Give Me Back My Five Bucks

I did fairly well this month with my expenses – only notably going over on the Travel portion of my budget because I prepaid for a lot of travel due to extremely good sales. Going forward, March should see a good amount of income coming in, and less expenses since most of our future travel plans are now already paid for. We still need to pay for our train tickets to Geneva and Vienna, but after that, I believe all of our travel is paid for up until mid-June.

Over Budget:

• Food – I’m surprised this isn’t a lot higher, to be honest with you. Since we spent half the month living in a hostel, we were buying most of our groceries at a fairly expensive store.
• Clothing – I didn’t bring enough undergarments, so I bought 7 pairs on sale. I also bought a scarf off Etsy, since I forgot mine at home.
• Travel – This includes 2 day trips (Esslingen, Tübingen), a weekend trip to Munich, and 3 flights (Faro/Lisbon, Amsterdam, Athens).
• Personal Care – shampoo/conditioner, soap, etc.

Net Worth Change: + $102 (0.14%)

February 2012 Goals:

• Practice and learn German every day. PASS. While I haven’t practiced German every day, I have learned something new most days. While I have graduated to mixing some simple German words in with my English, I have yet to speak a full sentence in German. :)

• Work a maximum of 50 hours/week. CHECK! I still check and reply to e-mails early in the mornings and late in the evening, but my work day starts at 9am, and I’m usually off my computer by 5pm. I would estimate I work about 9 hours M-F, and a few hours on the weekends.

• Pitch myself for 3 projects. CHECK! Well, I technically pitched myself for 3 projects. I got one of them, but after multiple e-mail follow-ups, I didn’t hear back from the other 2. Oh well. I’ll keep pitching ideas to people, and see what happens.

• Get my taxes organized for this year, and going into next year. PASS. I’ve done what I could to get organized. My paperwork is on its way to me, and I’m starting to get my receipts in order.

Ongoing 2012 Goals:

• Post a new photo every day on my Tumblr account, My Life In Pixels. CHECK!

• Only post my own photos on GMBMFB. CHECK!

• Write one guest post for another blog or website. FAIL. I started a new web project, and just haven’t had time.

Monday 20th
$5.93 (€4,50) doner kebab

Tuesday 21st
$1.45 (€1,10) soft pretzel (x2)
$5.82 (€4,33) groceries

Wednesday 22nd
No Spend Day! 

Thursday 23rd
+ $350 freelance income
$18.82 (€14) doner kebab & beer (x2)

Friday 24th –  Munich
+ $330.70 freelance income
$80.65 (€60) train (roundtrip to Munich)
$0.87 (€0,65) soft pretzel

Saturday 25th – Munich
$4.04 (€3) admission for St. Paul Church tower
$26.90 (€20) Mario’s Pizzeria
$3.36 (€2,50) transit
$12.04 (€8,95) Globetrotter (water bottle)
$33.63 (€25) Munich Bavarian Restaurant

Sunday 26th – Munich
$6.73 (€5) snacks 
$29.59 (€22) lunch
$4.04 (€3) soft pretzel (x2)

WEEKLY EXPENSES: - $233.87
WEEKLY INCOME: + $680.70

TOTAL: + $446.83

We ate out a lot this week because we spent the weekend in Munich. Nic paid for our night out on Friday, as well as for train tickets for a day trip to Neuschwanstein Castle. Which is why you see me spending more than average for food on both Saturday and Sunday.

As for my freelance income, it’s still coming in steadily. I’ve been working hard to secure income going forward (including a secret new website project), and I’m also waiting on some big pay cheques to come in. There’s been good movement with my real estate job, so I’m feeling optimistic about the next few months. :)

A few years ago when I bought my new car, I just went ahead and bought all of my insurance through ICBC, because that’s what I always did. The idea to shop around for auto insurance never really crossed my mind, because really. How much could I actually save? But when I started looking into auto insurance quotes, I was shocked at how much I was over paying by sticking with ICBC! Just by switching over my extended coverage to a third party company, I would save hundreds of dollars each year.

Here’s what I was quoted for:

ICBC – $1,942 ($883 for basic + $1,059 for extended)

Quotes:
Coast Capital – $848 (total with basic = $1,731)
CDI – $691 (total with basic = $1,574)

I ended up going with CDI, which saved me $367 per year on my insurance. And when I bought my townhouse last year, I bought my home insurance through CDI as well, giving me a multi-policy discount. It kind of makes me wonder how much I could have been saving on insurance costs all these years with my other cars and my scooter. :| Actually, no, I don’t want to think about it.

My main concern with going with a private insurance company was the hassle of having to make a claim if I were ever to get into an accident. Well, when I was rear ended, it was so simple to get the claim processed. I just called CDI, and they took down all my information. Then I called ICBC, and I was done.

Now, I’m definitely going to be getting quotes on my car insurance from now on. It might take 30 minutes of my time, but it’s worth it to me if I know that I’m getting the best possible car insurance rates. The last thing I want to do is give my money away to someone when I can be getting the same service cheaper somewhere else.

If you’re shopping around for insurance is on your list of things to do, don’t forget about that multi-policy discount! My townhouse insurance for a year was only $220 because I have auto insurance with CDI.

