Debt now under $20,000

I absolutely love these posts.

On Sunday I paid off $800 on my debt, making my total debt... $19,297.

I love it. I've paid off more than $27,000 in the last 12 months!

What's better: I'm getting a little extra income for being on call this month, and some extra for travelling to rural communities for work, so I can use my entire two August paychecks, and some reimbursements for prior spending, towards my debt.

By the end of August I should have paid off another $5000 or so, bringing my debt to under $15,000.

The end is in sight.

How to get your makeup for free - and not waste any

It always amazes me how much money girls spend on their face. I mean, the amount of area and fussing you do on such a small area - does it need to cost $200 - $400 dollars?

The thing is, we all spend a lot of money on makeup - we just don't realize it because the purchases happen day by day, month by month and we never add up the totals.

If I were to go on Sephora (which I do, many a time - for window shopping) and get a average-joe, minimalistic regular "beauty haul" for my face, this is what I would be spending: 

FACE

BareMinerals mineral makeup - $35.00 

Full flawless face brush - $35.00 

EYES 

UrbanDecay Naked2 Palette - $65.00 

UrbanDecay GlideOn pencil - $24.00

Benefit They're Real! Mascara - $29.00

LIPS 

Lancome lipstick - $32.00 

TOTAL: $220 + TAX. Ouch!

For those of us trying to do a little saving, we need to find some hacks.

My biggest thing is about getting samples. 

Get samples, and sample sizes, when possible. 

Let's be honest, how many times do we actually "hit pan" on our products? If you're like me, you probably get distracted by the next newest thing long before you finish your last one. I have lots of eyeshadows languishing in the forgotten drawers of my parents' house from when I was younger.

Knowing this, getting samples does three things:

a) it saves you LOTS of money! Free samples vs $30 make-up remover? 

b) your makeup becomes ultra-portable for travel
Much less back pain on your road trips. I also use my products a lot when on call in the hospital and this makes everything fit into my bag easily. 

c) it reduces the 9-month-post-purchase guilt that comes when you flip open your drawers and realize you haven't finished the product like you said you would.

Everyday Minerals does a free 7 piece sample kit for facial products that I've been using for the last 2 years. I get enough product on my annual shipping that I don't actually need to buy the full size kit... EVER. And I use their product DAILY.

In-store, Kiehl's will give you 5 free samples of whatever you want, as long as you do a "free skin consultation", which is fun anyways.

I also do this with perfumes as you all might know from previous posts. This has never failed me yet. I did buy a full-sized $20 cacharel amor amor recently - but I bought it because a) it's cacharel!! and b) it was only $20, seriously? and c) it's a small, portable bottle, perfect for my tastes.

I also go to hotels a lot for work, so I get all my creams/lotions from hotel bathrooms. Thanks, Sheraton! 

Some people might find doing this a little extreme, but I find it works well for my skin and my lifestyle. 

June 2014 - Money Recap

So it's been 13 months since I last posted and I've been hard at work saving and paying off debt. Let's see where things look right now:

Debt: -$21,385

Assets: $100 cash (still have to work on that savings front!)

Net worth after 1 year working: $-21,285!! Wahoo!

In terms of this year, I've:
1. Been to China twice.
2. Been to the Bahamas, Miami and Washington DC.
3. Gotten a sailing license!!
3. Become much more comfortable working as a doctor than I did before.


Let's take a look at that in graph form because I can't believe it myself:

The great thing about this is that I'm starting a new job in September, where I will be making about 50% more than I was my first year out! So I'll be able to put at least twice what I was putting into my debt during the first month.

That means I should be debt free by the end of 2014. 

To be sure, my income is going to be earned in another country and I will have to figure out how to get it back to Canada in a timely and reasonable fashion. That may cause a lot more stress, but it will be worth it. So peace out for now! I will see everyone back when things have settled down in 6 months. 

March 2013 - Money Recap

Since we're almost 9 months since the posting last July (Time sure does pass quickly!), it's about time to post something about my current financial status!

Let's see if the numbers look anything like what I projected last year: 

Debt: -$46,733

Assets: $9500 cash

Graduating net worth: $-37,233!! That's amazing!

Now I know that's still completely a red number and there's a long way to go before I pay this off. But with an annual take-home income of $36,000 in R1 and probably $41,000 in R2, it looks like at least I will be on track to get rid of this in two years. Not bad.

The really surprising thing is that I did all this without making too many changes to my standard of living! I attribute this success to the following:

1. Living at home.
2. Virtually never eating out.
3. Not owning a car - taking public transit everywhere.
4. Not having an expensive phone plan/clothing expenses/gym membership/ANY real expenses at all.

At the same time, I travelled, a lot. This last year I lived in 7 cities each, for more than 1 month each. And I did it mostly on someone else's dime. I travelled to 15 countries in North America, Asia and Europe. And all of this doesn't make a dent in my budget. :) Let's keep this up!

I'll be moving to the other side of the country in July and will no longer have the comforts of a cost-free lifestyle. However as I've done before, I think I can keep my expenses down to a minimum and achieve the following:

First year payment: $26,000

Debt balance at end of Year 1: $20,733+$1000 interest = $21,733

Second year payment: $21,733 

Debt balance at end of Year 2: $0

In sum, things are looking up! Let's see how this pans out! 

