Taking Others Advice

How much do you rely on others (friends/family, colleagues, blogs, etc.) advice for your financial decisions? I certainly like gathering information and then making a qualified decision from there. And, being in the currently debt situation that we are in, I certainly wouldn't qualify myself as an expert. So, I take all the help I can get.

One item that I reached out to a financial message board on is whether we should move the balance of one of our credit cards (approx. $6800) over to the 0% credit card that we recently received. I had moved over the balance of 2 cards but was hesitating to move the final one as the rates were lower (5% and 12% - split across the card) than most credit card rates. And I felt that we wouldn't have all of the cc balances paid off by next March when the rate of the 0% card increases to 19.9%. So, then I'd have a large balance at 19.9%. But someone had a good point, move it now and we wouldn't be paying any interest on any cards at all this year. Duh!!! Made perfect sense. So, I sent the cheque off on Monday to transfer the balance. Once all is settled, I'm going to close the credit card where I am transferring from. I have no loyalty to that card other than the lower interest rate. I have kept some of my other cards as the will be used for work expenses or paying for items with them so that we can get the rewards. Then we'll just pay that card off right away. Then, when next March rolls around, whatever balance is left on the 0% card, we'll just find another 0% interest cc.... or a LOC or something like that at a much lower rate. And it means only worrying about paying one credit card. I think it's a good decision all around.

If I Had A $1,000,000...

or should I say, $30,000,000.

One of the national lottery's (6/49) jackpot is $30,000,000 this Wednesday night. You can't help but think about what you would do if you were to win a big lotto such as this. Here are my top 10 things I would do if I were to win a large sum such as this one:

1. QUIT MY JOB!!!!
2. Pay off all bills
3. Give large sums to our immediate families
4. Give $$ to our extended friends and families
5. Go on an extended trip
6. Hire a nanny/housekeeper to take care of the house and baby
7. Build a dream house
8. Buy a house/villa in Italy
9. Invest, invest, invest (especially in real estate)
10. Buy some great cars

Of course, many of these could be achieved without winning a lotto but it would certainly make it easier. It's so fun to dream :)

I'm fed up

I feel like we're not getting anywhere on our debt reduction quest. We keep racking up bills and pay off what we spent the month before. So, although we aren't getting any further in debt, I don't feel like we are reducing our cc debt. I know that I am a large contributor to this but I can't seem to stop myself. And it's going to continue. We need to sod our backyard... buy a shed... etc. etc. So, I'm going to sell stock options to pay for that. So, it won't increase our debt; but it won't reduce it either. Why can't we seem to make a dent in our cc debt amounts. It frustrates me that we have that much debt, but obviously I'm not frustrated enough. I don't want to be dealing with this for years on end. But I can't seem to find a solution. There always seems to be something that comes up that needs to be paid for.

I'm even avoiding posting on the blog right now because of the current situation. This has to change. I'm fed up.

How to spend $600 in one easy step

I called and had 2 lawn maintenance companies assess our lawn and provide a quote for repairing what is a mess of a lawn. They both agreed... it needs lots of help. We have grub damage, weeds, and is generally quite brown. It needs dethatching, fertilization, top dressing and overseeding. Both quotes needed at least one call back to the company to have them interpreted. And of course, they offer discounts when you buy the annual "package". So, with all of our debt to be paid, what do we do????? Sign up for an annual package and the grub removal/"don't let our lawn die" commitment. I did pick the quote that was over $200 less than the other. It seems that one wanted to charge almost $300 for top dressing. I'm expecting that the "winner" of the quotes will be able to accomplish this without needing to use dirt laced with gold.

I know that it seems like we are going backwards in our debt reduction quest. But if we don't do something to save our lawn now, we'll have to replace the whole thing by the end of the summer. So, we aren't spending $600... we're saving $2000. We're spreading the payments over 3 months and I'm going to use my savings to pay for most of it. So, at least we won't be adding to our cc debt. We also need to install sods in our backyard. And after seeing those three quotes, we have decided to do this ourselves. It will be interesting to do with a 1 year old but we're going to try. I just can't part with $3000+ to add some grass to our yard.

Oh yeah... and speaking of yards: I'm participating in a yard sale on this Saturday. That is, if the weather holds up. They are calling for rain. I'm doing it at a friend's house. I have a number of items to sell but I'm pricing them pretty reasonable so that I can get rid of them. I don't want to have to bring anything home again. Especially the larger stuff. I'm hoping to make at least $200. That's my goal.

I missed the boat

Our company stock was going up early last week and I was so tempted to sell all of my vested stock options and the few stocks that I own. We need to finish sodding our backyard and need a shed. I was going to use the money for that and put the rest towards bills and perhaps save some for our vacation this summer. But I wanted to wait until it at least hit the next full dollar amount. And I set up a sell order on the trading website for slightly more than the full dollar amount (so I would clear $7 per option). And then.... it happened. The stock declined on Weds... and again on Thurs.... and again on Friday. Now, it's down over $0.50 from its high on Tuesday. I totally missed the boat on that one. I'm just hoping that the stock increases again soon.

I need to sell some stock to pay for the sodding. We don't have the spare cash to pay for it on our own. And the three quotes that I received to complete all of the sodding (and other landscaping items) are just too high. I think we're going to have to do it ourselves. Which is fine but with a one year old, it makes it hard to do. We are going to have to hire someone to work on the lawn though... it needs it bad. That will be around $200. But it needs to be done. There's always something to take away our money. It's just how the best way to spend it and what we're prepared to spend.

