It's tax time again! And that means it's time to gather all our receipts and file our returns. Fortunately for me, I'm meticulous when it comes to my money, so I've been stashing away all of my receipts into a large manila envelope since the beginning of the year.

So I logged into my TurboTax account today and started filling in some information. Lucky for me, despite the fact that I'm working now, I spent part of 2011 in full-time studies so I qualified to use the free student edition of the Turbo Tax software. This version is particularly useful for me because I do some online securities trading and have some longer term investments, scholarships, etc. so my tax situation is not so straightforward. The free student version provides great support for this type of situation. There is one downside I've noticed however, and it's that getting support from the TurboTax folks is painful. Not only does their online chat support rep "Tina" not respond to questions (it's been two hours and counting since I submitted the question through the online chat system), but their customer service/support phone number is a 780 area code (long distance from Canada). Which as an aside, begs the question: since expenses incurred in preparing and filing your tax return are deductible, would the long distance charges be tax deductible too?

I'm a little bit peeved. It's my humble opinion that filing our taxes should not be painful, and should not cost more than the amount of your return. Since my return will only result in a credit to me of about $89 or so, it hardly seems worth the hours of torture I have already gone through and no doubt will continue to be subjected to until my return is complete.

I got my health insurance card today, so I won't be paying full price for my meds anymore. Things are starting to look up!

This was another good week for spending. As you can see, the bulk of my spending went to necessities, like student loans (OSAP), cell phone, gas and food. The $54.62 that Mint says I spent on restaurants is actually money I spent on gas, because Mint mislabeled the transaction. There were no shopping trips or impulse buys.

Where My Money Went

You spent $403.80 over the past 7 days.

Your top spending categories: $220.00 OSAP Payment $56.49 Mobile Phone $54.62 Restaurants $36.23 Gas & Fuel $36.46 Other

I've been thinking this week about how helpful my iPhone has been lately in helping me save money, and I realized just how many useful apps I've downloaded and tried. What follows is a list of my 5 favourite money and time saving apps. After all, time is money, isn't it? And best of all, all of these apps can be downloaded for FREE!

1. Mint (9/10). By far, my favourite app. It makes budgeting easy and accessible on my iPhone. If you're not familiar with this app, what it does is it basically lets you link all of your accounts (including mortgages and student loans) to your mint account, feeds all of the data in, so you can view all of your transactions and balances in one spot. It also sends you reminders when bills are due, and lets you track changes in your net worth from month to month (by the way, the cool pie charts in my last post about my weekly spending are e-mailed to me on a weekly basis by Mint!). I would give this app an 8.5 out of 10, only because its downside is a fairly big one. It has the most horrendous customer service on the planet - not only does it take super long for a response, but most of the reps I've dealt with are illiterate or just plain stupid.

2. Waze (8.5/10). This app lets you map out a route - say, from your house to your office - and tells you what the ETA is on your arrival. It does it pretty accurately too, using traffic patterns calculated based on the speed of other (moving) Waze users. I use this app while I'm still in bed in the morning to figure out what traffic is like and whether I can afford (time-wise) the extra 10 or 15 minutes of sleep. My only complaint about this app is that it appears that as soon as you log into the app, the app uses your speed and factors it into its traffic calculations, so if you're using it before you start driving, it would likely throw off the ETA calculations of others in your area.

3. Reminders (8.5/10). This comes standard on all iPhones with iOS 5 now, but it's well worth mentioning. Set any reminder (e.g. "cancel Amex card to avoid $90 annual fee") and set a date for a reminder. When that date comes, the iPhone will send you a pop reminder, so you'll never forget. The really great thing about this app is you can set a reminder that's contingent on a location as well. Instead of entering a date, set a location reminder (like "call Dr. G" reminder set for when you reach your office [ you would enter your office address, of course]), and when the GPS on your phone senses you've reached that location, it will send you the reminder.

4. Skype (8/10). For anyone making long distance calls, this app renders your long distance calling plan/card/overage charges completely void. Using Voice over IP (VoIP) technology, you can use your skype account to make calls using any wireless network or a 3G network. This app let me cut out the $15 long distance calling feature I had with my carrier.

