THE DECEMBER 2009 BUDGET
The last one for 2009.
BF is slow in getting me the numbers for groceries and utilities, so I overestimated them just to be sure.
I spent under $1000 this month with around $48 to spare.
A real improvement from my original goal of sticking to $1500/month.
Then again, we didn’t have any events like trips abroad, or trips back to Ontario to see family, weddings to attend or gifts to buy.
I think starting in January, I could definitely keep to the under $1000 a budget, considering that I spent money on a haircut and buying more vitamin skin pills to restock my cupboard.
UPDATE: THESE ARE THE REAL NUMBERS
I have ~$131 left. 😀
BUDGET PIE CHART
Spent mostly on rent, food, those skin pills and my cellphone.
When we shift back to Toronto for the interim, rent will drop from $384 to $250 a month.
Food might go up (we’ll be feeding more people out of our budget), and Toronto has far more choice in meats and vegetables than Montreal.
But not in cheeses, unfortunately. 🙁
Net worth clocks in at: $55,516 as of December 2009
I started the year with around $78,000 as my net worth.
Then I had to pay $13,000 in taxes for my business.
Now I am also paying $1500 every 3 months for what Quebec likes to call “prepaid tax” based on your earnings from the previous year.
So I should get all that money back around 2010.
So let’s take a look at my year end numbers…
YEAR END BUDGET NUMBERS
This is my FIRST YEAR in having yearly budget numbers because my files corrupted on my backup drive from 2008.
This is now why I have 3 backups!! 🙂
Anyway, I find this budgeting-for-the-year exercise extremely helpful.
It’s easy to say: Oh I’ll spend $200 a month here, that’s all right it’s a one-off.
But when you see it all at once for the year, it gives you a good kick in the ass.
The pink highlighted categories are what I want to cut down for 2010.
The last number there is after removing Retirement Savings and Savings.
Ergo, $26,577.29 = my real yearly expenditures.
It’s not BAD, it’s just not ideal because I know I could have done better at the start of the year.
Expenses improved greatly in the last half:
- Trimmed the food budget — stopped buying so much yoghurt & treats
- Trimmed on utilities — we’re around $10/month now; and 50% of that = FEES!!
- Tossed a lot of toiletries — had to replace with shea butter, and other purchases
- Bought a whole new set of glass tupperware — to have lunches in, store food, etc
- Wardrobe & Electronics — Mostly from traveling & seeing the enabling devil (my sister)
But this was a great year, and I don’t have any regrets.
All money well spent.
NOW ON TO THE BLOG STATS:
That’s 3 years worth of blogging right there, more or less. 🙂
This is kind of misleading because I hit 2000 posts before I came over to WordPress.
I just like to delete old, useless posts without any real content or point.
Major blog event:
I (finally) moved to WordPress (woo hoo!)
It’s been a good year, no complaints here.
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver.
I cleared $60,000 in 18 months earning $65,000 gross/year.
Now I am self-employed, and you can read more about 
I know you always talk about having tons of back ups for hard drives and I have had corruption issues too before I got a second backup. I was determined to get my old info off the corrupt drive since it was about 100 GB of all my info. I wound up using Data Recovery Wizard from Easeus (found a link to get it for free – a full version – they seem to pop up now and again). Anyway, I was able to get off all my old pictures, files, taxes (oops), etc. I'm anything but a computer ace but I'm a pretty good googler and was able to figure it out so I figure anyone can.
Since you throw things out pretty regularly you might not have your old drive to try this on but I thought it was worth letting you know on the off chance you still have the broken one.
Now I have 2 large drives, just in case. 🙂
I wish I knew that 6 years ago!!!! 🙂
But I do have an old hard drive kicking around I ought to test this on. What a great tip. Thank you!!!!
(I actually own about 7 drives now.. heh… data corruption is no longer an issue when I back everything up twice)
Well, overall you have me beat, but stripping out savings, I beat you, and I had an expensive year with furnishings and an expensive hobby (haha). My stupid rent of $900…grrr…
All in = $3,100 / month
All – Savings = $2,150 / month
Well I do split the rent with BF, so that really helps cut down on the cost.
Furnishings can also take a beating out of you, my friend paid $6000 in appliances this year for his new condo!
And I don’t have savings because I used my savings to live, hence why I felt hard on myself for spending savings that I should have kept locked up except for Travel and such. 🙂
Better personal finance is definitely a goal of mine for 2010 (I don't do resolutions, more like goals 🙂 ). I try to keep track of my expenses and where money is coming and going, but sometimes stuff slips by me. I got divorced this past year and it's actually impowering to handle all of my own money but also a little stressful at the same time. However, I'll be better for it in the long run. Can you recommend any good personal finance software? Right now, I've just been using Excel, but curious if there's something better out there.
