Once again, I"m so late on my goal updates, but it's been a busy few days. The Beau's birthday was on Friday so we took the day off and explored some neighbourhoods we're considering moving to next year (yup, we hope to buy a house). Then we had all kinds of meals out, did some errands and went out with friends last night so it's been a great, yet busy, weekend.
Anyways, enough excuses; here's the goal breakdown and my weigh-in for this past Wednesday.
Goal:Plank - Again, not a single plank done in October. This is officially over.
Goal:Run - I haven't gone for a run in a couple of weeks, as I was training for my CN Tower stair climb and then battled a cold. The plan is to get back into it tomorrow. My current distance is 4.25 km, which is 0.25 km less than I wanted by this point but missing two weeks of running will do that to a person. I still want to hit 5 km by the end of November so I'm going to keep aiming for that.
Goal:Food - Again, not really doing this. I'm trying to keep track in my head but it's just not working. Tomorrow's Monday and a great day to start with the food journal again. This is something I really need to get back on track with.
Goal:Weight - My last weigh-in on Wednesday had me at 192 lb, so no change from the previous week but I'm still not making the losses I need to hit my target. But like the running, I'm just going to keep trying.
Goal:Pants - No dice.
Goal:Dress - Please see Goal:Pants. Sigh.
Goal:Debt - My current debt load is $7,822.72. THIS is the number I really want to see go down and I've got a nice paycheque coming next week, with some ridiculous overtime on it. That will give me a nice chunk to put on my CIBC loan, on which I owe $2,255.12. This is the one I really want cleared by the end of the year, even if I can't hit my target of only having $5,000 owing.
Showing posts with label financial health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label financial health. Show all posts
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
Mid-term report card
1. Financial health - A+
Okay, I've got to give myself credit here. (Heh, credit.) Since the start of the year, I've paid off the last niggling balance on my credit card, paid off my line of credit ($5,000 yo!) and eliminated one of my four student loans. I'm also paying nice, hefty monthly sums on my remaining loans and I'm still on track to have everything paid off by next spring. This is definitely a bright spot in my health challenge, which I both love and need.
2. Happy health - B+
I still have my mood swings and I always will, but I'm having fewer of them and they don't last as long. I'm happy to find that I'm on the right dosage of anti-depressant and I'm happy in my job (even though it still drives me bonkers sometimes). Also, I'm in a loving, wonderful, stable relationship with the best man EVER and we've got the cuddliest kitty at home. Oh, and we're planning to buy a home. I'm in probably the best emotional place I've ever been in my life and things just keep getting better.
3. Physical health - C+
It was so tempting to give myself a big fat F here, but then I realized: I've got lots going for me physically, even if the scale isn't my friend. Since I started running, I've improved my cardiovascular health, which is no small feat seeing how I have exercise-induced asthma (which I've finally stopped using as a crutch - woot!). I've gone to various doctors and, though I haven't always heard the answers I want, I've confirmed that I don't have diabetes, I don't have out-of-whack hormones, my thyroid is normal, my blood sugar is normal - I'm in pretty good shape on the inside. I'm also getting stronger and have the (faintest of faint) muscle definition to show for it. So I'm getting there.
Just like at school, I know where I'm excelling, where I'm getting better and where I need to improve (though in school, I never had to improve anything - I was such a keener!). The important part is that I consider myself to be passing in all categories and I'm going to keep moving forward - though I'm starting to sound a little like Oprah with all this "moving forward" blathering.
But seriously, the year is half over already? Holy crap.
Friday, April 22, 2011
It's all about the Benjamins
Or the Bordens, seeing how I'm Canadian and all.
I had my taxes done over the weekend and I'm getting a nice little refund, which I'll be putting directly back into my RRSPs.
Or will I? I know the proper thing to do is to put the refund into my RRSP because the main reason I'm getting a refund is because of my RRSP contributions. And by investing my refund, I'm helping to cover the tax I'll have to pay once I start drawing from my RRSP. So this would be the sensible way to do things.
But I've also got some student loans that need paying off - and the sooner the better. So do I take my refund and put it towards this debt? It's a conundrum.
