Give Me Back My Five Bucks

Somebody recently asked me how I was able to save up for a down payment on my townhouse. I wrote this post, and then sat on it for a while (like I usually do, because blogging is scary). I realize that sometimes I can sound so ridiculously positive that it might be perceived as if I don’t know how hard it is to actually save money. My goal is never to alienate anyone, or make it sound as if I don’t understand. I’ve come a long ways since being a crazy shopaholic in debt, but I certainly haven’t forgotten what … Continue reading →

Some of you might have noticed that I have a new sidebar up now. The Future Home Fund is a joint savings account for – you guessed it – our future home. We don’t know what city we’ll be living in, or whether we’ll have a house, townhome or condo – all we know is that we want to start saving up for a home together. This money isn’t even earmarked for anything. It could go towards the down payment, closing costs, or home renovations. I have $25k from my RRSPs that I had always envisioned using for the First-Time … Continue reading →

So, my Condo Down Payment account is gone, and my EF is above $3,000 for the first time in a long time. I changed my goal to $5,000 because I’d like to reach that amount before going traveling. I think $5k is a solid amount to get me on my feet once we come back. The rest of the money has disappeared into my RRSPs.

So I emptied my Condo Down Payment Fund. It’s silly just to have $1,800 there. I’ll update my sidebar once the money clears into my chequing account. I am going to use $500 of it to max out my EF, and the rest is getting thrown into the black hole of my Retirement Portfolio. I will invest in 1/3 Canadian, and 2/3 International funds. Yes, I still want to own my own condo, and it is still a huge goal of mine … but I’d feel so much better with a fully funded EF. And since I lowered my bi-weekly … Continue reading →

On Friday, I will be getting paid about $450 extra for all the OT I’ve put in over the past 2 weeks. That’s a nice chunk of change above and beyond my regular wages, so I’m really happy. The entire amount will, of course, be going into my Condo Down Payment Fund.