# Edgar's Money Diary



## Edgar (Mar 24, 2014)

Hey,

I told myself that as soon as I graduated and landed a fulltime job, I would create a money diary for tracking my expenses and getting feedback from the community (I've been here a while, watching in the shadows ).

So... Here we go:

Age: 23

*June 3rd (for the month of May)*

Net Income (biweekly): $1,600
Part of my gross goes towards A DB pension plan that will make up~60% of my income and is available at age 60.

Savings:
Chequing - $9,465
Savings - $5,448

Investments:
Non-registered - $0
RRSP - $0
TFSA - $19,562

Debt:
MasterCard - $2000 (cleared each month so there is no interest charges)

Expenses:
Rent - $1400 (first and last months)
Utilities - $114 (last month as a result of my last place. New unit is all-inclusive)
Food - $647
-> Groceries - $324
-> Take-out - $155
-> Coffee and snacks - $40
-> Dining out and drinks - $111
Transportation - $1,328
-> Bus Pass - $206 (bought a bus pass at the start and end of month. This price won't show up next month)
-> Moving costs - $85 (one-time)
-> Motorcycle - $1,037 (This was for gear. Another one-time cost of about $2500-$2700 is coming next month. I also expect a $177 refund next month)
Shopping - $169
-> Summer clothes and a few new house essentials - $96
-> Other - $73
Cellphone - $42
Finance - $29 (I went over my card cap because of the motorcycle expenses)
Health - $10

TOTAL: $2,351 (I expect future months will be approximately $500 less)

With that said, I am seeking input on where I can improve. One goal is to reduce the amount of take-out I eat to one or twice a week. Anything else?


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## Ag Driver (Dec 13, 2012)

Congrats on the new job! Looks like you've done a great job saving and having no debt. 

What are some of your goals? 
Are you planning on buying a house down the line?
How are you invested inside of your TFSA and what is that money going to be used for?

Could you clarify your "Food and Groceries" cost? Are you spending collectivly $971 on shopping for food/staples? That seems more than double what it should be for a single bachelor.


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## NorthKC (Apr 1, 2013)

First off, congrats on your new job!

Right now, that's not a bad set-up.

$700 for rent all-inclusive is actually pretty good. Don't leave that place for a while if you don't have to.
Reducing take-out will be key and I'm quite confident that you can reduce the groceries as there's only one of you. When I was on my own, I spent no more than $200 in groceries and that was healthy eating. I could say cut back on dining out but $111 is actually pretty reasonable. You gotta have a life, after all.

If you have a motorcycle, why do you need a bus pass? It might be cheaper riding your motorcycle there and only pay as you go when you need to take the bus instead. You should also break out the cost of gas, insurance, etc for the motorcycle. That can easily free up $100 a month minimum, if that's the case.

Do you have tenant's insurance? If not, get it!

I don't see any cell phone, internet or cable (if like watching tv, otherwise, ignore this). Do you have these? You will need to show that on your monthly expenses.

You should consider setting aside a set amount of your pay towards your savings every month to get into the habit of regular contributions, say 10% just to get started.

Good luck!


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

what a dream profle for a 23 year old.

were you asking for suggestions? ha, you should be the one teaching how-it's-done!

only one thing seems a wee bit off. Food. Groceries. Takeout. Coffee & snacks. Dining out. Did you know that your budget items for these comestibles add up to $1,277 per month? even for a personnage who is a little bit pregnant, that does seem like a stretch.

from time to time, folks on here post frugal cook-at-home recipes. You could check out cmffer Plugging Along, she's an expert with these.

one more thing. Please take care with that bike. The dean of the motorcycle gang on here says city riding is far more dangerous than highway or even off-road biking. Says the majority of motorcycle accidents are caused by car drivers. Says he never goes out, not even to bike to the convenience store, without full armour.

btw did you pay cash for the bike? no motorcycle financing costs?

.


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## CalgaryPotato (Mar 7, 2015)

If you can keep your expenses to $1500 a month you're laughing. So your $700 includes internet I'm guessing? Also do you not have a cell phone plan?

Also I notice you don't have anything for gas, parking, maintenance of your motorcycle.


