Post Christmas frenzy!

I hope it was a happy Christmas for all. I had a wonderful, if not totally crazy time. It was so busy, it went by like a blur. After it's all said and done, all I want to do is exhale. But for others, the day after Christmas is a day for shopping, deal hunting, and spending more money. Here in Canada, it's called Boxing Day (origins of said name are not quite known) and it's a statutory holiday for many, including banks, government agencies, post offices and some other businesses. But for retailers, the name of the game is SALES. So the after Christmas sales are designed to entice people who have just spent their buns off for months to reach into their pocketbooks and spend yet AGAIN, this time not for gift giving, but simply because the deal is irresistible. Here where I live, people braved subzero temperatures to stand in line for 3 hours at a major electronics retailer to buy televisions, DVD players, laptop computers and assorted accessories at major discounts. At another local lingerie retailer, I was told the manager had to CLOSE THE DOORS of the shop, as the lines had snaked right around the store, and the staff could not handle the bargain shopping crowds.

For many it's fun, it's a big score, it's part of the holiday season. I personally loathe the post-holiday sales. I am so sick of shopping after December 24th, that I barely darken the door of any stores for the next month, except the essential ones (grocery stores and pharmacies). Part of my issue is that I am tired of the constant unyielding advertising and I just don't care to even peruse the flyers, no matter how promising the deals may be. Another issue is that I am usually cash strapped after Christmas (this year is much the same) and I am not going to run up my credit card, regardless of the discounts. (If you can't afford it, you can't afford it! That's the truth!) The last part of the problem for me is that I work in retail, so I am exposed to Christmas advertising from November 1st until the 25th of December, and by that time I am pretty sick of the whole thing. But mostly I just want stay home with my family, enjoy the gifts I received for Christmas (which I love) and just leave the whole retail therapy thing alone for awhile. Exhale.

Charting a Course

So it has been awhile, I inadvertently took a break from blogging. Life has been at work throwing me lots of punches, and I have spent a lot of time ducking!  A monster winter snow storm here, our region thrown into weather chaos, marathon hours at work, a sick child, Christmas preparations gone wild, and there are not many hours left in a day. Each night, I go to sleep thinking of what I would be writing if I was sitting at my computer, but I quickly drift off into sleep before I ever get started.

I have spent a lot of time reflecting, trying to understand what it is that motivated me to start writing in the first place. Why am I writing this blog, and how can my contributions be meaningful to any potential readers? I have spent a lot of time over the past weeks reading some high impact blogs, and taking lessons from these writers (including my blogging buddy John Paul). It struck me that I need to focus my writing a bit more. There are an abundance of blogs on personal finance out there, and I need to make my voice unique. My background is not in personal finance, it is simply a field I have gravitated toward as I have become a working professional.  My university degrees are in the life sciences, and in psychology, so I am not going to fool anyone with my expertise on retirement planning or following the stock markets. So I have been thinking that I will continue documenting my personal finance journey (the reason I started to begin with) and also talk about some of the psychological aspects of spending, saving, shopping and acquiring debt. We will see how this process goes. The content may still evolve as we go along, and that's ok too. It's just good to be out there, reading, writing, editing, creating, learning, socializing and networking. A welcome diversion from my professional working life!

Update

New post coming soon!! Total holiday meltdown mode...working, shopping, card writing, baking, wrapping, bill paying, the whole deal! Not many minutes left in the day. I have several ideas percolating in the old cranium, shall be putting pen to paper (figuratively) tomorrow.

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Blog Post: Personal wealth vs. security

Personal finance: wealth vs. security

Why am I trying to fix my financial situation? Why does anyone try to improve their finances? Talk to two people, and you may get two different answers. Each person has his/her own motivation, a reason to reflect, change, remedy. For me, my goal is financial security, and not necessarily personal wealth. It's a philosophy which resonates with me, and may not matter to others. However, I am not a person who covets many possessions, and so accumulating piles of cash and luxury goods is not a priority. The reason for my current fixation on personal finance is to try and achieve financial security or "financial peace" (once again, thanks to Dave Ramsey for this concept!) I truly believe that trying to minimize (eliminate!) our debts, reduce our expenses, and live below our means will lead to a sense of greater familial security and inner peace. That's what it's really all about for me. Just to have the freedom to NOT worry about how to pay the bills each month, and instead focus on what is truly important, my family and friends. That's the real deal.

