On Vacation

Just so you don't think I've abandoned you all I'm writing a quick post to say I'm off to Penticton in the morning for the conference. I should be back next Wednesday!

Love and Kisses to all

5 More Days

Well there are 5 more days left until we head off to the Okanagan. I'm pretty excited. Things have turned back to shit at work all because of the same bitchy person and I'm SO ready to get a break from that place.

54% There

I made a xfer to ING today for $350. It was a tight squeeze with all that I have going on right now but I know I'll be glad later on that I did it. This clears one goal off of my list for the month and brings me to 54% of my goal for the Aussi Fund. Yay!

Taxes Done And Done

Today BF and I had our taxes done. It was the first time we've filed together. I will be getting back $464.59 in the next couple weeks. May is definitely looking good. Three pay days, working the elections ($260) and getting a tax refund of $464.59. I'm going to have to plan out what to do with these funds before I get my hot little hands on them. I'm predicting a big increase in on my savings progress bars (which I need to clean up by the way - I need a blog makeover lol).

I found out today that because our incomes are now combined I won't be getting GST cheques anymore :( BF's response to this was that he felt he was worth the $400/year. He said "Can you believe you get all of this for only $400 annually?" with a big cocky grin. Uh huh..

One interesting bit that caught my interest was BF talking to the tax preparer about RSP contributions. That made me dance with glee inside. Finally, I'm rubbing off on him. :D

We all know I did some job hopping last year and of course it had the tax preparer giggling. Then the most embarrassing thing ever happened. She went to staple all my paperwork together and it broke stapler!!!! You read that right. Broke. The. Staple. She had to go into the back and get a heavy duty stapler. BF said he will never let me live that moment down and is still laughing about it. Whatev!

Anyway I'm glad to have it done. Any other last minute filers out there?

Working The Polls

Today as I was riding the bus to work I spotted an ad while reading the daily paper. I love reading the paper on the way to work. It makes me feel more in touch with whats going on around me. If I get on the bus and there's no papers left I sulk. lol. Anyways.. the ad. :)

It was an ad run by Elections BC. They are looking for election officials for the provincial election on May 12th. I called the toll free number which directed me to the local offices here where I live. I was able to get a position right away. They asked if I had a friend to come along and work with me for fun and so I got my coworker a position too.

They are going to pay me $30 for training on May 2nd from 9-12. Then I'll be paid $230 for working the day of the election from 8am-8pm. I have to wait for the ballots to all be counted before leaving. I'm okay with that.

May is turning out to be a very lucrative month for me. Three pay days and now a little side income. I'm pretty excited to be doing this. I just found out they hired people this way during the last federal election and I remember thinking I would enjoy doing it. I get to meet people all day and see their expressions as they get ready to vote. I think that's awesome. I'll definitely be getting my vote in as well!

I've already let my boss know and he said it wouldn't be a problem. I'm glad that I have a nice boss who lets us enjoy our lives and isn't a tyrant. It would suck to miss out on the opportunity just because my boss said no.

If you live in BC and are interested the toll free number is 1-800-661-8683. Just let them know you want to be an election official and they can give the number and info to a local office. Better do it quick though. Some areas where I live were already full!

Or you can check out www.elections.bc.ca

Working Holiday Visa

I'm starting to gather more info for the trip to Australia. I am so excited. It's making it all seem more real to me. I used the Australian Visa Wizard and it brought me to the right conclusion as to which visa we should be applying for. BF and I will apply for a Working Holiday Visa. It's perfect for us!

We meet all the requirements for the visa which include:

• You must be from one of 19 Working Holiday eligible countries and regions.
• You must be aged 18-30 at the time of applying.
• You must not have accompanying children (either at the time of applying or when you hold the visa).
• If you have completed three months specified work in regional Australia on your first Working Holiday visa, you may be eligible to apply for a second Working Holiday visa.
• You can study for up to four months.

Hotdog! I didn't realize we could study there if we wanted too so thats a fun bonus. We may also have to show proof of having $5000 AUD, health insurance, a medical report stating what healthy youngins we are and possibly a return ticket/proof of cash to buy a ticket out of there. It's going to also cost us a $170CAD fee to process the application.

Happy Anniversary ING!

