleach in the wash. Not only is it gentler on your clothes and your wallet, but it’s better for the environment!
4. Hang your clothes to dry. Not only will it save on electricity, but it will have less wrinkles in the end!

Food (Groceries)
1. Plan your shopping lists in advance, making sure to examine supermarket flyers before going to the store.
2. Take turns with a friend, relative, or neighbour, cooking up large amounts of a favourite food (think stew). Then freeze the leftovers. Not only will it save you money, but a lot of planning and shopping as well.
3. If you have a garden, plant some vegetable seeds and grow (and perhaps even sell) your own vegetables. Not only will your veggies be cheaper than the supermarket variety, but they’ll also be fresher!
4. If you’re a student, go to all of the educational and networking events put on by your school. There will often be pizza, wraps and other free foods. Not the healthiest, but it will leave money in your pockets for other things!

Makeup and Personal Items
1. Make your own cosmetic products. For incredible recipes for cleansers, toners, and masks, check out Homemade Beauty Recipes.
2. If you live in Canada, take advantage of Shoppers’ Drug Mart’s 20x the points events. At these events, the points you accumulate add up to a monetary worth of about 40% of the total amount of money spent.

Gifts
1. Buy gift bags at the dollar store for as little as 3/$1. Some are really beautiful, and you’d never know they came from the dollar store.
2. Consider buying gift cards from Restaurant.com. You can save up to 60% on restaurant gift cards and certificates by doing so (must be a U.S. Resident).

Movies
1. Stream movies live at Project Free TV.

Music
1. Sign up at swagbucks.com and accumulate swagbucks (special points) that you can redeem towards free music (in the form of iTune tracks.

Eating In
1. If you order from Pizza Hut or Pizza Pizza, consider calling and complaining about the food. They will often send you a second free pizza at no charge.

Dining Out
1. Sign up on Restaurant.com to save up to 60% on gift cards and gift certificates at popular restaurants in your area (works only for U.S. Residents).

Credit Card Interest
1. Get your interest rate lowered. Do what you have to do to reduce your credit card balance to $0 (or near zero). Then call and tell them you want to close your account. This will inevitably lead them to ask why, and do whatever they can to make you stay. 2. At that point, request a rate decrease. You should be able to get it to near 10% if you are a good client, if not less.
3. If you never maintain a balance on your credit cards, request a card with rewards, such as cash back. Most cards offer 1 or 2% cash back.

Books
1. The most obvious is: GET YOUR BOOKS AT THE LIBRARY! The modern day library has all of the latest books, DVDs, CDs and magazines. My local library has several seasons of Entourage, and Sex in the City! Why pay when you can get it free?
2. Trade your books with a friend. If you’re on facebook, check out the Virtual Bookshelf application, which allows you to list books you’ve Read, You’re Currently Reading, and those you Want to Read. Your friends list can then view those and comment/contact you about trading and borrowing them!

Courseware
1. Whether you are simply interested in a certain field, or preparing educational materials for your children or clients, be sure to check out MIT’s open courseware page. With hundreds of courses worth of lecture notes and media, it should be everyone’s first stop shop. From aeronautics and astronautics to Writing and Humanistic Studies, their website has it all.
2. If you have an ipod or iPhone, you can download many free podcasts off of iTunes, including viewable lecture notes from schools such as Stanford and Harvard!

Vacations and Car Rentals
1. Check out Priceline.com to save up to 60%. It allows you to bid on vacation packages, flights, hotels and car rentals, by selecting a star rating for your search or a type of rental car, and a location. The downside is you can’t pick a specific hotel or a specific car. On my most recent trip to Hawai’i, I only paid $1700 for a 6 night stay in a 4-star hotel on the coast of Maui. The regular price was over $3500.

I opened up my MacBook yesterday to find a the little battery icon in the top right pane saying “Not Charging”. This was clearly a problem since the power cord was plugged in. I thought maybe it was an erroneous error message, so I unplugged the cord.

First Mistake.

Immediately, my laptop died.

I thought maybe the problem was the power cord. I plugged in H’s power cord to see if it would make a difference. Nope. It was clearly the battery.

