Don’t get me wrong – I would love to be rich and not have to worry about money. The problem with the lottery is that it’s just too much money. I like tracking my money, I like planning where I’ll get the money to take my next vacation and I like having a job and waiting for my paycheques to come in. I have tried explaining this to people in real life but to no avail – eventually the lottery-lady at work just stopped asking me if I wanted to join the pool each week.

If I were to win the lottery, I would have gobs of cash everywhere and yeah, I would be able to vacation and buy businesses and live in a gorgeous house but I would always feel as though I cheated somehow – remember how, in The Sims, when you entered the cheat code for unlimited money and then the game got really boring? That’s what I’m afraid that life will be like if I have “unlimited” money.

Take my situation right now: For the first half of my life I was comfortably middle class. When I started high school, a bunch of things happened and my parents had to struggle financially. When I went off to college (which is free in Quebec), my mom was worried about how I would pay for books etc. Until about 2007, I lived paycheque to paycheque and, until the middle of 2009 when I paid off my debt, I couldn’t imagine living the life that I have now.

Now I have money in the bank, I take many vacations each year, I pay my bills on time and I’m saving for retirement. I am better off financially than every family member was at my age and I am immensely proud of this.

The problem is, I can’t talk about it because of BF. BF received money from his family and although he saves less percentage of his income than I do, he has a higher net worth than me and most people assume that my increased lifestyle is being financed by him. I could argue with people, kicking and screaming that NO! THIS IS ALL BECAUSE OF ME!!!! but most people wouldn’t believe me. Winning the lottery would essentially result in the same frustration, except without the pride I feel looking at my bank account each payday. Seeing 2 000$ in account X when I used to be in over-draft is amazing – seeing 2 000 000$ would be fantastic but only if I actually earned it myself.

Do you agree? Would winning the lottery make you feel happy or cheated?

*This post was inspired by Tino who guest blogged on Budgets Are Sexy

1. At Tim Horton’s I take a large coffee with two milks. I might change this soon because it tastees too milky sometimes
2. I don’t mix my food. If the recipe calls for mixed food (like sheperd’s pie), I’ll eat it but if I’m eating Thanksgiving dinner, I’ll eat the turkey, the carrots, the potatoes, the cranberry sauce and then the bread.
3. I absolutely, cannot drink while eating. It makes me gag (this evidently saves me money in restaurants)
4. I don’t like melted cheese. Cheese that goes on a casserole and is then baked is ok but melted cheese in a panini or grilled cheese makes me gag (even just looking at it). And the smell!
5. I don’t really like espresso other than Starbucks. Give me 5$ a can drip coffee and I’m happy!
6. I carbonated drinks (I actually refused to drink soft drinks as a kid and demanded water at birthday parties)
7. You know how Second Cup and Tim’s now sell oatmeal? I was eating oatmeal on the go before it was cool. I buy many boxes when they’re on sale and pour them into a disposable cup at work. Voila! Instant breakfast for about 0.35$
8. My guilty pleasure is nail polish — I really have to stop myself from buying a new bottle everytime I go out.
9. My favourite juice is Tim Horton’s Peach Drink. Every so often I *crave* it and it’s only sold in two Tim’s downtown — a real hassle!
10. I can play three musical intruments quite well: clarinet, tenor sax and bass clarinet. I can also play the recorder but that’s not technically a musical instument.

I am doing something this week that I have never tried before — future posting! I figured that while I am on vacation, I would leave you with this treat of a story:

My friend, a PhD student with who has been in university for over a dozen years is in the same boat as I am — we have cheap apartments that we pay a song for due to rent control. Last week we were discussing loans and she mentioned that she had recently applied for a personal loan but had been rejected due to her low-income and high-debt (she works with me for about 13$/hr). I made a joke and she laughed and then went silent for a bit. She said to me, slowly, “they offered me for a mortgage though”.

“Excuse me?” I said incredulously. “How? Wha-? But they rejected your personal loan?” She laughed again and then told me the whole story.

Basically, the bank rep looked at her income from the previous year, when she received funding from the school (which she didn’t get this year) and asked her if she rented. When she said that yes, she did rent, the rep fed her the same old story — She was throwing money away on rent! After she graduates she’ll make so much money that she can afford the mortgage! She can find affordable houses outside of downtown! We can help you finance the down payment! — anything that the rep could say to get her to apply for a mortgage, he said.