Today I logged onto my ING to make a xfer and there was a happy little animated card wishing me a happy anniversary. Aww, we've been together two years this month and even though times have been rough lately I still love you best. Muah!!


While I was there I xfered $100 to the Australia Fund. I get paid on Friday and wanted to squash the spending bug by getting it out of my reach and into savings. I guess that was the GST/Climate money so I saved it after all. Yay!

P.S - ING is now down to 1.7% :(


Total Saved For Trip - $2354 (or 47%)

Employment Update

Thing are going fairly well at work. My boss hired a male pharmacist awhile ago and I think the testosterone has helped level things out I bit. I hate to say it but I work some feisty females and I welcome his calm nature. It's like having a big brother around. It's definitely improved the atmosphere for me.

I got approved vacation time for my trip to the Okanagan with BF for his conference later this month. Part of it takes place on the weekend so I only had to take 4 days off work. One of those days is a recover day for both of us. A lot of people at work have been taking vacations lately and I'm ready for mine!

Our store is now making employees go online to take care of their scheduling needs. I checked it out last night. I logged on and tried different things. I wanted to practice like my boss suggested but nothing seemed to be set up yet. There was one interesting thing though. The only thing updated was my employee "balances" page. It said I had just over $500 is vacation pay available. This is nice to know, because it isn't posted on our pay stubs so I wasn't sure how much I had.

Online I could chose whether it would be a paid vacation or not. I'd rather it be paid so I can take the money and stick it in savings and accrue interest on it over the next six months instead of leaving it to get a big chunk of dough right before leaving. May has three paydays for me. The middle cheque (or as I refer to it "bonus" cheque) would be the one affected by my vacation so I'm feeling good about the timing of it all. I'm going to do some serious saving next month!! :D

Vancouver Chases Brittany Off The Stage

http://perezhilton.com/2009-04-09-drama-at-britney-spears-concert

Haha, I read this late last night and then saw it on local news this morning. Oh, Brittany you silly bitch, you make me laugh. Way to go Vancouver!

Gst/BC Climate $$$$ Arrived!!

Today I finally received my moolah from the government. $92.25 Gst/Hst and $25 BC Climate Action Tax Credit. This totals $117.25. I would love to be all super pf bloggerific and say that I'm going to apply it to my savings but I'm not sure yet. I haven't bought any new clothes in possible a year or so and I would like something nice to wear to the conference later this month. Another part of me wants to save it for while I'm away at the conference. I think the best this for me right now is to keep it right here on my desk until I decide. That way it wont get lost in my chequing account if you know what I mean.

I have also noticed my foot gets wet when its raining outside so maybe its a sign I need a new pair of shoes, lol.

Challenge Accepted

I recently stumbled on a new blog and started commenting on it. Last night I comment on the blog and then today I see a post that kind of rubs me the wrong way. The post is very rude and judgemental.

Here is their post.

This was my response:
Well, maybe you are not familiar enough with the blog to understand why their goals are set that way. For instance I am moving to Australia for a minimum of one year. I have to have at least $5000 in savings before I can apply for a work visa. I have to apply in June or July. So that goal is a priority for me. I leave in October which gives me the months in between to make up my other priorities for savings. I have a stable job and so does my spouse. My blog doesn't reflect his savings, only my own. All of my money went to debt before January 09 so this money has all been saved in the last three months. Hope that clears the fog a little! :)

Then I reread the post and I thought this guy doesn't really have the right to criticize others by the looks of his progress bars. This "snapshot into his financial soul" shows he's got almost as much saved as he does debt. Hmm... do I really want to take judgement from him? I've already paid my debt off. What I do with my money is pretty much up to me. That's why its personal finance.

Okay, so lets respond since he considers this a duel. *yawn

Progress bars are legit, what's not so legit is the breakdown of some of these bloggers priorities, especially considering they are personal finance bloggers.

Priorities are set by the person with the goals. Their life, their goals. It's a simple as that. It's not for another person to decide what is important to that person at that time in their life. There is more to a blogger than what is shared on the net.

It makes me wonder if their financial priorities are in order. Is it not hypocritical to write about the importance of fundamental financial knowledge, only to have your own website display such a large gap between the necessities (emergency fund) and extras (travel)?