I headed straight to Future Shop, which is where I bought my laptop. I explained to the salesperson that I had bought the laptop just a year ago, and had purchased an extended (3-year warranty). I told him about the battery. Right away, I could see this was not going to be an easy task.

He replied that laptop batteries, like car batteries, are considered consumable products, and as such, are not generally covered under warranties. This meant that I would have to pay for a new laptop battery myself ($159 regular price, $139 student price).

Clearly, I was not going to give in that easy. I explained to him that I had purchased a warranty thinking the battery would be covered, because that was the representation made by the salesperson at the time I had purchased my MacBook. He offered to sell me the battery for $80.

I insisted that this was still a higher price than what I should expect to pay, given the representation made to me at the time of purchase. He proceeded to get the manager.

I told her that I understood that the warranty did not cover batteries. “Unfortunately,” I said, “At the time I purchased this MacBook at this store last June, I was told by a salesperson named [xxxx] that I should purchase an extended warranty. When I asked what sorts of problems would not be covered under warranty, the salesperson stated that everything would be covered except for any damages directly caused by me. Nothing was said about the laptop battery. I would not have purchased the warranty if I had known it did not cover the battery. This was clearly a misrepresentation on the part of the salesperson - and would render the warranty contract void. So if you are not going to give me the battery for free, I would request that you nullify my warranty and return the money I paid for the warranty - to the tune of $300 or so. Then I will proceed to purchase the battery myself”.

Needless to say I walked out of there with a free MacBook battery ($139 + tax in savings).

So, although I am absolutely devoted to living a frugal life, I happen to believe that sometimes a higher price is justifiable if the product is of superior quality, more useful, or will simply last longer. Who wouldn't rather pay $150 for a cashmere sweater that will last years than a $30 sweater that will bunch up or thread after the first wash? Here is my list of 5 items (some cheap, some expensive) that I think are absolutely worth the cost. I'd love to hear what other people's 5 favourite items are.

1. Dare chocolate chip cookies, $1.09 + tax
Why it's so great: The cookies are tiny, which is great for anyone attempting to control their portions, and they are delicious. I calculated that each box comes with about 20 cookies, which puts each cookie at just over 5 cents! So cheap, and so good.
2. NARS sheer matte foundation, $55 CDN
Why it's so great: This is actually the only brand of foundation I have ever found my perfect shade in. What's more is that with my combination/oily/acne-prone skin, this foundation provides adequate yet natural coverage, and actually controls shine for a full 8-10 hours. In fact, it may last longer, but I usually wash it off in that time frame. It feels really comfortable too.
3. Lysol wipes, $3.99 for a container of 50
Why it's so great: it's convenient, disposable, and you can use it on any hard surface. It's perfect for me because as a law student, I don't have much time to do anything besides study, eat and sleep. It saves me a lot of cleaning time :)
4. The iPhone 3G, ranges from $99 with a contract to $800 without a contract
Why it's so great: It comes with so many downloadable applications, including so many useful applications already built in. It's my phone, my iPod, my digital tape recorder (for classes), calculator, internet browser, electronic cookbook (Allrecipes application), expense tracker, FedEx package tracker and nearest ATM finder. The best part is that once my contract is up, I will be able to still use my iPhone to access the internet anywhere where I can access wi-fi internet.
5. Proactiv Refining Face Mask, price depends on size and vendor
Why it's so great: Like the commercial says, it can be used as a face mask and/or to dab on pimples and it dries them up quickly overnight. It contains sulfur (6%) as its medicinal ingredient, which is a powerful antibacterial agent. Depending on the size of the pimple, one night may not suffice to get rid of it altogether, but it will drastically reduce the pimple in size.

There you are! My five favourite products (regardless of their price point). I'm looking forward to hearing what other people's fave five are.


Note: this post is not a paid endorsement or advertisement for any product; this is an unsolicited and uncompensated review of my personal favourite products.

