Tuesday, September 16, 2008

everything adds up

You know that phrase that you mom & dad tossed you when you paid an extra dollar for a drink or to supersize you meal about how all those pennies your spend adds up. Well I am firm believer of this. My parents instilled it in me & while when I was young, I secretly loathed their frugal ways, I am learning to appreciate this in my older age. Here is a list of things I do to save money.
  • Never pay 5c for those bags @ the grocery store. Instead I bring my own. I keep a stash of bags in the trunk of my car so I am always armed & ready.
  • Pack those lunches. I remember when I was on internship, I brought my lunch every single day. Oh I was young & stupid then. No longer young & wiser, I pack my lunch every day. On the days I forget, I keep my freezer stocked w/ a few frozen dinners so I can take it with me when I don't have the time or leftovers for lunch.
  • Speaking of lunches, I use reusable cutlery for my lunches. Once upon a time, I bought plastic forks & would use it @ lunch & toss it out. Now I just wash & store in my desk for the following day.
  • Order water when out for dinner. Hardly ever do I order any fancy drinks...once in a while, I will splurge on a cocktail but not too often. I don't really drink anything besides water & alcohol so it's not a big change for me.
  • Coupon clipping. Boy do I love me my coupons. There is a trap with coupons where one ends up buying things they don't need just because they have a coupon for it. I always ask myself, is this something I will use. save.ca is great for this.
  • Cutting those cotton pads in half. I use a cotton pad to apply my toner everyday. I cut them in half so I can prolong their use. I know there are lots of people who don't even use them but I have no idea how to apply toner effectively without a cotton pad. I've tried using my hands & product ends up going to waste by falling into the sink & such.
  • Freezing. Anything you think will spoil, just freeze. I freeze cheese & bread now that I don't think I will use in time. Here's a tip, shred that cheese first so you don't struggle to get that cheese to thaw so you can use it in your meal.
  • Thrift. I think this deserves a post on it's own because as of a year ago I never set foot in a thrift store. I looked @ my credit card bills & realized the amount of money I was spending on clothes was ridiculous. Not willing to give up shopping, I tried out a thrift store & was quite happy. Not only was I spending way less, I was able to find a large selection of unique things. Now this doesn't mean every single piece of clothing I buy is from the thrift store but definitely trendy things tend to come from. Classic pieces that I forsee myself using for years like jeans & jackets, I still buy retail.
  • Signing up for freebies. My mailman probably hates me, but I can't resist free & as a result I often sign up for freebeis. But it's saved me money as I've gotten things like full sized lotions & other things....even underwear!
  • I never buy books. The library is my friend.
I am sure there's a lot more but this is what's coming to mind off the top of my head.

Friday, September 12, 2008

dividends

Soo I had heard about dividend investing when I was researching about investing. As of 3 months ago, I knew virtually nothing about the stock market. There's still a lot to learn but I am picking up a few things. It seems like a smart move & makes me feel better about owning some Citi stock...

Saturday, September 6, 2008

So one, I have too much time on my hands and second, I am determined to save money & get all those elusive things such as a house, sunny vacations, that designer bag, mac makeup and retire comfortably. Well things may not pan out as hoped but those are some of my goals. Vain!? Call it whatever you want but this is me & I figure posting some thoughts online will help me stay on track.

Here are my stats as it is:
  • 26 year old girl
  • Graduated from university last year with a hefty OSAP loan (~$30K)
  • Paid it all off (saved every penny from internship & was able to pay it off before interest kicked in)
  • As a result I am in a good position of having no debt
  • Doing that 9-5 routine to pay the bills & save
  • Started investing as of 2 months ago. Some will say this is early but I still wished I had picked this up earlier.
So yes I graduated from university last summer and left wide eyed with a job I started after taking a few weeks vacation to celebrate graduating. Awesome right? Yes but then the reality of being an adult kicked in. Work, health plan, retirement plans, should I rent now questions and all those other dreary things you pushed off for as long as possible set it. Things I never thought about or even really had any knowledge about before all of this.

And so this is where I am in life. Suddenly realizing I am adult & need to start thinking long term. When I was in school, it was about that next exam which was a few weeks down the road. Now it is about buying that car, getting that house and other things which are possibly years down the road :S