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## Edgar (Mar 24, 2014)

Ag Driver said:


> Congrats on the new job! Looks like you've done a great job saving and having no debt.
> 
> What are some of your goals?
> Are you planning on buying a house down the line?
> ...



My end goal is financial independence. I'd like to retire at 55 and defer my pension until 60 so I can receive a full entitlement. I've also seen the stress caused to families by not having sufficient funds to get yourself out of a jam, debt payments, etc. This is the primary thing that I want to avoid. 
A shorter-term goal is gifting my an Alaskan cruise in approximately 6 years as a retirement gift to them both as I know that has been a dream of my mother for as long as I can remember. In the short-short-term, no immediate goals, but I do have a target savings rate of as close to 50% as possible.

A house is not an immediate plan. I still have many things to consider including if I want a condo (which is over saturated in my city so prices may drop) or if I want a house (which means either living downtown where housing is 500k+ or outside of the city where I will need to buy a car for transport). Another though is whether I buy the house solely for myself, or if I buy a duplex/multiplex and turn it into a partial rental. The latter would require more savings before I purchase further delaying a home purchase. In the meantime, Im comfortable living in fairly average housing with a roommate. 

TFSA is a mix of stocks and ETFs. Unfortunately, I bought into some oil stocks when they were in a correction... which was before they crashed. I also have a handful of banks, consumer discretionary, and consumer staples. Everything else is ETF including HXS for some tax-compliant US exposure (though their fee is a tad high for my liking).

Food is laid out in the top quote. The list below "Food" is a breakdown of that expense. I probably could have formatted it better, but I was on my phone.

Any suggestions to the things above, primarily the second and third points?


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## Edgar (Mar 24, 2014)

I agree, groceries should be cheaper and it is something I'll have to work on. Another comment pointed me to a user who apparently has some good, frugal recipes that I'll start trying out.

As for the motorcycle/bus pass issue, the issue is that parking is $200+/mth though it may (and should) be less for a motorcycle. I'll definitely look into that as there could be money and time savings (hate missing the bus and having to wait for the next one). And ya, you are right about the other costs. I had previously factored them in when considering the purchase, but forgot to include them in my post (it's Friday )

I've never had tenants insurance. What is the cost and benefit?

Cellphone has now been included! Thanks for the reminder.

As for setting aside a portion of my pay, currently it all goes into my chequing account, but I would like to move it into a separate account and have it routinely (likely weekly or monthly) move a fraction of my pay (likely a predetermined amount) into my chequing account for personal use... now I need to figure out how to do that... On second thought, that doesn't have much use if I use my credit card for everything. I do agree with you in that case that I should have a portion automatically move into an investment account. I'll look into setting that up (hopefully this month)


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## Edgar (Mar 24, 2014)

humble_pie said:


> what a dream profle for a 23 year old.
> 
> were you asking for suggestions? ha, you should be the one teaching how-it's-done!
> 
> ...


Food is the expense. Groceries, Take-out, Coffee, and Snacks are subcategories of food. I'll try to format it better in the future 

I will check out Plugging Along because i am always looking for good and cheap recipes. Thanks for the heads up.

As for your bike concerns, they are concerns of mine to. That motorcycle purchase above was entirely for gear. The $2500 next (this) month will be for the motorcycle (used and a 250cc so it is relatively cheap, though in actuality, it will likely be around $2700). My plan is to mostly ride it outside of the city because I am surrounded by some wonderful winding roads in green space. I just have to drive 15-20 minutes away first.


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## Edgar (Mar 24, 2014)

CalgaryPotato said:


> If you can keep your expenses to $1500 a month you're laughing. So your $700 includes internet I'm guessing? Also do you not have a cell phone plan?
> 
> Also I notice you don't have anything for gas, parking, maintenance of your motorcycle.


Ya, I don't know why I typed 1500. My actual target is $1700-$1800. I've tamed my goal above to reflect a reduced confidence in my savings . Internet is included in rent, and I included my cellphone as well now. Gas, parking, etc is something that I knew and calculated before venturing down this motorcycle road... but I forgot to include in this write-up (it's Friday, cut me some slack ). It is part of why I'm assuming costs of $1700-$1800 as well.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

here is a lovely video
.


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## Edgar (Mar 24, 2014)

That was therapeutic to watch


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