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!

30 day budget recap

Let's take a sample of what I spent in the last 30 days, June 23-July 23, 2011.

I thought I was being frugal overall; let's see how I stack up.

Expenses
Jun-27 EuRest Food $2.80
Jun-28 Fairmont Jazz Food $34.12
Jun-28 Van Cam $112
Jun-28 Canada Post $10.81
Jul-04 Thai Away Home Food $11.75
Jul-04 Canada Safeway Food $4.88
Jul-06 Mastercard $233.84
Jul-08 Kaboom Box Food $10.00
Jul-08 Vietnamese Food $3.62
Jul-13 Cafe Ami Food $2.80
Jul-15 Sandbar Food $26.00
Jul-18 Cafeteria Food $8.61
Jul-18 Shoppers Drug Mart Food $4.66

TOTAL OUT $465.89

TOTAL FOOD $109.24



Income
Jun-29 Paypal $29.50
Jun-30 Payroll $231.07
Jun-30 Interest $0.02
Jul-05 Tax $149.62
Jul-15 Payroll $231.06
Jul-13 Trans $75.00

TOTAL INCOME $716.27
NET INCOME $250.38

My unavoidable big-ticket expenses: Flight, fixing camera (ok, this was avoidable)

Fine, only $109 spent on food. I'll take that for now. But if I want to reduce this food expense to ZERO for next year it's going to take another extra kick of discipline.

I splurged twice this month on food: once at the Fairmont Hotel buying drinks at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, and another time at Sandbar, an upscale place on Granville Island.

I ate full meals out four times:
1. Thai food
2. Supermarket takeaway
3. Cart food (oyster po boy!)
4. Upscale Granville Island place.

The rest of my big-ticket expenses:
1. $100 to fixing my camera
2. $233 to buying a plane ticket to Boston, cell phone bill, etc.


What I plan on changing this next month:

1. I plan on NOT eating out at all. The goal is to reduce my expenditures to absolute ZERO, or realistically within $100 max. This does not include any advance planning for the NYC trip in September.

Expected Income:
$460 stipend
$225 travel bursary

Expected Expenses:
$100 books
$30 phone bill


And just as a reminder:
Bank account: $76.19
Total debt: around $35000.00 and will definitely be $10,000 more after this year.

Budget slice, May 15-June15

This last 30 days I spent:

1. Only $53.61 on eating out, miscellaneous drinks and muffins. Still a lot?
2. Yoga: $33.06. Best $33.06 ever spent.
3. Postage: $11.52.

Total spent: $98.19.

Income:
$462.13 from our stipend.

Net income: $363.23.

Not too bad!

Current bank account: $908.10.
$91.90 away from saving the $1000 extra fund goal I had for August!

Expected expenses rest of June - end of August:
$130 book recall
$200 plane ticket to Boston
$100 other misc expenses
$100 phone bill
=$530

Expected income rest of June - end of August:
$924.26 stipend

= will net $394.26 extra, putting me definitely over the $1000 mark.

Ahh, such is the savings life of a med student.

Being rich rather than getting rich

For the first time, I'm quite content with knowing I'll graduate with $60,000 of debt.

Not stressed, not feeling out of control - content.

I've been in a constant worry cycle over the past 2 years, feeling out of control over my life, my career, my finances, everything. But I'm finally able to say that I feel like things are working out.

So bring it on, debt. If it means not becoming a millionaire right until I'm 40, so be it.

How expensive is med school?

WOW!

I just saw a University of Toronto Medicine financial aid webinar out of interest here.

This is a typical budget for Year 1 of the MD program.

Tuition and fees $20,386.00
Books $1740.00
Accommodation/Food $9580.00
Other $7160.00

Total Year 1: $38,866.00

How is this possible? Who would pay that much? And what the heck is this other that students are spending $7160.00 on?

I'm in year 3 of my MD program, and my yearly expenses run at around $20,000 total. And $15,000 of that is my tuition.


The other thing is that average graduation debt for the class of 2010 is $88,000.

This is pretty average for my school as well ($80,000).

Still dumbfounded.

How to get the cheapest flights to Amsterdam

I'm a huge traveler. A large part of my small student budget is spent on travel - last year alone I spent over $5000 going to:

Buenos Aires and Ushuaia, Argentina in January

Toronto, Guelph, and Newfoundland, Canada in May

China (travelled to multiple cities) in June and July

Saskatchewan, Canada in September

Miami and Las Vegas in November

Switzerland in December

Air travel especially can be incredibly expensive, but smart planning can allow you to get the lowest price possible on your trip to Europe.

For example, I got a flight from Vancouver to Amsterdam for $640, taxes included. This route typically costs $950.

Ways to getting the lowest airfare possible

1. Earlier purchases don't necessarily equal cheaper. Knowledge is the key. The best way to do this is find out the airfare trends for your flight. This is where Bing Travel's remarkable services come in handy. They have a historical price tracker for every flight within the last 6 months, and can show you how much your flights cost. So you can go online and search for your flight, then see how prices have changed in the the last 6 months.

2. On Bing Travel, search for similar flights to yours (the same departure and destination cities) but for a date very close to today, and a date very far away. That way you can "predict" how your flight prices will increase or decrease as you get closer to your departure date.

3. Most flight companies change their prices on Tuesdays. Therefore, don't buy your ticket on a Sunday, or you might find yourself regretting the $300 lower fares that appear a couple days later.

So using these tips, I saved over $300 off my flight to Amsterdam.

Good luck!

Get your clothing fixed for $0 - pull out the needle and thread

Forget the tailor's - you can do most mending and sewing yourself, and all you need is a needle and thread.

A week ago, my favorite red dress ripped. It's a beautiful knit jersey dress that I wear in the winter. A huge gash of a line from the shoulder down to the sleeve.

So what did I do?

I took out my sewing needle, thimble, and red thread, and fixed it.
For free.

If I were to take that to a tailor, it would have cost me at least $20.

You can get needles/thread everywhere - many hotels have them readily available. I got a great set the last time I went to Las Vegas, right beside the packaged soap and shampoo sets.

Got a couple of loose buttons? Fix them yourself for free - or get them fixed for $6 each at the mall ($6 x 5+ buttons = $30+). I always reinforce my buttons when I buy a new jacket, because the jacket manufacturers almost never do a good job themselves.

Got a rip in your favorite jeans? Cut a piece of fabric, loosely sew it inside and then take it to a sewing machine for free - or spend $25-$35 at the mall. This has saved my favorite pair of Club Monaco jeans from sure destruction. For a great how-to, go to www.ehow.com.

The slip of your dress is 2 inches too long? Pop it on the sewing machine and in 2 minutes you've got a nicely tailored slip that won't ever peek out from under your dress.

Bringing a needle and thread set with you on your travels is always useful for those on-the-road mishaps. I find this incredibly useful.

For another how-to, check out how to make yourself fashionable high-waisted shorts for $0.

Total money saved: about $50/year.

You're welcome!