How can you judge a persons financial knowledge like that? How can I be sure you have your priorities in order when you have a large chunk of debt which is most likely costing you more in interest than you are accumulating on your savings. Your savings almost meet the needs of your debt. We are moving to Australia October of this year so that fund is a priority/necessity to me. I have to have $5000 saved before I can apply for a working visa. All other savings are put on hold until that is fully funded. I have a more than stable job and so does BF. If something really catastrophic happened I could always access the Australia fund just as quickly as I could the EFund. The point is to have the required amount saved right away so that I can apply for the visa. Get it? Got it? Good.

Having some kind of emergency fund should be one of the first things we do as we fight to gain our financial freedom.

So how large will your EFund be before you pay off your debt. Being debt free is closer to financial freedom in my eyes. I see you don't break down your savings with your progress bars so its hard to see what is happening with that stored up dough. Different people follow different strategies. I personally would never save up 6 months of EFund with a large amount of debt on my shoulders. Our priorities are different but that's okay. When I had debt my EFund was $1000. Enough to cover anything that came up for me and keep me on track. I'm resourceful person and can find work easily within a few days time. I believe in EFunds, and have helped my friends see the light on this one but it is not my top priority right now. I have stable employment and do not own a car or anything that could break down and need repairs. All of our furniture is second hand and ready to be given back to charity before we leave. If it's broke, we fix it or ditch it. My EFund will be funded before the trip and that's all the matters to me. I will be working in Australia so the $5000 is more like a security blanket for me, I'm not just going to blow the money.

So to all you PF bloggers who have skewed priorities I'm challenging you to a blogging duel. Please explain or justify the logic behind your actions. Am I crazy? (don't answer that)

I don't really care about the priorities of others. I'm more concerned about my own. Maybe you should take note. I feel I explained myself well enough through my comment and now my post. If you don't know the story behind the goals of the person you should probably keep your fingers off the keyboard. I am debt free and living a great life. I am frugal in my everyday practices and I enjoy sharing with my PFB family.

The purpose of my blog is not to preach to others or to gain the ability to judge people. It's about my own thoughts on my finances. If I write a post giving advice its only share what I've learned. PF blogging in my mind is more about the support of the community and learning through others experiences. Maybe you are the one who has your priorities askew.


*Note* This post written while drilling is happening next to my head. Thanks random worker guy! :P

$250 Addition To Australia Fund

I have made another addition to the Austraila Fund. I am now at 45% of my goal.

Dear Landlord - Read Tenancy Act Of BC Stat

It's definitely not the first time my landlord has pissed me off. I don't work until 1pm today and I had a really rough night. I hear BF leave for work and then come back in. He comes upstairs and tells me I should get out of bed and get dressed immediately. Huh?

There's some strange man outside here to fix the gutters that fell down during the bad snow storms here over the holidays. BF says he's going to be climbing a ladder and will be able to see in the house so I should get dressed now if I'm worried about it. Uh... so no shower?

This whole thing made BF 30 minutes late for work which his boss will be okay with if he stays later. As for me... I'm pissed. I'm a stickler for the rules. So I got directly on the phone with the landlords wife. I told her that I could have turned the guy away but that would be silly because the repair needs to be done. Then I told her in the future though I will turn them away if I don't receive at least 24 hours notice. She was surprised her husband never called because he hired this guy days ago.

Hmph! I'm so grumpy and my stomach hurts (symptoms for me of not getting enough sleep). This house is poorly insulated and this guy is SUPER loud out there.

It may sound weird but I don't like strange men roaming around my yard without BF here.

Dear Government - Give Me My Money

I'm sad. Where's my GST cheque? Oh, and the final Global Climate payment from the BC government? Give it to me dang it!!!

April TCOB

For the month of April I want to keep my goals light and airy, just like the weather we're having lately.

1) Take Niece for sleep over with lots of fun activities.

2) Save $700 in Australia Fund

3) Get things worked out with Pharmacare and MSP

4) Renew PO Box

5) Take mini vacation with BF to Okanagan

6) Plant the rest of the garden

7) Organize and burn photos off computer

8) Dig out Bills Binder and reorganize

9) Sort through large bag of bills and such in office closet

10) Have a hell of a great long weekend!