Perseverance: in finances, as in life

I have to say straight off that I am, by nature, a person who aims to achieve in a decently respectable way. (not exactly an overachiever, but I try!) There are not many domains in which I am what you call "talented" but those things that I think I do well, I try to excel. Not always have I excelled, but I really try to push myself, and by nature I am somewhat competitive. (not outwardly competitive, but man, I am keeping tabs on the score!)

 So when I decide to embark on a project, I am full of enthusiasm and vigor, eager to meet my goals. So it was with my decision to remedy my financial situation. I threw myself into reading and listening to the experts, and decided to make it my mission to get myself out of this mess. However, it is a big, deep hole I have dug for myself, and I currently have a little, tiny shovel. (Thanks to Dave Ramsey for this metaphor) It is quite easy to become discouraged, I have discovered. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see the numbers start to diminish, the debts start getting knocked out. But until a couple large debts are cleared in early 2012, it will be difficult to get much traction. So frustrating.


When I decided to started blogging, I wasn't quite sure what I was doing, but quickly came to enjoy the process. As each day passed, and I started familiarizing myself with what others were doing, I eagerly wanted to see my blog blossom. Well, it's still tough sledding. My numbers are still pretty low, only a couple dozen pageviews each day. My expectations are quite high, but the results are definitely not there yet. But as with any worthy challenge, perseverance is the key. No major accomplishment ever takes place without a lot of blood, sweat and tears. In the personal finance arena, it means resourcefulness, sacrifice, budgeting and patience. In my social media experiment, it means practice, practice, practice, networking, and never stop learning.

Winning at Finances: first hand account

I work in retail, and one of my clients was talking to me the other day about our rewards program. In this program, we offer points with each purchase, and when the consumer reaches a certain threshold, they can redeem the points as cash off their purchase. She was remarking how her point totals were not increasing radically. "Well, you know what it is?", she said, "I don't buy things I don't really need just to rack up more points". She added that she watches the sales carefully, and generally pays for her purchases with cash. "You know what?" she said later, "That's how I got to buy my beautiful car!". This 60-ish lady, of no great means, bought a 2011 Ford Edge (LOADED!) and paid for it primarily in cash. She was so proud of herself, and I was proud (and envious!) of her too. A truly great example of responsible financial living, and it allowed this middle class senior citizen to buy the tricked-out SUV she always wanted. AWESOME!

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Clutter--The Hurdle to be cleared on the way to Financial Health

I was up late last night watching Hoarders (whoa!) and I was just amazed at the damage caused by the clutter in one`s life. In this particular episode, the featured hoarder (Susan) had over 5000 dolls crammed in her house. The house was rendered unusable by the amount of clutter (primarily dolls). After the house was finally decluttered, the sale of the dolls yielded Susan over $1000. It really got me to thinking what role clutter takes in one`s life and how important it is to conquer it.
I have to admit that while I am not a hoarder (nowhere near it, actually), I certainly need a bit of help to get organized and clear my home of clutter. I came from a household where my late mother was habitually clean and organized and my father was fairly tidy himself. I tended toward being a bit less organized, and need frequent prodding to keep my room clean. When I moved away from home, and without any one to monitor my situation, I started becoming a bit cluttered and disorganized. The clutter had a detrimental effect on me, psychologically, spiritually and financially.

Fast forward to present. I am (finally) in a home I can call my own, with an office that my husband and I share. When we moved here, there was literally an avalanche of papers, magazines, documents and items clogging this area. It took nearly a whole weekend, and a huge bag of shredding later, the paperwork was reduced to a manageable level. My husband purchased two filing cabinets, and we proceeded to start putting things in labeled hanging files. And so this system has more or less worked (for him), I still am struggling with what I should keep, and what I should toss. But I clearly know that this has an impact on my financial health, and it's something I am definitely working to improve.

