Personal Finance

Money Management

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  • Jul 20th, 2011 4:11 pm
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Newbie
User avatar
Jan 15, 2008
31 posts
Aurora

Money Management

Hello,

I've come to the conclusion that I am pretty horrible at managing my money and was hoping I could get some advice from some of the knowledgeble folks here.

I'm out of school and am juggling a decent amount of debt and would like to start saving for the future as well. Here is my money situation broken down:

Paycheque: $540/weekly after tax

OSAP debt: $9,213.91 // min. payment $111.09 monthly
Student Line Of Credit (4.75% interest // $15,000 limit): $14,000
Visa (6.75% interest // $6,000 limit) Debt: $3,800

Car payment: $178.79 bi-weekly
Car insurance: $162.49 monthly
Rogers Bill: $90 monthly
Rent: $200 monthly
Gas: $240 monthly
Living Expenses: not tracked

Also, I am going to be starting online university classes shortly at $700 a piece. They can be started any time so I'm not too concerned about them that much but I would like to get a few going in September.

I am basically just looking for advice as to how much money I can save and how much money should go to my debts. If anyone has any advice that would be awesome!

Thanks!
22 replies
Jr. Member
Mar 6, 2009
103 posts
4 upvotes
GTA
Some advice:
1.) Cut up your credit card.
2.) Pay off your debt first, as quickly as possible. Do not worry about saving anything until all of your debt is gone. Pay off the highest interest debt first, credit cards first, student line of credit, then your OSAP loan.
3.) Once you debt is gone you can start thinking about saving.

You have to be really diligent. Keep taking university courses, but only if that is going to increase your earning potential down the road.
Deal Addict
Jan 28, 2009
2013 posts
613 upvotes
Calgary
carsneau wrote: Hello,

I've come to the conclusion that I am pretty horrible at managing my money and was hoping I could get some advice from some of the knowledgeble folks here.

I'm out of school and am juggling a decent amount of debt and would like to start saving for the future as well. Here is my money situation broken down:

Paycheque: $540/weekly after tax

OSAP debt: $9,213.91 // min. payment $111.09 monthly
Student Line Of Credit (4.75% interest // $15,000 limit): $14,000
Visa (6.75% interest // $6,000 limit) Debt: $3,800

Car payment: $178.79 bi-weekly
Car insurance: $162.49 monthly
Rogers Bill: $90 monthly
Rent: $200 monthly
Gas: $240 monthly
Living Expenses: not tracked

Also, I am going to be starting online university classes shortly at $700 a piece. They can be started any time so I'm not too concerned about them that much but I would like to get a few going in September.

I am basically just looking for advice as to how much money I can save and how much money should go to my debts. If anyone has any advice that would be awesome!

Thanks!
Turn everything into a monthly or annual cost. It's annoying trying to keep track of each expense when you put them into time frames.

The only advice I can offer right now is to get a second job or increase the income from your first job.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Mar 27, 2008
1396 posts
181 upvotes
Toronto
I'm also not quite sure if the car is necessary .. it's really a luxury and I'm not sure if it's wise for you to have it just yet.. especially if you're paying it off yourself and your income/expense is very one sided..
My Rogers Plan: 250 DT, Unlim. inc., Unlim. E/W @ 8pm, 100 CDN LD, 100 txt sent/unlim. rec., CID/VM/Call forward & transfer = $15.90/month after all tax and fees.
Newbie
User avatar
Jan 15, 2008
31 posts
Aurora
ykshum wrote: I'm also not quite sure if the car is necessary .. it's really a luxury and I'm not sure if it's wise for you to have it just yet.. especially if you're paying it off yourself and your income/expense is very one sided..

Yeah... the only issue with the car is that I'm in a pretty small town north of Toronto. No bus service or anything. So some sort of vehicle is necessary to get a job in my field (technology). I probably didn't need one with that much of a monthly payment but I'm pretty much locked into that one.

Thanks though!
Newbie
User avatar
Jan 15, 2008
31 posts
Aurora
canehdianman wrote: Turn everything into a monthly or annual cost. It's annoying trying to keep track of each expense when you put them into time frames.

The only advice I can offer right now is to get a second job or increase the income from your first job.

