I've had a Rogers cellphone for the last year and a half. We're switching to minimal Pay as you Go cells and got a landline through our ISP Teksavvy (who I cannot say enough nice things about. They are amazing!)
So I had to cancel my cell. While I am halfway through my 3 year contract, Rogers still wanted $360 for me to cancel. I almost paid it then reconsidered, and put an ad up on usedottawa.com and craigslist. From the perspective of a person looking for a cell contract, by taking over my contract they get the phone for free and that's a year and a half less they are in their contract for. Saved me a ton of money! So it's a win-win for everyone involved.. except Rogers who doesn't get my $360 and an extra year and a half locked in on someone else.
As far as I know this is the only way I know to get rid of your phone without paying the early termination fee.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Cash Budgeting: 2 weeks in
We've completed our first cash-budgeted pay period and have learnt quite a bit!
Pros:
- Instant feedback. This is much better than card-based budgeting because personally, I find my bank's statements to always be back a few days, some vendors seem to get registered late, weekend purchases get processed seemingly on the monday, etc.
- More meaningful. Watching the mone leave your wallet and be replaced with coins and fives gives a much more realistic view on how much you have spent compared to signing your name at the bottom of a sheet.
Cons:
- A single budget isn't very realistic or fun. Saying things like "we could go for a beer but then we'd be out of budget for food" is depressing. I think I'm going to modify my plan by having a $200 monthly budget for fun that gets banked seperately than the day-to-day. It's my intent to also use that $200 for saving up for trips.
- A little dangerous.. I don't suggest you walk around all the time with all your money in your pockets. For a forgetful person such as myself it's a little sketchy!
Pros:
- Instant feedback. This is much better than card-based budgeting because personally, I find my bank's statements to always be back a few days, some vendors seem to get registered late, weekend purchases get processed seemingly on the monday, etc.
- More meaningful. Watching the mone leave your wallet and be replaced with coins and fives gives a much more realistic view on how much you have spent compared to signing your name at the bottom of a sheet.
Cons:
- A single budget isn't very realistic or fun. Saying things like "we could go for a beer but then we'd be out of budget for food" is depressing. I think I'm going to modify my plan by having a $200 monthly budget for fun that gets banked seperately than the day-to-day. It's my intent to also use that $200 for saving up for trips.
- A little dangerous.. I don't suggest you walk around all the time with all your money in your pockets. For a forgetful person such as myself it's a little sketchy!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Cash-based budgeting
So despite having cleared all of my debt I am not saving money at a rate I feel I could. My biggest issue with wesabe and the like is that while it is very very informative, it is all post-purchase analysis - IE I've already spent the money. I want to try a more proactive approach that will keep my purchases in line.
I find more often than not it is very hard to mentally add up purchases that I make over a 2 week period. If you asked me how much I spent in the last 2 weeks I would tell you a number that would be off probably by almost half. I just can't do it. I think my issue is that when I spend $30 three times in my head that adds up to "not much, oh... 50$ or so" not the near $100 it really cost. So I end up without any concept of "reduce spending this week since last week was over budget". It doesn't help that my bank account statements online are about a week too slow, so i make any financial decision on those values based on old information.
Anyways, whatever the reason for my math failures, I'm going to try a pure cash based budgeting approach. I get $450 every 2 weeks to spend on everything. That works out to me putting about $1000 in the bank every month. If I can spend less than that, that's great, my girlfriend and I get to go out or buy something we want.. but if it's a week in and we've got $100 and that's it we'd better save for some groceries!!
I find more often than not it is very hard to mentally add up purchases that I make over a 2 week period. If you asked me how much I spent in the last 2 weeks I would tell you a number that would be off probably by almost half. I just can't do it. I think my issue is that when I spend $30 three times in my head that adds up to "not much, oh... 50$ or so" not the near $100 it really cost. So I end up without any concept of "reduce spending this week since last week was over budget". It doesn't help that my bank account statements online are about a week too slow, so i make any financial decision on those values based on old information.
Anyways, whatever the reason for my math failures, I'm going to try a pure cash based budgeting approach. I get $450 every 2 weeks to spend on everything. That works out to me putting about $1000 in the bank every month. If I can spend less than that, that's great, my girlfriend and I get to go out or buy something we want.. but if it's a week in and we've got $100 and that's it we'd better save for some groceries!!
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