As well, as of April 29, I will have paid off all my consumer debt. This is pretty huge for me, as a year ago, I had about $5,000 owing on a line of credit and about $2,500 owing on credit cards. AND IT'S ALMOST GONE! Paying off $7,500 in a year is both exciting (no more debt!) and depressing (all that money that didn't go to me!) but I'm proud that it's almost behind me.
So about those loans. I have four different loans to pay off: two (Canada and Ontario) negotiated through CIBC and two (Canada and Canada-Ontario) negotiated through the National Student Loan Service Centre. The reason for four? My first year of university, student loans were negotiated through a financial institution; after that, they changed to being negotiated through the NSLSC. So I make four different monthly payments, which is so much fun.
Anyways, now that the consumer debt is done I can start paying more than the minimum on my loans. Here's where I stand:
CIBC
Canada loan: $4,136.44
Ontario loan: $1,912.78
GRAND TOTAL: $6,049.22
Knowing I paid off $7,500 in this past year, I'm confident I can take down this entire chunk of my loan between now and next spring. But - of course - there's more:
NSLCS
Canada loan: $2,743.62
Canada/Ontario loan: $6,435.35
GRAND TOTAL: $9,178.97
So my overall total owing is $15,228.19. That's a pretty big number.
But I took some time yesterday afternoon to put together a repayment spreadsheet and I've come up with a very ambitious repayment schedule. If I can stick to it, I will have all my debt paid off by the end of June 2012. Seriously - 14 months. And I've set up my budget in such a way that I still have a little slush fund every month, for those times that I blow my weekly budget or need a little extra for things (like cottage weekends or birthdays or a pretty pair of shoes). Because as much as I want to pay off my debt, I don't want it to be at the expense of my life.
So starting next month, more money will be going towards my loans. I'll be starting with the lowest balance first ($1,912.78) and doing the snowball method: as I pay off each amount, I'll roll what I was paying on that balance into the payment on the next-lowest balance until all are paid off. And so begins me seriously buckling down and focusing on my financial health this year.
Here's to June 2012!
I had my taxes done over the weekend and I'm getting a nice little refund, which I'll be putting directly back into my RRSPs.
Or will I? I know the proper thing to do is to put the refund into my RRSP because the main reason I'm getting a refund is because of my RRSP contributions. And by investing my refund, I'm helping to cover the tax I'll have to pay once I start drawing from my RRSP. So this would be the sensible way to do things.
But I've also got some student loans that need paying off - and the sooner the better. So do I take my refund and put it towards this debt? It's a conundrum.
As well, as of April 29, I will have paid off all my consumer debt. This is pretty huge for me, as a year ago, I had about $5,000 owing on a line of credit and about $2,500 owing on credit cards. AND IT'S ALMOST GONE! Paying off $7,500 in a year is both exciting (no more debt!) and depressing (all that money that didn't go to me!) but I'm proud that it's almost behind me.
So about those loans. I have four different loans to pay off: two (Canada and Ontario) negotiated through CIBC and two (Canada and Canada-Ontario) negotiated through the National Student Loan Service Centre. The reason for four? My first year of university, student loans were negotiated through a financial institution; after that, they changed to being negotiated through the NSLSC. So I make four different monthly payments, which is so much fun.
Anyways, now that the consumer debt is done I can start paying more than the minimum on my loans. Here's where I stand:
CIBC
Canada loan: $4,136.44
Ontario loan: $1,912.78
GRAND TOTAL: $6,049.22
Knowing I paid off $7,500 in this past year, I'm confident I can take down this entire chunk of my loan between now and next spring. But - of course - there's more:
NSLCS
Canada loan: $2,743.62
Canada/Ontario loan: $6,435.35
GRAND TOTAL: $9,178.97
So my overall total owing is $15,228.19. That's a pretty big number.
But I took some time yesterday afternoon to put together a repayment spreadsheet and I've come up with a very ambitious repayment schedule. If I can stick to it, I will have all my debt paid off by the end of June 2012. Seriously - 14 months. And I've set up my budget in such a way that I still have a little slush fund every month, for those times that I blow my weekly budget or need a little extra for things (like cottage weekends or birthdays or a pretty pair of shoes). Because as much as I want to pay off my debt, I don't want it to be at the expense of my life.