So, I had initially budgeted about $450 for my textbooks. On my first trip to the campus bookstore, I bought 3 of the books I needed for just over $101. Then, on my second trip, I bought a couple of textbooks and a couple of the novels I need for my literary legal course, and I bought the novels used. They cost about 50-60% of the sticker price, and they were in really good shape.

My bill today came to $232 and some odd cents.

That brings my total expenditures on textbooks for this term to $333 or so, which is $117 under budget. That is going into my "AfterGrad" savings fund :)

It feels sooo good to save me some cash, especially since I don't have a summer job or any potential sub-letters lined up to take over my lease for the summer :$

I know that there are a thousand websites out there advocating hundreds of ways to spend substantially less money, but most of those require extremely radical means that are not so easy (such as moving to a smaller house, selling/buying a different car, or skipping meals). Here are some tips I've found useful in my quest to conquer debt and save more money that are actually easy.

Warning: you may find some of these habits to be beneficial to your health as well!


1. Don’t Overtip. If you’re a poor, like most college students or recent graduates, you can bet that $5 tip took you a long time to earn (or if it’s coming out of your student loan, it will cost you a lot more than $5 by the time you finish paying it down). Tip in proportion to service (did the waiter or waitress really provide exceptional service?), but also in proportion to your budget. That $10 meal you just ate at a diner doesn’t warrant a 20% tip. If you spend about $100 eating out each month, following the 10% rule will save you about $120 per year.

2. Drink Tap Water. If you live in a metropolitan, well-populated area, your tap water is certainly properly regulated and it’s actually better for you. Plastic containers leach into foods and liquids and have carcinogenic (cancer-causing) effects. What’s more, tap water contains fluorine, which means you will actually have the added benefit of keeping your teeth healthy, strong and free of decay. At one bottle of water a day ($1.50), that is a savings of about $45 per month, or $540 per year.

3. Complain. Complain about anything and everything that annoys you about the businesses you frequent. Here is one method I find particularly useful: write a complaint letter. Be specific in your complaint, and use a template letter, and change those specifics as the situation changes for each store. I used this method and got about $300 in gift cards in the span of a few months for stores like American Eagle, Banana Republic, and a few restaurants. Potential savings in purchases: anywhere from $200-600 per year.

4. Make your cell phone your only phone. If you’re working during the day, you’ll be using daytime cell phone minutes to a minimum anyway (and daytime charges are where the cell phone companies get you!) If you’re single, there’s no reason for a home phone at all. After all, it’s much more convenient to have your address book, your phone, and your voicemail box always at your side. If you have roommates, you get the added benefit of privacy. Finally, you get a savings of about $240 per year.

5. Carpool to work or school. I did this one summer and it saved me so much money! If you figure you’re spending a modest $30 per week getting to work and back, even with these gas prices, taking turns driving to work, with say - a neighbour - could save you close to $60 per month on gas. Not to mention the added company and reduction in boredom levels. Over the course of a year, that’s about $720 in savings.

6. Ditch the gym membership. If you truly do go to the gym, take up running to replace the need for a treadmill, invest in some weights, and maybe an exercise ball, and some pilates or kickboxing DVDs. All of that should cost you about the same as 3-months at the gym. Total savings = 9 mths x $50 = $450 per year.

7. Use your reward points to reward others. You get on your store cards and credit cards to redeem for generic items such as gift cards/certificates. I tend to wait until the drugstore offers 20x the points storewide before I stock up on necessities (and food!) - this tends to be only once every 3 or 4 months. But in exchange I get about $75 in rewards per $200 spent - I’m not kidding. The trick is to keep yourself from shopping when there are no points being offered. If you figure a more modest rate of return on your shopping investment (say - $50 per $200 spent) and a spending of $1600 per year, that’s about $300 in your pocket after you put the items up on eBay.

8. Quit drinking (also works for smoking). In university, I spent almost every weekend drinking a fair bit. Overall, bar crawls (and the associated food binges) cost me about $30-40 per night out, or about $140 per month. I have since stopped drinking altogether, and find that I suddenly seem to have padding in my bank account all the time! This saves me $140 per month or approximately $1680 per year.

