All the clothes I bought in the last 10 months

I had another frugal year, mainly because my income dipped a lot due to residency - I made only around $4k/month for the last 10 months. Not to mention I had to pay around $15k for licensing fees, and wanted to save some money too.

So here is actually every item of clothing I bought, from July 1 2015 to the present day.

July ($264)
Aritzia - 2 white shirts and a dress - $215 (good buy, I wear these all the time)
Merino wool tights - $50 (Well... I wore it skiing a few times. Not that much wear though)

Aug ($100) 
Capezio work flats - $100 (good buy, I wear these all the time)

Sep ($1) 
A baseball cap - $1 (Dollarama - just needed to keep the sun out of my eyes)

Oct ($6) 
Two silk tanks tailor made in China - $80 (good buy, I wear these all the time)
Magic gloves, ear muffs and hat from Dollarama - $6 (They disintegrated over the winter. At least those magic gloves got some good wear)

Nov ($0) 
Nothing!

Dec ($20)
Ski socks - $20 (haven't worn these yet)

Jan ($30) 
Dress in Value Village  - $15 (not a good buy, I ended up cutting it up anyways)
Windbreaker - $15 (good buy, I wear this all the time)

Feb ($0) 
Nothing!

Mar ($0) 
Nothing!

Apr ($100) 
Bershka leather jacket from a consignment store - $100 (good buy, I wear this all the time, bought as a replacement for a worn out faux leather jacket I had)

10 month total: $521 

Not bad!

What I would have done differently - I don't regret purchasing so little clothing at all. In fact, I might have even tried to purchase less, for example not getting the Value Village dress which I ended up cutting up anyways. I might also just have gotten a faux leather jacket in a tan or olive color instead of going for the full on leather jacket, which could have saved me another $40 or $50.
I probably could have gone even less, buying just one white shirt from Aritzia and not getting the dress. Ultimately I could have saved myself another $170 off this year's purchases.

A great, carefully selected year.

P90X for $0 - use the Youtube videos

Winters in Toronto are cold.

Like, chilly, you better go into your blanket cold.

Running outside is prohibitive and uncomfortable. I know some hardcore people do it, but call me lazy if you must - I just really can't. 

The last few months, I couldn't even be bothered to get out in the morning to do a run in the park.

So I just put on a workout video.

What home workouts to do 

Do high-intensity interval training as your bread and butter. HIIT does the cardio needed to burn fat and bring up your energy. I'm experimenting with the online free P90X3 workout video - the 30 minute version that I can just do before work, and doesn't require any equipment. For those of you that don't know, P90X is this extremely effective, concentrated workout series created by a fitness guru named Tony Horton. It works extremely well at building muscle, endurance and strength.

I love Tony Horton because as he says in the video: "You don't need gym. You don't even need me." He's an honest speaker of the truth.

I'll get up at 6:30, do the workout till 7 in my living room, shower and start my day.

Intersperse with online yoga videos. I intersperse P90X with yoga videos from Do Yoga With Me, usually this one here, which is the Ashtanga Half Primary Series. The Ashtanga workouts are still really hard, but they focus a lot on flexibility, and add that element to your repertoire where the other types of workouts fall back.

Try some online ballet boot camp. There's nothing like ballet to improve posture. I find ballet boot camp to do a lot more arm and leg workouts compared to HIIT, which focuses more on the core. I've been trying the amazing (but extremely challenging) Sweaty Betty Ballet Boot Camp, in conjunction with some workout music from Spotify (I managed to get Spotify Premium for free with my cell phone subscription, amazingly).

Anyways, this saves me about $50 per month gym membership - or even $100/month if you calculate it from a yoga perspective.

Why hadn't I done this earlier? We have so many great, free videos available on YouTube, with some of the best teachers available to guide you through your fitness. (I know the answer to that question ... it takes discipline to do this regularly! Somehow, my interest in saving money has provided enough motivation for this to work. Money can be a great motivator.)

How to do home workouts 

Take breaks, but keep the video going. I can't stress this enough - keeping it going will stimulate the actual class the best, and give you momentum to get back in it once you're done your break. If you don't keep it going, you're going to stop doing the workout altogether which defeats the whole purpose. 

Don't sweat it if you miss a day. KEEP GOING the next day! Don't worry about missing a day - we all have days like that. It's called being human. Just accept that as a part of the journey and don't give up. 

