Any advice on getting down and dirty with my savings?

So I’ve devised a plan to save up for my down payment before I have to move out of here. I spoke with my mom last night, and asked for a 5-month extension to stay in her basement suite (until April). My sister is supposed to move in (and absolutely does not want me to stay any longer than November), but I think I put in a strong case.

Basically I said that I know my mom isn’t able to help me out financially by loaning me money for the down payment, but she would be saving me a ton of money by letting me stay for a bit longer. I broke down the numbers for her, and hopefully I’ll be able to convince my sister to hold off on her moving plans for just a bit longer.

The Plan:

If I put my head down and start to get crazy with my savings, I think I can save a ton.

Since I’m basically working 4 jobs from July – November, I think I can save $4,000 a month. I will be netting $3,000/month with my new job ($4,000 gross pay), so if I really work hard at my current job (which is turning part-time), I think I can net $2,000/month with that. So potentially saving $4,000/month is pretty realistic. Plus, I’ll be working so much I won’t have time to go out and spend any of it. :)

July and November are half months because one July pay cheque has already passed, and my contract is up mid-November. So that leaves essentially 4 full months x $4,000 = $16,000.

After November, I can save $2,000/month at least. So from December – April, that’s 5 months x $2,000 = $10,000.

Plus my current and potential RRSPs. Originally I wasn’t going to pull from my RRSPs, but I think it’d be a small enough amount that I wouldn’t have a problem paying them back quickly. And, since I’m kinda on a time line to buy a place, using the RRSPs if I desperately need to is the better financial decision than potentially renting for a year, in my opinion.

Totals:

July-Nov = $16,000
Dec-Apr = $10,000
Current RRSPs = $1,500
Potential RRSPs = $4,000
Current condo savings = $2,700
POTENTIAL TOTAL SAVINGS = $34,200

The Potential Problems:

So, what do you think? Am I being completely unrealistic with these saving goals? I was able to pay off my debts by using the same kind of aggressive savings, so I don’t see why I couldn’t do it again to save up for my down payment.

Also, by saving all this money, I’m going to get dinged come tax time because they are in non-registered accounts. I could potentially put $20,000 into a tax-sheltered RRSP account and withdraw it all for the First Time Home Buyer’s Plan, but that might get messy and really hard to pay back. But maybe I won’t get dinged as much as I think I will. I only get taxed on half of my capital gains, right? I’m really not sure, and it’s kinda stressing me out. Any suggestions?

3 Responses to “Any advice on getting down and dirty with my savings?”

Author comments are in a darker gray color for you to easily identify the posts in the comments

1. Give Me Back My Five Bucks » August Monthly Goals says:

   Friday, March 5, 2010 - 07:00pm at 7:43 pm

   [...] $2000 towards RRSP. As I’m sure most of you know, my plan is to max out my RRSPs and use the First Time Home Buyer’s Plan for my down payment. By contributing $2k/month, plus the $2k I’m stuffing into my Condo Down Payment fund, I’ll be on track for my aggressive savings plan. [...]

   Reply
2. Give Me Back My Five Bucks » Off and running! says:

   Friday, March 5, 2010 - 07:20pm at 7:50 pm

   [...] my sister agreed to hold off on her moving plans until April, so that means my aggressive savings plan is underway starting now. It also means I’m going to have to do the long commute to work [...]

   Reply
3. Give Me Back My Five Bucks » GMBMFB Readers: what do you think of RRSP loans? says:

   Saturday, March 6, 2010 - 12:51pm at 12:17 pm

   [...] less than 2 months (at the time I was working 2 full-time jobs and saving up to $4k/month – I was craaaazy back then), so I went ahead and did [...]

   Reply

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