Yeah I agree completely. Tracking all the expenses is really the kicker for me. I don't have a problem paying them and I never miss payments, it's just annoying to try and juggle so many different bills.
Newbie
User avatar
Jan 15, 2008
31 posts
Aurora
CUVShopper wrote: Some advice:
1.) Cut up your credit card.
2.) Pay off your debt first, as quickly as possible. Do not worry about saving anything until all of your debt is gone. Pay off the highest interest debt first, credit cards first, student line of credit, then your OSAP loan.
3.) Once you debt is gone you can start thinking about saving.

You have to be really diligent. Keep taking university courses, but only if that is going to increase your earning potential down the road.

This sounds like good advice. Maybe I'll just start throwing as much as possible onto the visa to get it payed off for good. I really hate it. As for the university, its going to take me quite some time to finish the degree part time so I would really like to be working on it as much as possible. I'm hoping it will increase my earnings potential but I feel like that is something you can't be sure of.
Deal Addict
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Nov 28, 2010
1249 posts
42 upvotes
If you live with your parents and if they have a car - why don't you use that instead? Just pay for the gas..

Disadvantage of living in a small town like yours is not having transportation for you to commute.
:arrow: JussB
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Newbie
User avatar
Jan 15, 2008
31 posts
Aurora
Reyshel01 wrote: If you live with your parents and if they have a car - why don't you use that instead? Just pay for the gas..

I wish that worked! Would save me a ton. Just they're both in the same situation, they need their cars for their commutes.
Jr. Member
Mar 6, 2009
103 posts
4 upvotes
GTA
Just did some quick calculations; you take home about $1170 per month; your car costs you about $790 per month, that leaves you with $380 for everything else. That is not enough given your debt load! You either have to increase your income (as suggested above) or reduce your expenses. Something has to give. Your rent is cheap, are you living at home? If not, moving back home might be an option. Or move closer to work if you can't find work close to home.
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Nov 28, 2010
1249 posts
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carsneau wrote: I wish that worked! Would save me a ton. Just they're both in the same situation, they need their cars for their commutes.

Bummer.

Summer - you could bike it.
Winter - that's a problem.
:arrow: JussB
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Newbie
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Jan 15, 2008
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Aurora
CUVShopper wrote: Just did some quick calculations; you take home about $1170 per month; your car costs you about $790 per month, that leaves you with $380 for everything else. That is not enough given your debt load! You either have to increase your income (as suggested above) or reduce your expenses. Something has to give. Your rent is cheap, are you living at home? If not, moving back home might be an option. Or move closer to work if you can't find work close to home.

Its actually 540/week income. So 2160 per month.


I'm living at home yeah, just paying about 200 a month.

I am going to start looking at increasing my income for sure though anyways.

Thanks!
Newbie
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Jan 15, 2008
31 posts
Aurora
Reyshel01 wrote: Bummer.

Summer - you could bike it.
Winter - that's a problem.

Hmmmm... I could almost bike it haha. Google maps tells me 1hr 23mins for a bike ride lol. I wouldn't need to get a gym membership then! hahaha!
Jr. Member
Mar 6, 2009
103 posts
4 upvotes
GTA
oops..that makes it better. That leaves you with about $1100 before Visa, Student line of credit and other living expenses. Could you pay $750 per month to Visa and line of credit. That means it would take about 26-30 months to pay both of those off (rough guess).
Newbie
User avatar
Jan 15, 2008
31 posts
Aurora
CUVShopper wrote: oops..that makes it better. That leaves you with about $1100 before Visa, Student line of credit and other living expenses. Could you pay $750 per month to Visa and line of credit. That means it would take about 26-30 months to pay both of those off (rough guess).

Yeah, that doesn't sound too horrible actually. I know it's not wise to rely on raises and promotions, but hopefully I can work in a bit of extra income from my job. I've almost been here a year and things are going quite well. Any extra income would really help to be honest.

Thanks for the advice!
Deal Expert
Aug 2, 2001
18946 posts
10527 upvotes
There is truly no magic to managing your money. You need to have a budget that details what you are spending (spend using a CC if you can handle it, it makes it much easier to track than cash) and what you are earning. This is simple, anyone can do it. You can even uses Google Docs to share it amongst the members of your household, update it from your smartphone/laptop/etc and so on.

From there you need to make the decisions about your finances such as:
- Do you want to save more money for a goal?
- Do you want to reduce spending in one area to allocate to another area?
- Do you need to increase your income because you want to spend more?