So starting next month, more money will be going towards my loans. I'll be starting with the lowest balance first ($1,912.78) and doing the snowball method: as I pay off each amount, I'll roll what I was paying on that balance into the payment on the next-lowest balance until all are paid off. And so begins me seriously buckling down and focusing on my financial health this year.
Here's to June 2012!
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
What I had for lunch today
I'm lucky that, at work, we have a salad bar as part of our cafeteria. There are lots of awesome options at the salad bar and it's charged by weight so you don't necessarily have to break the bank to eat well.
My salad today came in just under $6, which isn't bad considering I loaded up on mixed greens, mushrooms, green peppers, cauliflower, red onions, chickpeas, chopped egg and corn salsa. I also indulged in a wee bit of pasta salad and a sprinkling of bacon bits. And I topped it all off with balsamic vinaigrette.
There are lots of other great options at the salad bar, so I'll probably start being more selective with my salads each day so I don't get bored. Other things I can add are roasted red peppers, orange segments, apple slices, cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese, sunflower seeds, carrots and broccoli and each day the cafeteria does 3-4 special salads (the pasta salad was one of today's). Normally these salads are loaded with pasta, creamy dressings and other not-so-healthy things but sometimes there's beet salad or sweet potato salad, which will be good to try.
Also, the selection at the salad bar will help me to eat low g.i./high fibre foods (i.e. LOTS of veg). I just have to exercise restraint and not go for pizza instead. And because it's veg, I'm not so worried about my portion sizes, although I do try to keep my dressing to a minimum. Even the healthy stuff adds up in calories.
For awhile I was trying to bring my own salads for lunch but I quickly realized that the cost and effort to keep the fresh produce and make my salad was quickly outweighed (heh) by the cost and ease of salads at work. As long as I make breakfast at home and bring my own snacks, I should be able to keep my lunch-buying costs down.
(I WILL be posting about my finances and budget, I promise! I've started getting my tax forms so once I've got them all and have the black-and-white proof of where I stand with my student loans and other financial info, I'll be able to delve more into how I'm going to improve my financial health this year.)
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Healthy New Year
Now that my not-so-wee brother's birthday has passed, it's time for me to hunker down and focus on the year ahead. 2010 was a pretty great year for me with lots of big changes - turning 30! moved in with my boyfriend! got a promotion! - and I'm ready to make 2011 awesome too. Right now, the big thing for me this year is health: physical, mental and financial.
Overall, my goals are quite simple. Physically, I want to get into better shape. Mentally, I want to make time for things that I really enjoy and stop stressing and worrying about everything. Financially, I want to eliminate my remaining consumer debt and really start chipping away at the rest of my student loans.
In practice, though, these goals are going to require a bit more work.
I've been waffling over the idea of blogging about my health goals because I generally fail out pretty quickly (both with the blogging and the goal-reaching). I should say that I'm a big fan of accountability and will always 'fess up to things when they need 'fessing up to. But it's scary to be accountable to myself. It's so easy to set these goals in my mind or on paper or on a blog or even with my boyfriend but it's harder for me to hold myself accountable when I slip a little or fail out completely.
Thing is, I really want to achieve all these things rather badly so I think it's high time to start holding myself accountable (but not stress about it too much!) and spend this year achieving these goals.
Overall, my goals are quite simple. Physically, I want to get into better shape. Mentally, I want to make time for things that I really enjoy and stop stressing and worrying about everything. Financially, I want to eliminate my remaining consumer debt and really start chipping away at the rest of my student loans.
In practice, though, these goals are going to require a bit more work.
I've been waffling over the idea of blogging about my health goals because I generally fail out pretty quickly (both with the blogging and the goal-reaching). I should say that I'm a big fan of accountability and will always 'fess up to things when they need 'fessing up to. But it's scary to be accountable to myself. It's so easy to set these goals in my mind or on paper or on a blog or even with my boyfriend but it's harder for me to hold myself accountable when I slip a little or fail out completely.
Thing is, I really want to achieve all these things rather badly so I think it's high time to start holding myself accountable (but not stress about it too much!) and spend this year achieving these goals.
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