Current budget outlook

It's time for a wrap-up of where I stand financially, in the waning months of my 25th year.  

Warning: These numbers below make it pretty obvious that I am not a professional accountant and do not do accountant-speak. But I am very much aware of my money nonetheless. 

Current debt: -$35,000 

Current bank accounts combined: $6300

Accounts receivable: ($1400 conference, $1000 summer job) = $2400

Still to spend: About $1300 on travel (in my defense this will be to about 6 countries) 

Coming year's expenses: $15,700 in tuition, basically no living expenses (thanks mom, international organizations and government!)

Coming year's income: $3000 bursary, lots of travel assistance, and maybe, just maybe, funding for a development project that would also net me a month of real-world income. 

Projected debt in May 2013: -$41,500. 

Oh, if I could graduate with loans in the $30ks! It sounds like a fantastic dream right now and would make my post-graduation life significantly easier. Because regardless of what else I do, I'm going to pay off my loans in my first year post-graduation, and netting a job with worst-case-scenario $50k starting salary would be much easier to handle if I had $20k living expenses to work with. Of course I would love to be worth at least $100k, since I have lots of work experience, a top-tier MD and an Ivy league master's degree. But we'll see. 

Ten months until I graduate from medical school. I can see the end in sight! 

Year recap

I'm back after a year of not posting. Basically this last year I've been living in Boston doing a master's degree. The degree was expensive, but thank God a combination of extraordinarily generous family help and my own hustling (more on that later in this post) floated me through the year. 

The best feeling at my Master's degree graduation?

I incurred zero dollars of debt this year.

Sure, I'm still not at a 0 dollar net worth yet. But at least I've been working hard to ensure I don't graduate with more debt than I need. 

So how did I manage my cash flow? 

Increasing income 

1) Taking on a teaching position: 10 hours of extra work per week into a crammed schedule, plus biking extensively and missing out on a couple lectures. But it was worth it. Gain: $6000

2) Taking on a research assistant position: Between 5-10 hours a week, doing work I loved with my advisor. Gain: $1400

I actually turned down another research assistant position that would have paid $1000 for a month's work, but would have taken 20 hours a week, making my income less than $15/hr. I know that's a high income to give up, but with my school workload I've made it a rule not to take on jobs that pay me less than $30/hr if they take up more than 20 hours a week, at least for now. This may change later. 

3) Being a human experiment: I signed up for one clinical trial that required me to drink some oil (gross), insert an antecubital IV to take blood and stay overnight at a nearby research hospital. The oil was really nasty, but I got two days' worth of meals taken care of, plus a whole day of people pampering me, so that was not bad for $200. During the year I also took on some computerized psychology and business experiments that pay you between $15-$30/hr to answer some questions and complete some tasks. That was a fun, nice break from my day. The trick is to make sure you don't spend the $15 on lunch as soon as you get it - that would be a waste! Gain: $300

4) Additional freelance work: This is where it got fun. I wrote 2 speeches for a government official for $400-$500 a pop. I also took on some extra translation work because I know Mandarin Chinese. Gain: $1100

Total Hustle Money this year: $8800

Decreasing costs 

1) NOT. EATING. OUT. I ate out maximum one time a week with friends to make sure I kept up some semblance of a social life. This was fine because Boston has a lot of cheap restaurants that offer good meals for less than $10, particularly because I can't get enough of the cheap Thai food in our neighborhood. I went out once and blew $50 on a fancy dinner with some friends who prefer that lifestyle, and regretted it (the food was good but really, I'm not in a situation to spend that kind of money!). Most of the time I made really good meals myself and frankly, learning how to cook good, healthy food has been extremely empowering for me. 

2) Making weekly meal plans. This didn't come because of any advice - I just found it the easiest way to budget for my meals because I could see exactly what I spent every week. It turns out this really helped decrease my meal costs too, because one of the main strategies grocery stores use to make you spend more is to exploit impulse purchases. Using meal plans I never spent more than $40/week, and usually between $25-$30/week on groceries. 

3) Going to free lunch seminars and receptions. My school was so big on these things that nearly every day there was some event going on where you were guaranteed to get a free meal. Some people would consider it a huge faux pas to go to an event "just for the food", but really I got to learn a lot about different public health topics while getting a free meal. 

Like any financial blog will tell you, it's all about the mentality. If you want to get out of debt, stay out of debt, or pay off some of that big mountain of debt you have to want it. Sometimes it has to feel like you're drowning and desperately need air - you have to want freedom from debt as badly as you want air when you're drowning. I'm still not out of debt but my habits this year have certainly helped me to stay as afloat as I can possibly be. 

Budget recap

Ok, I'm currently doing a year in the States.

Here's how my money stacks up as a projected amount at the end of the year:

American Money
IN:
$960 Essay contest!!
$9500 Grandparents!!
$400 Current money
$650 in foreign exchange account
=$11450

OUT:
$8000 Food, rent, gas, phone
$1000 WinterSession
=$9000

Net in June: +$2450
Debt in June: -$35,000

Canadian Money
$700 (bank account)

NET AMOUNT - DEBT IN JUNE: -32500

Nice!