Do a video whenever inspiration hits. Because these videos are so short (never more than 45 mins), whenever you feel like it, pop in a 20-30 min workout tape. If you have a "fat" day where all you want to do is sit at home and eat cereal, do that for a day, and then get back in the game. 

If you can hack this, ultimately this can save $1200/year - enough for a flight somewhere far away, where you can show off your new beach body :) 

Saving 94% on a waterproof breathable shell jacket

So I've been shopping for a rain jacket for a while now.

Not me... but you get the picture! 

I go hiking and do outdoor sports... like skiing, hiking, or going over to a rural place to work and just wanting to blend in with the rugged country folk. I've been doing most of this with an old hoodie or my trusty $20 Forever21 leather jacket.

But Boyfriend's been hounding me recently about getting an actual waterproof jacket.

You know, one that actually has some functionality?

Well... he has a point.

So I started my search for a jacket. I first set my eyes on this MEC Alpine Ally jacket. $240. Not so warm, but just a waterproof breathable shell. But it's $240. UGHHHH! I don't like this.

It was on sale over Christmas for 50% off ($120). But come on! Still $120 for a jacket that basically keeps you dry? That still seems a bit much. 

So I found the Columbia Arcadia rain jacket, also "guaranteed" to keep you dry. 

Okay, $90 regular price. That's better. Then on sale for $60. Even better, but not really there yet... let's see what other options we have. 

So I went to our local Kind Exchange (a consignment store). The same Columbia jacket was there in a small, in a beautiful green color! It was being sold for $30. 

They were having a 60% off full-store sale at the time.

So I ended up getting my waterproof breathable shell for $15 bucks tax included. 

From $240 in my original search, to $15 in the end: that's a happy me.

Anyways, the moral of this story, is: 

1. If you don't need something immediately (i.e. it's not an emergency purchase), keep looking till you find your item at your target price point. Bottom line: if you don't need it today, you can afford to wait a bit to see what happens to the price. Prices for sports wear are fairly predictable in their seasonal fluctuations: i.e. big sales in June and December of each year. If you can wait till then, you're almost guaranteed to find your same jacket at a much lower price. 

2. Ask yourself what you need in terms of bare minimum functionality, and make sure the item does that. Do you need something so lightweight, with so many pockets, with the built-in tracker system? Or do you just need something waterproof?? I didn't need the highest performing backcountry jacket ever. I don't even live in a really rainy area - the jacket would be for the odd hike that comes across a rainy patch. What's more, the reviews of the MEC jacket indicated that its Pertex shield doesn't always work - some of the reviews said the jacket's waterproof layer stopped working after a year of wear. Well if that's going to happen with a $240 jacket, I might as well get something for a little cheaper. 

3. Check other venues. Check second-sale stores like Winners or Marshalls. Check consignment stores. A lot of these items have high resale value (esp. the well made ones!). If you're up for it, check thrift stores (I keep seeing posts where people get Patagonia shells for $3 - the ultimate sportswear finds in thrift stores). A little rummaging sometimes goes a long way.

Onwards to more hiking adventures, come whatever weather!

Check-in: Net worth $46,000, NO DEBT

Happy new year everyone! It's time again to see how things are going here. I thought I should post this here rather than just going through this in my head over and over again, as it's nicer to keep a record in a place other than my Excel spreadsheet at home.

Current net worth: $46,000 

I didn't see a big rise in my net worth since October because November and December were spent paying for my upcoming licensing exams. They were expensive ($5500!). I also spent $1500 on a trip to Europe to visit BF over Christmas. So the fact that I've still managed to make gains in my net worth is a truly fantastic thing! Also, I'm done with those one-time expenses now and I'm never going to see them again! Adios exam fees! 

Upcoming expenses: 

Monthly living expenses $1500 x 6 months = $9000 

Total: $21,000

Upcoming income (till July): 

Main job in residency: $22,000 

Call money: $500 - $1000 We get that sweet, sweet extra income from being on call. Every little bit counts right now. 

Side work: $800 I'm still doing some stuff on the side and I anticipate a little extra work ... a little bit of good side money.
Total: $23,000 

Expected net worth July 2016: $49,000 

I'm still happy with this mix. 

My stocks have been crashing a bit this month too... I've lost about $1000 since a month ago. :( but overall I'm still positive, the loss doesn't affect me greatly and I'm still counting on overall economic growth to buoy my situation.

Keep on going!