9. Participate in a Book Exchange or buy used. Facebook offers a “Virtual Library” application where you can view or search friends’ books and share or trade your own books with each other. This could cut down dramatically on the cost of buying books brand new. Do this once a month (at a cost of $20 per book), this would save you $240 per year.

10. Take a multivitamin, and other supplements as needed. Most multivitamins will run you about $15-25/month, but the savings in health care services, prescriptions, and unpaid days off work really add up. Plus, the better you are physically, the more mentally alert you'll generally be as well. This will put you in a better position, mentally, to stick to the types of decisions that will earn you, and save you, more money in the long term. Savings: incalculable.

If you're reading this and want a chance at winning lots of prizes, including cash prizes, head over to Money Crashers and enter to win. There are so many ways you can enter, and so many prizes to win!

Over $7,400 in prizes are up for grabs, and there will be over 100 winners announced on February 3, 2010!

Good luck to everyone!

Here is my basic simple budget for January - April 2010.

Jan. - Apr. (2010)	Estimated	Actual
Monthly Expenses
Rent	$597.50
Laundry	$10.00
Cable and internet	$30.00
Cell phone	$85.00
Groceries	$125.00
Personal Care, meds	$20.00
Car Insurance	$113.00
Car Maintenance/tire installation	$25.00
clothes	$25.00
Transpo - Gas	$60.00
entertainment	$40.00
bank fees	$5.00
LOC payments	$28.00
periodic ING & CIBC MF Investments	$160.00
transcripts, postage, printing, etc.	$15.00
miscellaneous	$10.00
Total	$1,348.50

As you can see, I spend very little on going out to eat, on clothing and entertainment. Having very little time to go shopping due to a heavy workload is helpful in this regard.

I wonder if anyone thinks this budget is too restrictive to be sustainable over the long term (i.e. after graduation)?

Yes, I'm in law school. No, it's not exactly what's depicted in Legally Blond (as true to life as that movie was). But if you're reading this post, you're either interested in law school yourself, or you're reading this to entertain yourself with accounts of my suffering. And that is perfectly alright with me.

What is law school like? It's a mix of intellectual stimulation and boredom. Oh, and it costs a lot of money (what did you expect me to say? This is, after all, a personal finance blog).

Law school is the right place to be if you're looking to be surrounded by masses of fellow students who are looking to start out in the world with a high level of education, in the hopes that it will lead them to financial stability and hopefully, a career rather than a job. But it's a *huge* sacrifice to make. Most of the law students I know cannot sustain a long-term relationship, their finances, law school, and their sanity, all at the same time. Since, as of right now, my finances are intact, as are all of the aforementioned aspects of my life, I am hoping to be the exception to the rule.

My boyfriend is a 3rd year medical student, and as such, my life is a little more complicated and constrained than that of most law students. But I have to say this, it is all worth it. I have a great boyfriend, and I go to a great school.

The sacrifices I've made are not ones I regret. And though the decision to go to law school is not right for everyone, they are the right thing (for me). At least, for now.

If you're interested in law school, or simply want to know more about how I manage to juggle so many different things, drop me a comment or e-mail me.

Over at Budgets are Sexy, J Money's Million Dollar Club has inspired me to come up with a realistic plan (a list of goals) that will assist me on my way to becoming a millionaire.



Here's what I pledge to do:

1. Finish law school, with no more than $50,000 in student debt (total).
2. Pay off 60% of that debt within the first year (doable if I live at home for the first year).
3. Put away at least 35% of my net pay into a savings, RRSPs or investment accounts each month thereafter.
4. Max out my RRSP contributions each and every year, and reinvest the tax savings.
5. Purchase my house as soon as I am able to do so, and never ever rent.
6. Never buy books, cars or music brand new.

Of course, there's no way of foreseeing how little (or how much) money I will end up making after graduation, as that will largely depend on the sector or industry I end up working in. Therefore, this list is subject to change at a later date.

If anyone has any advice or constructive criticism on my list, I would love to hear it.

