82% Freedom in Focus

I received a cheque on Monday for working the election polls on May 12th! $270 smackers to be exact. I deposited it right away but just remembered to set up the xfer today to ING.

This month I have saved $1370 towards the Aussi fund. I'm so excited! Once I hit my goal I'll be applying for my visa. My goal is to save $1500 this month but I'm secretly trying to save $1800. I'm trying really hard so that I'll only have to save $500 next month and then move onto my next PF goal.

Currently I sit at 82% of my goal.

Purchasing A Van

BF and I have discussed many times that we may want to purchase a van in Australia to live in. It would serve as our portable home for the year. Our own little slice of familiarity as we travel about. Well lately BF has been looking a lot more online at vans that are currently for sale to get an idea of price and narrow down what we are looking for.

For me it was all about the layout of the van. I was attracted to the pop roof and the idea of not having to be hunched over all the time. I would be happy with something like this. I want to be able to feel cozy and not claustrophobic. I want to be able to have all of our things neatly organized.

BF on the other hand has a whole different variety of needs. His mostly have to do with what's under the hood. I have no idea what those things are so I let him decide whats good in that area.

I'm sure we'll find something good once we get there. I need to start savings up for the van now too. BF has a budget in mind but we're still in investigation mode. The best part about the van is we can recoup some money before we come back. As long as its running well and we have a buyer. :) I think its an important investment for us for this trip.

76% There

This morning I made another xfer from my chequing account to my Aussi fund. I should have done this before the crazy drunken long weekend of camping. *sigh I managed to scrap up $350 to put towards the goal so now I just need to save another $400 to reach my goal of $1500 this month.

I worked the elections but apparently they send you the cheque in the mail and it can take a few weeks so if I get the money before the end of the month then great but if I don't I can put it towards savings next month. I am confident I can save the last $400 I need this month from my next cheque on the 29th.

69% Reached!!!

I got my tax refund in the mail yesterday at work. I put over half into the Australia savings which means I'm now at 69% of my goal with $3457! The rest of the refund will go toward bills and such. So far this month I have managed to sock away $750. Yay for May!!

64% Reached

I forgot that I got paid today until just now. I xfered $500 immediately to my ING savings fund. The Australia fund is now at 64 % of the goal which is $3,200!

May TCOB

Hello May! I've been waiting for you.

I think May will be a great month. In May I hope to accomplish some really important tasks both financially and personally.

1) Save $1500 to Austraila Fund. I can't believe even believe that I can write that but I'm really going to go for it this month. In May I have three pay days, I will work the elections and I will get a tax return back. I would like to save $1800 which would bring me to total of $4500 and is 90% of my goal but I'm unsure of how my vacation pay will effect me so I'll stick with $1500. If I do reach $1800 I would be able to save the last $500 in June and apply for my visa a month before I expected to. :) It will be a tight squeeze though. We'll see...

2) Bring a Lunch to Work 3 Days a Week.

3) Have Entire Upper Floor of House Organized. I'm getting closer on this one. I think this goal should be attainable if I use my time at home wisely to get things done. There is a lot of paperwork that needs to be sorted through, clothes that need to go to charity and a lot of my jewellry making supplies. I need to start purging for the trip.

4) Get Price Estimates for Storage Unit. We will be getting rid of a lot of stuff. If its not collapsible or irreplaceable its going. Some stuff though we do want to hold on to and so we need to be getting some prices on what storage units are worth these days. BF has some larger items like a kayak, motorcycle and truck. He'll need to get a realistic idea on the cost of keeping these items in storage for a year before he makes any decisions. The only thing I really want to keep in our new bed frame which is collapsible.

5) Visit a Dear Friend on the Mainland. My friend Nathaniel often comes to the Island for visits. I try to visit him as well because I love spending time with him but I always find it hard to get a totally free weekend to head over to Vancouver. No more excuses, I am setting aside time just to go see him this month!

6) Work the Election Polls on May 12th! Yay, this makes me very happy. Not just because of the extra dough but because I feel like I'm contributing to the process.

7) Plant Garden - We've hit the right time to xfer all of our babies outside. We've also got to get the other seeds planted for things such as radishes and corn. Mmm, I can't wait until harvest time.

8) Investigate RSP Option at Work - I need to find out whether I qualify for a match contribution or not. Every time I ask I get a different answer. I'm ready now to fill out the paperwork and get started. Might as well get what I can before I leave.



I've decided to reward myself when I complete all my goals for the month. This month the reward will be this:


It came highly recommended by a friend who did this same type of trip a year ago. She swears by it and it has great reviews. I think it would be well worth the investment so thats why I chose it for my goal reward.

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!

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%)

$250 Addition To Australia Fund

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

40% Of My Goal Reached

I am very happy to report my pay did eventually come through and I jumped on setting up the transaction right away. I now have saved $2000 towards my trip and have reached 40% of the total goal. I'm so excited!

This also brings my total savings for 2009 to $2300!! I've never had that much saved in my entire life and I'm very proud of myself. I have real self control now. I don't ever even think about touching that money. I'm a woman on a mission. A savings mission, lol!

