A new year
always welcome new dreams – in my case it’s to hit the 300k net worth by the
end of the year 2018. It’s doable, but only in a good stock market environment.
2017 had been so chaotic, it’s quite difficult to predict if 2018 will be a
good year or not, especially since the status of NAFTA is not clarify by our
“friends” in the USA. Overall, 2017 had been a good year for my investments.
I had spent
a good two weeks away from Montreal, which was really awesome. Now that I am
hitting back in my regular days, my 2018 resolution is to spend less. I always
been a good saver, but in some occasions, I spent more than I should,
especially for clothes, make-up and hair products. Hair products is my ultimate
weakness, as well as make-up, lipsticks…… Being a girl involved much more
spending than just being a simple guy. From the moment we are born, girls face
many challenge.
Knowing I
closed the year 2017 with a net worth of 221k – I am just so close of the 300k,
it would be just very stupid of me if I wouldn’t be trying to save all the money
I possibly can in the year ahead. The half million could be all mine by the
time I turn 40 – but at probably the only condition that I hit on the 300k this
year. Nothing is impossible. There’s no magic trick, saving money is super
hard, but I am a natural at it, as I know exactly what are my weaknesses. And
ever since my salary start growing, I had become more and more of a spender. It’s
something really normal, anyone goes through such things. My 221k is more than
I ever taught I could ever have, so why pushing more?
Well for
many reasons: the more money you have, the better, 221k is not that much, and I
don’t have too much in term of cold cash saving in the bank. And I would like
to have a real $300 000 of my own. So why not?
Just the
fact that I stop coloring my hair is helping a lot. Visit to the hair dresser
and products for color hair are just very expensive. My natural color is
showing more and more. After all those years, I had forgot what it was looking
like. And it’s not ugly. For my part, I am really done coloring my hair. It’s
just too much time and money consuming.
Once I get
myself into something, I am getting in completely. And it should be the same
for you. Some expose the art of saving money very simply: make your own coffee,
bring your lunch to work… Good tips, but to be really efficient, you need to go
much deeper than that. That’s why I am writing the following post. We are going
to explore some very personal ways that your favorite Dividend Girl has to save
money.
1 –
Establish your monthly budget
Establish a
sharp – but not too sharp budget – this means, establish a realistic budget,
that include all of your needs. To do so, you need to know where your money go
every month. And after that, try to spend less than plan every weeks.
First,
establish your monthly basic budget:
MONTHLY
BUDGET
Grocery: $280
- $70 per week
Coffee: $60
- $15 per week
Rent: $665
Internet: $45.34
Cell: $40.24
Weekend money:
$20
Gym
membership: $14.38
TOTAL : $1 124.96
$13 499.52
for 1 year: very basic fix needs
Your
monthly budget should include all your fix charges, like cable if you have it,
cell phone, rent, etc…. In my case, the fix charges are limited to a few
things. The less you have to pay out the better. This is for the basic
expenses. As you doubt, other expenses need to be taking into consideration.
But let’s talk money first.
2 - How much do you normally earn in a year
INCOME
In this
section, you need to include all your sources of income: job (but only after
taxes), online income if you have any and of course, dividend earnings.
Job (after
taxes): $35 300
Online: 500
$
Dividend: 7
980 $ (approximately, I didn’t have time t update my dividend income yet)
TOTAL: $43 780
For 2018, I
estimate my income to be of $43 780.
Let see how
money I will have to play around and to invest:
$43 780 (income)
– $13 499.52 (very basic needs): 30 280.48 $
This means
I have left $30 280.48 to do whatever I want with it.
I have
calculate my very basic needs, but that’s not exactly realist to what I will be
spending in a year. Because other than my basic needs, I have other sphere of expensive.
In other to track them, you need to know yourself. Do you know how you spend your
money? I do. And it’s how it goes for me:
3 - Money spend on vacations
VACATION:
Cuba: $1 370
Easter
vacation: $350
Summer
vacation: $3 000
Extra
spending during the summer: $200
October vacation: $350
Christmas:
$820
TOTAL for
vacations: $6 090
Establish a
budget for your vacations is really essential.
3 - Other regular living expenses
And now,
you need to write down all of the other expenses that you’ll be doing in the
year ahead.
OTHER
EXPENSES:
HAIR CUT: 5
times this year @ $40: $200
CLOTHES: $1
200 - $300 per season, not much, but I already have plenty of clothes…
CLEANING
PRODUCTS: I always buy them at Dollorama. To clean my apartment, and floor, I
like to use Pine-Sol, it’s at $2.50 at Dollarama. I never calculated how long a
bottle last me, same thing for dish soap, windex or cleaning products for the
bath room. I estimate 2 products at $3 each per 2 months and 1 product at $3
per month: $72
TOILET
PAPERS: $10 per 2 months (let say...): $60
LAUNDRY
TICKETS FOR CLOTHES: $6 per week: $312
LAUNDRY
TICKETS FOR SHEETS: $6 per 2 weeks : $144
LAUNDRY
SOAP: $10 per 2 months: $60
VITAMINS:
Jamieson
100% Complete Multivitamin for Women: $16 per 2 months: $96
Caltrate
with Vitamin D3 Soft Chews Chocolate, Bone Health Supplement, 600 mg Calcium:
$102
Jamieson Magnesium:
$56
ADVIL: $54
F PADS:
$144
BODY SOAP:
$27
SHAMPOO AND
CONDITIONER: $144
MAKEUP:
$480
DRIVER
LICENCE RENEWAL: $91.33
Total of
the OTHER EXPENSES: $2 042.33
Those are
all the expenses I can possibly think of. Let see what is now left for
investment purposes:
INCOME –
BASIC MONTHLY NEEDS – VACATIONS – OTHER EXPENSES = MONEY LEFT TO INVEST AND
SAVE
$43 780 – $13
499.52 – $2 042.33 : $22 148.15
In my
current situation, I have the possibility to save approximately 22k this year
– and even more if I get myself into it. I cannot cut anywhere in the vacations
section, so I am looking forward to cut in the expenses.
Example of
what I can do to save money – other than bringing your lunch to work:
For one
week, let say that I don’t buy any coffees at work: I will save that way $15.
Let’s plan a no coffee week once per month, I will save that way: $180
I had fix
my grocery shopping at $70 per week. It will be difficult, but I can certainly
lower that bill 2 weeks per month by certainly $10. Money save on a year: $240
In my
monthly budget, I had put a $20 each week as weekend money. Let say that 2
weeks per month, I only spend $10 instead of $20. Money save on a year: $240
For the
closing expenses, instead of spending $300 per season, let’s skip the spending
for the winter season. Money save: $300
With all
those below, I could save an extra $960 a year. It’s not 22k, but 23k that I
could have at my disposal for investment.
The trick
is to spend as less money possible, but reasonably, and to do so, you need to
keep track of all of your expenses. Personally, I wrote them down inside my
agenda.
One of the
not easy point is grocery shopping. What I like to do before going, is to plan
the recipes I will do for the week. And I only buy the items needed, to which I
add a few things like the usual bread, milk, eggs, apples.
I hope all
those tips will help you succeed at the difficult task of saving money!
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