October 2011 Goals: Recap
Posted on October 31, 2011 in monthly goals
This was an interesting month for me. It was super expensive, but I also made a ton of freelance/side income. And at the end of the month, I came out cash-positive by over $2,700. So can’t really complain about that. Check out the recap below. As always, if you have any questions, I’ll be happy to answer them! :)
OVER BUDGET
- Food - I went on a massive shopping trip to Superstore (for the first time in months), and got a little carried away re-stocking my pantry and freezer with food. Whoops!
- Personal Care – Well, first I paid a dumb $82 to get my hair cut, and then we stopped in at Target on our way out of Seattle. I bought an electric toothbrush, replacement heads, and stocked up on a bunch of personal care items that are way cheaper to buy in the USA than in Canada.
NET WORTH CHANGE: + $2,731 (4.66%)
Considering the following 4 expenses, I think I did fantastic this month in terms of growing my net worth:
- (- $850) I updated my car value. KBB says I lost $850 since the last time I checked, which was probably earlier this year in the spring when I paid off my car loan.
- (- $1,450) I bought an iPhone and a plane ticket to Montreal. Worth it.
- (- $861) I paid for my annual ICBC basic insurance. That does not include collision or comprehensive insurance. That is billed separately through Canadian Direct Insurance, because it’s cheaper than ICBC.
- (- $725) I made payment 2 of 8 on my braces. This is charged at 0% interest, and paid quarterly. Which means I’ve only had my braces on for 6 months. Another year to go. At least.
October 2011 Goals:
- Make an additional $2,500 above and beyond my FT job. CHECK! This was a very good month, because I made $4,840 in freelance/side income. To me, that’s insane. Especially considering I thought last month’s $4,300 was a crazy amount of money.
- Contribute $800 towards my Retirement Portfolio. CHECK! This was a combination of RRSP and TFSA.
- Contribute $500 towards my Travel Fund. PASS. Well, I took out $600 to buy my plane ticket to Montreal. So while I did technically contribute $500 this month, instead of having $1,100 in my Travel Fund, I only have $500.
- Go on a 10km run. FAIL. Why do I even bother trying to schedule crap like this? It’s never going to get done. Aside from playing field hockey 2-3x/week, I can’t fit much more exercise in.
- Go on a hike. CHECK! Nic and I did the short hike up Mt. Finlayson over the Thanksgiving long weekend in my hometown. It was raining like crazy, but it was a lot of fun. I also realized that my boyfriend is a mountain goat.
- Buy and create a scrapbook. CHECK! Okay, well I bought the scrapbook, and I filled in about 3 pages. That counts, right?
- Read 10 articles about investing. FAIL. I didn’t read a single article. Mostly because I had to finish The Wealthy Barber Returns for my book review and giveaway.
- Don’t mope on my birthday. PASS. My goals for my birthday were to not work at all that day, do something I’ve always wanted to do, and have fun. Well, 1) I wrote for the majority of the day, 2) had a league field hockey game get canceled about 30 seconds before the scheduled game time, and 3) I guess the day was still kind of fun. I barely moped. And then the next day, Nic took me on a day trip to Whistler where we went zip lining and had $5 stolen from us by a waitress.
Ongoing 2011 Annual Goals:
- No buying lunch, snacks or coffee during the work week. FAIL. I went out for lunch once during this month to celebrate 4 birthdays (one being mine). This means I’ve gone out for lunch this year two different times. Both for pretty legitimate reasons.
- No buying clothing, shoes or accessories until December 31, 2011. CHECK!
- Work out at least 3x/week. FAIL. I worked out 9x this month.
13 Responses to “October 2011 Goals: Recap”
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Congrats on coming out so far ahead in October! Good for you for finding such a great way to diversify and pull in such extra income.
AMD´s latest post —> Weekly Spend Recap: October 24th to October 30th
I just found your blog last week, and I think it’s great! I’ve been making my way through your archives, and I’m really impressed at how open you’ve been about your finances and your goals, and the way you’ve been willing to find additional sources of income in order to meet your goals. I look forward to reading the rest of your blog (I’m just starting 2008) and seeing how you’ve gotten to where you are now.
Penny´s latest post —> Budgeting
I’m even impressed that you can do a 10 K run! Even if I had the time set out I couldn’t run for 10 K straight. I’m getting there, though.
Have you been to Montreal before? I’ve always wanted to go. I hear it’s really beautiful.
Daisy´s latest post —> Spending Report: Oct 24-30
I haven’t run 10km since the summer, but I’m pretty sure I could still do it. Kind of wanted to try this month to make sure I could… but… oh well. :(
No this will be my very first time to Montreal, and I’ve always wanted to go so I’m really excited. And I’m glad that I’m going with my boyfriend. He’s from a town just outside Montreal, so he will be my translator the entire time, haha.
Wow you’re doing so great with the extra income and net worth. You have definitely motivated me to find something sort of freelance/side income job.
Michelle´s latest post —> Weekly Money Check-Up: 10/31
Almost $5k in side income? Holy sh**!
I like your comment about the 10 km run. My philosophy regarding “to do list” items, is that if they aren’t absolutely essential, then I will remove undone items if they are on the list for a while and I don’t have a serious plan for getting them done.
Mike Holman´s latest post —> LinkStuff – Halloween Edition
Yeah, I should do the same thing with my “to do” list. The 10km run is something I really want to accomplish, but it’s not essential and clearly not important since I probably could have cut something out in order to do it. Scrapping it for next month! :)
Awesome totals for October!! Also, buying the scrapbook and doing 3 pages totally counts :)
Stephanie´s latest post —> Now who is obsessed?!?
I worked on my Scrapbook this weekend! I’ve been delayed about year with pictures. Then, when I printed them out at Walgreens, I forgot to include about half the stuff I wanted to – FAIL. So I only got about 5 pages done. Oh well, there’s always next weekend.
Kat
Kat Skull´s latest post —> Doors Open Milwaukee – Marquette Raynor Library Lobby
Are you charging your client more for freelance jobs or just getting more of them/jobs, or larger assignments?
Last month you thought you would not likely have earned more than 4300 again for a while, but here you did it and increased the bar.
Oh tax man, though will have a field day with you this year.
Maybe..
I’m not charging more, I’ve just settled on what I perceive to be the proper price range I should be charging. I also got a lot of advertising income over the past couple of months.
As for taxes, I’m anticipating owing money, but I’m also contributing a ton into my RRSPs, and I have a lot of write-offs … so I’m hoping that it won’t be too bad this year. I’ll have to figure out a game plan for next year.
Did you accidentally put BF’s real name in this article? Just checking unless that was a mistake… :D
Haha no it wasn’t a mistake. I’ve been using his real name on this blog (asked him first, to see if it was okay, hahaha) … eventually I’ll stop calling him ‘boyfriend’ or ‘BF’ and just use his real name.