I'm not doing as well for savings as I'd hoped to do by this time of the year but I can't be upset considering the great progress I've made. :)

Australia Fund Contribution

I've felt a little bit guilty at my spending over the weekend so tonight I made a $200 xfer from my bank to my Australia savings account. I am now at 29% of my goal. I plan to make another deposit after payday on Friday.

Two Australia Fund Contributions

Today I set up a transfer for $424 from my regular banking to my savings with ING. I also transfered another $225 on the 16th. This brings me to a total of $1250 which is 25% of my goal. I'm so excited! I've decided to focus my savings towards the trip for now because I have to prove I have $5000 saved before I can get my work visa in the summer. Yay!!

$275 Added to the Australia Fund

Today I set up another xfer to ING for $275 to be added to my Australia Fund. I now have $600 saved in that account. I wish it was more but being sick earlier this month hit my pocket hard. Darn sickness!

Total savings for all accounts in 2009 - $900

I was hoping for $1200 and would have done it but as I said.. the sicko bug hit me hard. I may be making some changes to my financial goals for the year soon. My work is offering a match program for RRSP contributions so once I have my paperwork in order I'm going to find out what the max they will match is and go from there.

$125 Added to the Australia Fund

Today I decided to make a xfer to ING direct. I had approximately $200 left in my account and I get paid on Friday so I decided to leave myself with $75 for the week just in case and xfer the other $125 to ING.

This brings my Australia Fund to $325.55. I can't wait to get paid on Friday so I can boost this number again before the end of the month! Yay!

So far I have saved $625 this year with all my savings accounts combined. 2009 is definitely the year of saving for Dolly.

Move My Money

I did a little xfering to ING today. I made the following deposits:

a) I transfered $90.00 to my Secured Credit Card Fund. This brings the total to $100 which was my goal for the month!

b) I also transfered $90.00 to my RSP Fund, which is also a grand total of $100 and the monthly goal :D

c) I decided at the last minute to throw another $100 into the Australia Fund. I'm hoping to make another, healthier deposit to this fund next pay day which is still almost two weeks away. This brings the total of that fund to $200.

So today I managed to check off two goals on my January list. The first was to top up all savings categories to at least $100. I'm happy to have that completed in the first half of the month.

The second was hosting my mom's birthday party last weekend. It turned out to be a success and I think my mom had a pretty good time. Yay!

GST Baby!

I'm feeling a little better today. I don't think I'll be returning to work until Wednesday though. It's hard to stay in bed when there is so much stuff to do around the house. I know, I know! Rest first.

So it's GST time again and I think we may get a little bit of global stimulation again here in BC. I'll have to check my PO Box when I go back to work. Mine will be saved of course. I'm thinking the Australia fund but I have some other ideas as well.

I'm thinking of throwing a lump sum this month and next month at starting my RRSP so that I can get part of it back when I do my taxes and then put that money toward the Australia fund. What do you guys think?

So.. what is everyone else doing with their little stash from the government?

Australia

Last weekend BF and I were laying around and I demanded we talk about Australia. BF is a really laid back kind of guy. He's not a planner. I on the other hand plan everything. So I told him I need to know when he's planning on us going because I can't prepare myself without knowing an approximate date. Boy oh boy was I surprised to hear his answer.

October 2009. Eeek! I thought it was more like January 2010. Uh oh! I freaked out. I told him its kind of hard for me to reach all the goals I have by then and that its too early. He was really calm and told me that as long as I have all my debt paid off and a little saved not to worry about anything because he'll take care of it. Hmm... I don't want to rely on somebody else so I'm going to have to save as much as I can in the next year as possible. I want to get my retirement savings in the works before going on this trip.

Since my birthday is next month I'm asking BF to only buy me things related to the trip. I've asked him for a light weight backpack to carry all my worldly possessions and a head lamp. I know the backpack will be very costly so that's why I'm asking for it for my birthday instead of having to save up for it myself. Anything I can acquire through my birthday and xmas towards the trip will definitely help out a lot.

I believe I will have at least $500 in my Australia fund by the end of the year. Next year I'll need to save about $500/mo for 9 months to make my goal of $5000 for the trip. Wow! That's a lot of moolah!!

Exciting News!!

Since I've been in such good spirits lately I've decided to go ahead and set up another savings account with ING Direct for my Australia fund. I don't have much to put in it right now so I did the minimum transfer of $10 to get it started. Yahoo!!!!!

You may have noticed the tiny change on my side bar indicating the first small step to making this trip a reality. I am so happy about this!

It was SO easy!! I was able to do it online all by myself within two minutes. I called in to make sure I had done it correctly, which I had, so now I feel confident I could set up others if I liked no problem.

If you are thinking of opening an online savings account with ING Direct please consider using my link on the right to earn both you and myself $13 with a minimum start up deposit of $100. This offer is good for Canadians only. If you are an American leave me a comment and I'll direct you to a friend with an American link.