Advice from a forum

There are multiple forums on SavingAdvice.com where you can post questions about your financial issues. The users are very helpful and more than willing to provide good advice. I posted a question and it has helped me to make a decision about our cc debt issues. There are so many questions I have about so many things. Sometimes I feel like I need a Financial counsellor to go to :) I know that the priority right now though is to pay down this cc debt. Then we can work on student loans. And we really have to start an RRSP for our daughter. I feel so guilty about that one. In fact, we should start that now. Or she'll be 18 and we won't have any money for her to go to university.

It's so hard to balance all of our expenses. I hate being in this situation. I want to stop worrying about finances and feel good about them. And have spare $$ to put into investments or take impromtu trips. It's a challenge that I wish I didn't have to deal with but at least we are working towards a solution. It's just going to take some time and I'm not the most patient person in the world :)

Debt Reducer Tip

Since my husband and I have decided to record all of our expenses for the month it has caused me to second guess my purchases and not want to buy anything because then I'll have to record it. When you have to put it down on paper, it makes it real. If you use a cc or debit card, somehow it doesn't seem real. It's too easy to pull out plastic and forget about the purchase until the statement comes in the mail - and then it's like "Where did that come from?" "Who was using my cc?" :)

As a result of recording my spending, I know that I've spent less than I normally would have at this point in the month. I still had to pay a bunch of bills so they can't be avoided. But I've certainly reduced my eating out and trivial purchases. I can just feel it. Since I have only just started recording my purchases, I don't have quantitative evidence. But my gut tells me I'm right.

Anyway, I hope this tip helps you as well.

First Research Project

I had lunch with an old friend on Friday. During our discussions, we started talking about finances. She told me that she and her fiance are looking to get into to income properties. I was so excited to hear someone else looking at this investment direction as well. They have a plan in place and are further ahead than I am. I have been thinking about it and have decided that I will really put effort into researching this idea. And I'll make contact with those who can provide me with information about required finances or the real estate approach. This will be the first research project I'll address in my blog. Tomorrow shall be the first day of my project. I'll keep you all posted.

A little red wagon

We spent more money today. We had a gift card for my daughter's birthday that we used to buy her a wagon. But we had to cover the taxes and buy a few other items that were needed. I say "we" but my husband actually paid for everything. And since we still maintain separate accounts, it really does mean that one or the other pays for each item. For me, I didn't spend any money today.

I received one quote for the landscaping so far. Drum roll please..... $3200. There is no way we are going to be spending that much money on some sods. If the other quotes are similar, it looks like we'll be doing things ourselves. I'll still have to cash in some stock options to do this but it really does need to be done. And I'm considering a shed as well. That would be another $1000. We really should be using this money to pay down the debt. And I do plan to use what's remaining towards that. But we can't live with mud in our backyard forever.

I've been surfing around reading other's blogs and I think I'll be adding feeds to some of these. If I can figure out how to do it. I downloaded Sharpreader software but am still confused by it all. I'm going to have to do some more reading. And once I figure it all out, I'll probably add feeds from my site as well. I do plan to develop my financial info available to all. It's all just going to take a little more time.

Should I sell my stock options?

I spent $0 yesterday and today. Although I haven't paid for my overdue car permit renewal yet. That'll be another $142. I'll have to dip into savings to pay that. When does it end?

I'm pretty sure that I'm going to cash in my stock options and company stocks to pay for the landscaping that needs to be done. The rest I'll put on the debt. I am torn about this decision but we really need to get something done with the dirt in our backyard and we tried to grow grass ourselves - that didn't work. And we really need a shed too.

I'm trying to think of ways to increase income. I have a few ideas - one is to monetize my blog or create some sort of a income generating website OR get into real estate. I'm thinking I'd like to buy some rental units. But I still need to do lots of research - in both areas. I'm guessing it would be hard to buy properties when I don't have any money but I could be wrong :)

And so it begins

I'm on a mission to reduce our debt and increase our savings. I am so stressed out lately about money. We both make good money but we seem to be living paycheque to paycheque. If we could reduce our debt, I could be putting more money into RRSPs, RESPs, and savings. And, most importantly, I can do things for the house that I want to do. We have a nice, new house but don't have the money to buy new furniture or do extra things that we want to do around it.

So, I asked my husband to track all spending for May. It's something that he actually seems to be keen to do. I admit, I spend more than he does. But I'm the one buying everyone's gifts and things needed for the house or for our daughter. He doesn't think to do those sorts of things. So far this month, I've spent $140.44 (of which $130.72 is for bill payments that I made).

It's challenging but also exciting to know what you owe in debt and then set a plan to eliminate it. One of my big decisions is whether I sell stock options or use savings to reduce the debt. I'm guessing yes. Also, even though the most popular train of thought for tackling debt is to pay off the highest interest credit cards first, I just got a credit card at 0% interest for one year. I moved 2 credit card balances over to it and think that I should tackle this card so that we can pay down as much as possible before the rate goes up.

Once I put all of our current debt into the spreadsheet that I set up, I'll post our current debt amount as of May 1. Then I'll track our monthly progress. I'll also track our net worth through Networth IQ.

If anyone has any suggestions for the approach I should be taking, please feel free to comment.

Ta ta for now :)