During the past few days, I've been thinking about the direction my life is going to take post-graduation, and what specific goals I can set to get me where I want to be at the age of 30. Since my ultimate goal is to retire at the age of 45, I will need to amass quite a bit of wealth by that time in order to sustain me through a very, very long retirement (the specific numbers I will crunch later). But in order to get me on the path to early (and sustainable) retirement, I suspect I will have to have a certain level of professional achievement and financial independence under my belt by age 30.

The Top 10 professional and personal finance objectives I’d like to achieve before age 30:

1. Have all student debt and car debt paid off.
2. Have a brokerage account with $10,000 invested in at least 4 different stocks.
3. Have purchased my first investment home (in addition to my residential home).
4. Make at least $75,000 per year at my regular job.
5. Maintain a blog, with at least 1,000 readers.
6. Have a plan for starting my own business.
7. Have plan for a scholarship fund, to be implemented at age 35.
8. Speak 3 languages fluently.
9. Have taken a web publishing class and a cooking class.
10. Write and publish a book of poetry.

I've decided to take a page out of Krystal's book (over at Give Me Back My Five Bucks) and resolve to make a certain amount of money above and beyond my "regular" pay this year.

Before I decide on what an appropriate amount is, I think it would be a good idea to tabulate the amount of money I made this school year:

Summer Income (3 months) $7,700
Awards and Grants $11,144
Extra Miscellaneous Income $570

Total Income = $19,414.

I think that given the substantial amount of money I made in the form of awards, and that getting those awards required a lot of work on my part (not only in preparing the application forms/essays but also in terms of extracurricular commitment and keeping my grades up), I shouldn't overload myself too much with the idea of bringing in even more money.

I'm going to set the bar at $3,000 from now until next January.

Here is what I'm going to do to get to $3,000:

1. Instead of working 12 weeks this summer, I plan on working at least 14 weeks, and make at least $1.50 more per hour than I did last summer (this means I have to make $18/hour).

2. Maintain my blog and provide an accurate account of my finances as well as any sound advice I have gleaned from my experiences.

3. Sell off my old textbooks, my violin, my mini-fridge and any unused furniture at the end of the term.

4. Tutor PT during the summer, and put that money away for school.

5. Provide my ING Orange Key (17327197S1) for those who want to sign up for a high-interest savings account. We'll each be credited $25 just for the person signing up!

6. Start marketing my jewelry more aggressively on Etsy starting in May.

Here are my expenses for the first week of school (January 1-8, 2010):

1. Textbooks $101.31
note: still have about 6 books left to buy with a budget of just under $350 remaining.

2. Gas $10 + 56 $66
This means I can't fill up again until a week into February.

3. groceries $190.69

4. Eating Out $7.64

5. Windshield $0
note: cost of labour covered by mom :)

Total: $365.64

Here is my budget for January 2010. I'll be updating it with actual expenditure figures at the end of the month, but my main goal is to keep my textbook costs below the budgeted amount by:

1) buying used; and
2) selling my books at the end of the term.

JANUARY 2010	Estimated	Actual
Irregular Expenses
Books/Supplies	$349.00
Windshield replacement	$146.90
Tuition
Other
Braces (consultation/visits)
Monthly Expenses
Rent	$597.50
Laundry	$0.00
Cable and internet	$35.00
Cell phone	$100.00
Groceries	$0.00
Personal Care, meds	$50.00
Car Insurance	$113.00
Car Maintenance	$0.00
tire installation and rustproofing	$0.00
Transpo - Gas	$50.00
entertainment	$50.00
bank fees	$10.00
LOC payments	$28.00
periodic ING & CIBC MF Investments	$160.00
AfterGrad Savings account	$1,280.00
postage, stamps, printing	$22.70
miscellaneous	$5.00
Total	$2,997.10

I have some extra cash flow coming in over the next month in the form of awards, so I'm putting that into my 'After Grad' emergency fund, as previously mentioned. Laundry = $0 because I plan on doing the same thing I did last term, which was to take my clothes home with me every other weekend in a giant laundry basket so I can wash my clothes at mom's house. Also, postage, stamps and printing costs are expected to be slightly higher due to second year legal applications being due this month, each of which costs $1.50. I expect to be sending out 15 tops, so it comes out to $22.50. Finally, gas is only $50 this month because I already had a full gas tank at the beginning of the month :)

I've seen a couple of other bloggers' budgets online and the estimated vs. actual method seems to be quite common. Is there another way of doing this that's more efficient?