Why declutter?
1. The most obvious reason? You'll feel better, physically (less things around to accumulate dust, therefore cleaner air!), psychologically and spiritually. It is freeing, liberating, exhilarating to inhabit a space free of clutter and debris. You can clear your mind, breathe deeply, and enjoy the space you inhabit. You don't have to fret about where you are going to store a new purchase!

2. It has a truly detrimental effect on your financial well-being. What happens when you are dealing with a mound of papers stashed in some random corner? Bills get misplaced, and therefore get unpaid, or paid late, dinging your credit score in the process. Receipts which are needed for your yearly tax return are MIA resulting in an inaccurate (and potentially costly!) tax bill at the end of the year.

3. It's the vital first step in any good financial plan! You have to start by knowing what exactly your financial situation is--that means having pay stubs, credit card statements, banking statements, insurance invoices and other vital documents within arm's reach. Outlining a budget (an important first step towards managing expenses) requires that you know what money is going into and out of your bank account. All these statements need to readily available and accessible by you!

How the holiday season can snowball

I have written much about the need to plan for holiday spending. So far, I have felt fairly optimistic about how this holiday season is going. However, I am starting to feel the pressure a bit, and how my seasonal spending could possibly snowball. Everything has seemed fairly straightforward up to this point, but now I am starting to realize that there are some other gifts that I had not thought of before (e.g., my sons' teachers--all four of them, my sons' surrogate grandmother). I am also wondering whether I have bought enough for my husband...aaah, I am starting to feel the tug of the emotions playing into my spending patterns. Anytime emotions starting playing into the game, well-thought out plans go out the window. Should I buy more for this person? How much is my spouse spending on me? Should I spend as much on him/her? Am I going to look cheap if I buy just this one item? What's a person to do?

Plan, plan, plan!If ever there was a time when planning was crucial, it's the holiday season. Write out your list of people to buy for. If you are entertaining, write out a proposed menu, and what you will need to buy for the event. 


Budget thyself!What amount of money can you realistically afford to spend without stretching yourself too thin? Shopping with cash can help you keep within budget, if you are actually visiting bricks and mortar stores. Don't lean on the credit cards too much to help complete your lists. The post-holiday hangover has a nasty effect when those bills start rolling in.

Stay organized! Keep track of what you are buying. (this is especially important for people who shop all year) Periodically take out your gifts and separate them into piles, and see what you actually have. It's amazing how easy it is to forget what you have bought, then realize you have purchased too much for that special someone.

Take a deep breath. Try not to get caught up in overblown expectations. Realize that most of the cliches about gift giving are true. It's not what you buy, but the sentiment behind it. Keep in mind that a month from now, your special someone is not going to hate you because you didn't buy that one extra thing.

Planning for the 2011 Holiday Season

So we're (barely) keeping our heads above water this holiday season thanks to the use of rewards points to buy some Christmas gifts and a couple other fortunate circumstances (a small inheritance and having a 1 year old for whom I don't have to buy an airline ticket when we fly to the US for Christmas). However, as much I have been scrambling this holiday season trying to keep costs under control, it has made me think that I want to try and budget for next year starting immediately. Next year, my one year old son will be 2 years old, and he will no longer be able to fly free. So that means we will need approximately $1000 to fly our family of four to the US to visit my husband's family. That's a significant amount of money to spend each December, in addition to buying presents for everyone. However, because it's a predictable expense, it makes sense to try and set aside the money each month. So, to that end, I set up a high-interest savings account (HISA) with Ally. Ally's HISA has one of the highest interest rates (2.00% compounded daily) of the banks I researched. Most of the big banks offer just above 1%, and other online banks pay approximately 1.5%. I like the idea of the online banks mainly because it's a safe place to park your money as you are working towards a goal, and the money is not easily accessed (reduces temptation!).

The goal is to try and sock away approximately $100/monthly out of my regular pay cheques. It may or may not be feasible to put this money away each month. When my tax return comes in (May), I will try to put a chunk of cash ($500?) into the HISA to help me achieve my goal. Hopefully, this was greatly reduce the financial crunch next year, as our expenses and debt payments will continue be significant factors until February of 2012.