5. Groupon (7.5/10). For anyone that likes to shop once in a while, this is the perfect app for scoring discounts. You purchase a "groupon" to a retailer for typically at 50-90% off the typical value of the items. For example, a few weeks ago, I bought a $25 groupon to a local bakery for $12. Before that, I had bought a $45 groupon to the Body Shop Canada for only $20. With all the sales that were on at the Body Shop when I arrived, I actually scored about $110 worth of stuff with the $20 I had spent. Ridiculous, ridiculous savings. The functionality of the app is more limited than on the groupon website, and could definitely use some fine tuning.

6. Red Laser (7.5). I only recently discovered this app, but it essentially allows you to scan an item in a store using the bar code and (1) instantly pulls up a list of nearby retailers that offer the item for a lower price, and (2) if it's a food item, it pulls up all of the ingredients the food item contains. While I personally don't have any allergies and can't comment on its usefulness, for those with food allergies, it seems like a good starting point for determining what food items to examine more closely and consider purchasing.

And now you can see how my iPhone paid for itself through these very useful, FREE apps.

I got paid on Thursday, and since I only spent $55 on gas and $4.85 on a McDonalds breakfast the week prior, this week's spending is nearly everything I've spent so far this month. Here is a breakdown of my spending:

Where My Money Went This Week

You spent $1,200.68 over the past 7 days.

Your top spending categories: $1,000.00 Transfer to savings $86.19 Pharmacy $50.50 Gas & Fuel $38.07 Finance Charge $25.92 Other

$86.19 on Pharmacy The $86.19 I spent in the pharmacy category was for this month's supply of Accutane (which is a drug I use for clearing up my *sigh... adult* acne). The problem really isn't so bad, but being that I work directly with clients, other lawyers and judges, I find it hard not to justify the expense. The boost in confidence alone is well worth the price.

Plus, my health insurance kicks in in about a week, so I'll get reimbursed for about 75% of the cost of this prescription back to when I started working for my employer.

$38.07 on Finance Charges This is the monthly payment on one of my two student lines of credits. I can't justify paying down this line of credit too aggressively given that the interest rate (4%) is much lower than the return of 6-7% I'm currently getting on my investments.

I had a major trial going on this past week and so I spent more than one night working past 10 p.m. By the time I'd get home, shower and get ready for the next day, packing a lunch was the last thing on my mind.

It sounds like an excuse but it's really not. I just had no time. Every precious second I spent awake I was working and preparing for court. I ate out more than my fair share, and as a result, I've really put a dent in my wallet.

The worse part is, that my work environment makes it difficult to restrict my spending on those occasions when I do have to eat out. The building I work in is a high-rise, yet the only place to eat is this one teeny tiny mom and pop eatery down on the first floor. A small soup and (very small) salad costs nearly $10, which is about twice what I would pay at a larger chain restaurant like Subway. I felt seriously ticked off each time I bought the combo, but really, who can blame the business owner for trying to turn a profit?

Needless to say, if these late nights become more frequent, I'll have to tighten my belt the rest of the month to make sure that I'm not stressing about my spending when I'm forced to dish out for an overpriced grilled cheese sandwich or macaroni soup.

I'm free! (from the clutches of law school, at least).

Last month, I started working at a small firm in my hometown. I've now been there for long enough to know that the kind of law I've been immersed in is the type of work I'd like to continue doing for a long time to come.

It's stressful and the days are long, and I often bring work home. Both on nights and on weekends. I suppose it's a good thing I'm single and have no one to answer to, no diapers to change, and no one to worry about but myself. I don't know how some other young lawyers do it, but I for one, am thankful that my lifestyle is conducive to this type of work.

I have been trying to balance my dedication to my new (real life!) work with some of my more selfish goals, like trying to pay down my student debt, saving up for a condo, and planning for my eventual transition into opening up my own private practice.

It's all very daunting. I'm young, and I want to do all of the things that others are doing. I want to travel the world, experience new people and things. And I want to be unrestricted and careless with my time and money. But I can't afford either.

So, for now, I've resolved to spend my energy working at building a life that will eventually allow me to do the things I want to do, without the financial worries most people face. I estimate it will only be about 5-7 years before I can take a break and act my age. And that's a sacrifice I have accepted.

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!