Congratulations for feeling empowered to handle your money on your own!
It was really overwhelming at first, but everyone here (readers, bloggers and on twitter) are really helpful, and there’s tons of blog literature out there to help you.
As for PF software, I use Excel myself, and found it to be the best (See here: http://www.thebudgetingtool.com/ ), because I can adjust and organize it just the way my brain thinks, which is something I felt was lacking in other software.
Plus it’s now FULLY automated!! No need to learn any pesky formulas or to be sure you caught all the cells when adding up expenses. 🙂
If you are looking for something free, I have heard great things about Mint.com, Quicken, MS Money, or Pear Budget.
Honestly, the only reason why I am NOT with Mint is because I’m a security freak, and I live in Canada. So that means that I don’t like putting passwords or letting software (online software especially) access my banking information, and they don’t have my banks properly set up from Canada. It’s mostly for Americans.
I also used MS money and I liked it, but it was so frustrating because I wanted to track and organize a couple more areas on my own, but they wouldn’t allow any blank columns for me to make notes, or to adjust it… so I quit using that.
I also tried Pear Budget, but that’s an Excel sheet too I think. And it was too simple. :\
Anyhoo, give Mint a try or stick to what you’ve got! 🙂
I can't get over the fact that your rent is soooooo cheap! How did you find that gem? I'm getting ready to move to Toronto and I'm looking online for rent prices and they are sooooooooo expensive! Would you mind giving me some tips on what areas are cheaper but not ghetto to live? Thanks!
Have a great New Year!
Sara
Well the rent is actually $384.50 x 2 = $769 a month.
I split it with BF 50/50. I live in Montreal and in a little studio ( 🙂 ) at the moment, so that’s why it’s cheaper.
As for Toronto, I find that if you look out for apartments that are close to the TTC line, but not necessarily near Bloor/Yonge you will find better deals.
OR living with roommates, another option…
I like living close to Finch Station, there are a lot of apartment buildings in the area, and it was fairly safe the last time I was there 2 years ago. It’s kind of ghetto, but nothing like Jane/Finch. 🙂
Another area that might be all right is near St. Clair West (near Dundas West and St. Clair West Station). That area is a tad shady, but it’s an area that’s quite safe in my opinion.
Most of Toronto is pretty safe. Just stay away from sexily named areas like Rosedale…. unless you can find a studio for VERY cheap.
I had a friend who liked High Park as well. It’s close to St. Clair West.
FB , can I just say that I really like your header
Thank you!
Which one? 🙂 I have a couple of them on rotation.
it was pink and it had the letters written on a separate page ( idk if im describing it correctly ) or the olive green background
I think you're doing fabulously well FB! I cannot think of a time I didn't pay less than $500 for rent! It's now $1300 and that's considered low over here. I cannot do a detailed breakdown like that as i don't keep track of stuff (note to self: keep track of stuff in 2010!!!) but we did manage to save a bit even though it's less than the nice round number we were shooting for due to unforseen circumstances.
I used to pay $1600 in rent when I first started budgeting. It’s one of the items that got me really thinking seriously about money and saving it, because I knew I could save on that line item
It’s all relative to your area. I happen to live in a low cost area. 🙂 And I share the expenses with BF.
All of my spending could have been better without a doubt, but I don’t regret a penny of it. It was all worth it 🙂 And I’ll just be more conscious for next year..
Thanks!
Sorry, I typed the same word twice.
I meant “Is there a post about your “Glow Pills”?
.-= Duddes02´s last blog ..The day I meet P. Diddy =-.
Yes, I just wrote about them yesterday.
http://fabbroke.wpengine.com/2009/12/genuine-health-multi-glow-and-perfect-skin-pills/
I don't know if I've told you this, but your posts on moving to WordPress were extremely helpful for my move. So thanks so much FB!!!
BTW, when you migrated from blogger, did your old comments just totally disappear? Mine only migrated about 40 most recent.
And whoa 400 in makeup? That looks more like 2 months for me. :S
Any time! I’m glad they helped. I wasn’t sure if I was not being detailed enough
And a lot of my old comments disappeared, I migrated about 10,000 of them, but I think about 3000 were lost.
And $400/makeup IS A LOT for me, normally. I just don’t wear much but I do want to replace my eyeshadow & blush this year