I don't think it's the budget that's the problem, it's dealing with the tough questions because not many people are willing to do what it takes to decrease their existing debt load. Why you ask? Because you need to decrease expenses or increase income, and few are willing to stop spending or work more hours (find a better paying job, etc...).

What I would recommend is compiling a spreadsheet that lists what you are spending on a monthly basis for the past couple of months. Also, maintain this as you move forward (and do so in a somewhat accurate way, eliminating cash purchases and relying on your credit card provides you a great source of record keeping). You can lump things together that make sense (such as "Utilities" encompassing water/power/gas), but try to keep it flexible so it's easily spotted where the money is going. Don't just have "Car" have "Car Insurance", "Car Payment", "Car Maintenance", "Car Gas" and so forth because you may find that one or more of those items is high and you want to work to reducing that specific item.

When you have compiled this spreadsheet of monthly expenditures you can feel free to post it on RFD for feedback. Members might be able to provide some insight as to how they reduced similar expenses and such that could help you. Right now you have over $1000 unaccounted for (debt repayment/living expenses) and there is no real way for anyone to help with your budget without breaking that down into reasonable areas of spending.
Newbie
Mar 7, 2011
22 posts
11 upvotes
carsneau wrote: Hello,

Rogers Bill: $90 monthly

Along with the above advice by others, I'd also suggest you to bring down your phone bill. It might not look too much to you but it does accumulate to quite something over a year. You can have a look at this thread for how to negotiate with rogers

rogers-wireless-retention-plans-933329/
Newbie
User avatar
Jan 15, 2008
31 posts
Aurora
TrevorK wrote: There is truly no magic to managing your money. You need to have a budget that details what you are spending (spend using a CC if you can handle it, it makes it much easier to track than cash) and what you are earning. This is simple, anyone can do it. You can even uses Google Docs to share it amongst the members of your household, update it from your smartphone/laptop/etc and so on.

From there you need to make the decisions about your finances such as:
- Do you want to save more money for a goal?
- Do you want to reduce spending in one area to allocate to another area?
- Do you need to increase your income because you want to spend more?


I don't think it's the budget that's the problem, it's dealing with the tough questions because not many people are willing to do what it takes to decrease their existing debt load. Why you ask? Because you need to decrease expenses or increase income, and few are willing to stop spending or work more hours (find a better paying job, etc...).

What I would recommend is compiling a spreadsheet that lists what you are spending on a monthly basis for the past couple of months. Also, maintain this as you move forward (and do so in a somewhat accurate way, eliminating cash purchases and relying on your credit card provides you a great source of record keeping). You can lump things together that make sense (such as "Utilities" encompassing water/power/gas), but try to keep it flexible so it's easily spotted where the money is going. Don't just have "Car" have "Car Insurance", "Car Payment", "Car Maintenance", "Car Gas" and so forth because you may find that one or more of those items is high and you want to work to reducing that specific item.

When you have compiled this spreadsheet of monthly expenditures you can feel free to post it on RFD for feedback. Members might be able to provide some insight as to how they reduced similar expenses and such that could help you. Right now you have over $1000 unaccounted for (debt repayment/living expenses) and there is no real way for anyone to help with your budget without breaking that down into reasonable areas of spending.

Thanks for this advice! It's very good! I'll do that for sure, put together a spreadsheet tracking expenses sounds like a good idea. At the moment I really have no idea where that unaccounted money goes. I just spend it somewhere I guess. It'll be good to have a record that I can see where my money could be used more wisely.

Really my end goal is to start saving for a house down payment. Obviously it will take time but I feel like it is an attainable goal.

Thanks for the tips!
Newbie
User avatar
Jan 15, 2008
31 posts
Aurora
faiiq wrote: Along with the above advice by others, I'd also suggest you to bring down your phone bill. It might not look too much to you but it does accumulate to quite something over a year. You can have a look at this thread for how to negotiate with rogers

rogers-wireless-retention-plans-933329/

Yeah I agree! Rogers kills me! I'll definitely be looking into this!
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Nov 28, 2010
1249 posts
42 upvotes
carsneau wrote: Hmmmm... I could almost bike it haha. Google maps tells me 1hr 23mins for a bike ride lol. I wouldn't need to get a gym membership then! hahaha!

Lmao..I guess so!

You should do it. :cheesygri
:arrow: JussB
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