There are now websites where you can find find vehicle insurance rates, such as Kanetix.ca. This company compares insurance products through top providers in Canada, giving users access to the most affordable rates possible – based on their needs. Check it out, and see how much you can save!

How has your experience been shopping around for car insurance?

It is extremely important to understand foreign currency conversion fees – which is how much your debit and credit cards will charge you when you use them outside of Canada. Even though I travel to the USA often, I never really took the time to research into just how much using my credit card was costing me. So save yourself some money by spending a few minutes calling the number on the back of each credit card. Have them explain the fees and currency conversion amounts to you.

A foreign currency conversion fee is charged to consumers to help offset the cost incurred by credit card companies and the bank, since international transactions are more expensive to process than domestic transactions.

For example, with my MBNA Platinum Plus MasterCard (still the greatest credit card in the world, BTW), all transactions made in a foreign currency will be converted to Canadian dollars. Then, an amount equal to 2.5% of the converted transaction amount will be added to the total.

Meanwhile, my President’s Choice Financial (PCF) MasterCard first converts all foreign transactions into U.S. dollars, and then into Canadian dollars, before charging a 2.5% foreign currency conversion fee.

Aside from credit cards, my options are using my ING Direct or PC Financial debit cards. You will not be able to make individual transactions at stores with either debit card, but you can use them both to access your money through bank machines.

PC Financial charges $3 per withdrawal from bank machines located outside of Canada. In addition, they also charge a fixed rate of 2.5% of the converted amount as their foreign currency conversion fee.

ING Direct, on the other hand, charges $2 for each withdrawal from foreign bank machines, but does not charge a foreign currency conversion fee.

The picture in this blog post shows the only things I carry in my wallet: ING Direct debit card, MBNA MasterCard, Bahn25 discount train card, and driver’s license. I also carry my passport at all times, as well as my NEXUS card – not that it helps me at all over here. My PCF MasterCard, PCF debit card, and any other cards I have are kept locked away in the apartment.

Aside from understanding the foreign currency conversion fees associated with both your debit and credit cards when traveling abroad, here are some tips to help keep you safe and save you money:

Inform your credit card company of your travel plans. Nothing would be more frustrating than having your credit card declined and suspended for suspicious use, because you didn’t take the time to let the card issuer know of your overseas travel plans.

Avoid Dynamic Currency Conversion. Foreign merchants will sometimes try to take advantage of tourists by offering to quote the final price of your purchase in U.S. dollars, instead of in the local currency. The exchange rate is selected by the merchant, and is usually much higher than your credit card. Make sure you know the currency conversion rates before you buy anything. Or, you can download a smartphone app that will do the conversion for you.

Double-check your card expiration date. Your trip could take a serious nosedive if you suddenly discover that your credit card is set to expire while you’re traveling. Contact customer service to see if they can issue you a card with a new expiration date, or mail you a new card to your address abroad, closer to when the card will actually expire.

Stick to using one credit card (but bring a back-up). Using a single credit card will make it easier for you to track your spending while you are away. But, you should also bring a back-up credit card just in case of an emergency – such as, your credit card being suspended, or losing your wallet. The back-up card should be stored somewhere else besides your purse or wallet – like in a safe in your hotel room, or in a money belt if you need to have it with you.

What tips do you have for using your credit and debit cards abroad?

Wow, I can’t believe I’ve been blogging for five years. FIVE YEARS!

So much has changed over the last 1,825 days – not only within the personal finance blogosphere, but my life is completely different than it used to be. And I honestly never, ever thought that I’d be writing a 5-year anniversary post here on GMBMFB, or that there would be people here, reading what I have to write.

Since I started taking care of my finances, I’ve gone from a -$21,000 net worth, to over +$71,000. That’s a difference of over $92,000! What I’m most proud of is the fact that I was able to accomplish this with an average salary of just $44,000/year – proving that you don’t need to make a huge salary in order to change your life.  You just need to be determined to do whatever it takes. :)

For long-time readers, you know that things have changed a lot since February 2007. In the past five years, I’ve had 6 jobs, move 5 times, and went through 2 tough break-ups. And just last year, I bought my very first home. Other notables include getting adult braces, having LASIK eye surgery, getting fired from a job, and my big blogging break with the Toronto Star/Moneyville.ca.

This blog began on February 25, 2007, and since that time this is what has happened:

• Posts: 2,500+
• Traffic: 2,500,000 visitors
• Highest traffic (day): 11,500 visitors
• Highest traffic (month): 90,100 visitors

• Featured in (print): FLARE Magazine, Financial Post Magazine, Globe & Mail, Toronto Star/Moneyville, Metro News
• Featured in (web): MSN Money, The Consumerist, Wall Street Journal, Montreal Gazette, MoneySense, Sympatico.ca, Yahoo! Finance
• Featured in (radio): 103.5 QM/FM, CBC Radio One, CKNW 980AM, NewsTalk 1010
• Featured in (television): CTV News Channel

Thank you to all the GMBMFB readers out there. You guys are fantastic. It’s been a great 5 years, and I’m excited to see where the next year takes this blog!