First Day of Law School - Second Year, Term 2.

Well, I'm halfway through law school now... so that itself is pretty exciting! And I got three awards this year, totaling about $7,200.

This means that overall, my projected surplus/shortfall for the year is:

Overall additional debt for this year = $7,000 OSAP
Overall savings for this year = $2,000*

Shortfall = $7,000-2,000 = $5,000 debt

Not bad considering law school is costing me about $25,000 per year :)

----
*rather than paying down my Professional Student LOC or putting my savings towards OSAP, I've decided that, given the low interest rate on my PLOC (3.5%) and the no interest status on my OSAP, I should put the $2,000 in savings into a mutual fund account to use as an after-graduation emergency fund in case there is a delay in finding a job. I figure this is the best idea considering the recession and the fact that I don't want to default on my loans. If by chance I do find a job right after graduation, I will roll those savings and any additional savings towards my highest interest debt: the OSAP. Anyone think this is a bad idea?

My boyfriend H and I took a trip to Montreal last week, just for a couple of days. We got back on New Years Eve and then went out with another couple for New Years. The next morning as I'm driving home I suddenly hear a sudden crackling sound - lo and behold, there is a giant crack running across my windshield that wasn't there moments earlier.

Nothing hit my windshield, there were no stones flying on the road, no trauma to the glass. Obviously, I figured it was a defect in the glass itself, and hoped and prayed that come monday morning, the dealership would cover the cost of replacing the windshield, since they had just replaced the it 7 months ago as part of the sales contract.

This morning, I called a couple of places to get some quotes for the replacement.

First quote was at Apple Auto Glass - $475 or $600 for my car, depending on the model chosen.
Second quote was from Ontario Auto Glass - $405 + tax.

Then it occurred to me to try and persuade the dealership to cover the cost of the glass, thinking they may have scammed me and not replaced the windshield months ago when they were supposed to. It turns out they had replaced it, but they were nice enough to call a glass representative in from the manufacturer to take a look at my windshield. He agreed that he couldn't find a dent or ship or any injury to the glass suggesting that trauma had caused the crack, but mentioned that the warranty on my windshield was only 3 months, and had therefore run out. I insisted this was highly suggestive of a defect in the glass itself, since the crack was in the middle layer and could not be felt from either inside or outside the car. He called the manufacturer and told them what was up, and within a few minutes had gotten them to agree to cover the cost of the product.

The dealership asked me to pay for labour ($130), and I agreed. Clearly, the crack was the result of an unforeseeable defect, and the cheapest alternative estimates placed the cost of replacement at around $405+ tax = $465.

Cost to me (through dealership) = $130.

Total Savings =$335.

Better believe that's going in my savings account!

I wonder if it was my power of persuasion that did it, or if the defect was so obvious that the manufacturer couldn't help but admit it? I like to think it was all me :)

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Hi, my name is Sarah and I've created this blog to help me keep track of my successes and failures in the world of personal finance. After graduating from university with a bachelor of arts degree, the severity of my student debt load really hit me. I was $30,000+ in debt, some of which was consumer debt. I worked hard to reduce interest rates and make large payments to pay it down, but I then returned to school to pursue a law degree.

This blog is my attempt to track my spending, saving, and overall financial habits. You'll find that my posts are really about a variety of topics, because personal finance touches all aspects of life - shopping, cooking, going out with friends, taxes, basically whatever strikes me as important on any given day. I hope that those of you who decide to follow me on my journey will find this blog to be helpful in achieving your own financial goals, or at least, serves as a (cheap) form of entertainment.

As you can probably tell from the name of my blog, my ultimate goal is to retire by the age of 45. While it will be a difficult goal to achieve, I don't think it's impossible, though I will need all the help and encouragement I can get!

Help... and Enjoy! :)