Eventually my friend firmly told the rep that no, she was definitely not interested in buying  150 000$ house in the middle of nowhere that would require an hour long commute each day.

She told me though that she is not the only person that she’s heard of this happening to — a PhD student friend of hers had gone through a similar process except that she “stuck it to the bank” and actually went through the entire application process — and was approved.

Once my friend was done I told her that the bank’s actions are clear evidence that there are no more mortgage-clients available — everyone who can afford a mortgage has a mortgage already so now the banks are looking for fresh meat — just like in the States in 2007/8 (This reminds me of The Unemployed Man in a Black String Vest Fund).

As for why the bank offered her 150 000$ after having rejected her for 10 000$? “If ever you don’t pay, we can take the house and sell it to get our money back”. Yes CIBC, you and the other Big Five.

So I didn’t post a weekly update last week… I didn’t post much of anything actually since midterms basically owned me last week. Did you know that if you don’t open your textbook or go to class all semester, you will have an incredibly hard time come exam time? Yeah… my study methods for Econ do not translate well into Geography.

Obviously I stress-ate all week. La la.

WHAT I WORKED ON THIS WEEK

• The Political Bouillon, an online Poli Sci journal that I am involved in had a Valentine’s Day Samosa Sale. While usually samosas at McGill sell for 1/1$ or 3/2$ (0.66$/each) the profit-margin on that deal is about 0.30$. We sold 400 at 1$ each or a profit of 275$. Sure I had to argue with some people about our “outrageous prices” but hey, we sold out our samosas and that was with two other clubs on campus selling samosas at the same time.
• I attended a Communist Party of Canada rally to write an article about Camilo Ballesteros for the McGill Daily

LINKS!

Melissa from Broke TO writes about how she graduated from university without debt and how she’s not quite forthcoming about it to those she knows.

Krystal finally found an apartment! It’s 215 square feet and I honestly can’t see how she cooks anything

Well-Heeled is debating over whether she should quit her job earlier than she planned in order to travel to China. I say yes!!

Lindsey writes about the time that she was an extra on Dawson’s Creek. I was a movie extra once as a kid and I can say that her description is 100% accurate.

Katie went to Chernobyl and I am officially jealous. That summer trip I was considering to Eastern Europe? It’s on!

Afford Anything, one of my favourite blogs, writes about how successful people are mistakenly considered “lucky”.

Andrea continues to be the best mom ever (in my opinion).

Ninja started Manteresting, a Pinterest alternative for men. I’ll admit, it’s not just for men. I love it!

Little Miss Moneybags talks about keeping up appearances.

On Thursday I was speaking with colleague about her time sheet. The discussion of March break came up and I mentioned that I was going to the Dominican for a much needed vacation. When I got off of the phone, another colleague said to me “Didn’t you just come back from vacation? Is your life really that stressful?” Usually I would have let her comment slide because, hey, who cares, but this time it hurt. I reminded her that I work 36h a week, study full-time and have many extracurriculars. Her response? “No one forces you to do all of that. You should drop some courses if you need to work that many hours”.

I choose to work 36h because I am able to and I don’t want to sit at home, watching TV, when I can be productive.

While talking to another colleague, he mentioned that if I kept spending this way, I would vacation myself into debt — I should start saving money, was his opinion. This comment was met with a blank stare and an assertion that he owns three cars. Three.

Ichoose not to have a car in order to save around $500 per month which I then use to take a vacation every 3-4 months.

While discussing wedding loans from Cait’s wedding post yesterday, yet another colleague and I got into a discussion about home ownership. I claimed that I was too nomadic to settle down in a house and she said that if I didn’t, I would never be able to save any money.

Yes, that phrase was actually spoken.

I choose to rent a small, ghetto apartment where bums hang out in the lobby. I choose to not mortgage myself to the hilt to have fancy appliances. I choose to save my money in risky mutual funds.*

Today I ate a chocolate bar at 9am. Why? Oh hungry, Oh Henry.** She told me that it was unhealthy and that I would mess up my metabolism if I ate chocolate that early.

I choose to get up at 5am and eat breakfast and I choose to have an Oh Henry bar at 9am. Sometimes, I even (gasp) choose to eat poutine at 10am.

Overall, this week just reiterated the same old thing that people have been telling me for years — your choices are your choices and you have to live with them. If I don’t buy a house because I’m too busy traveling and not saving and eating chocolate bars, then I will end up fat and broke but I will be deliriously happy because I will have lived my life the way I chose to do so — and I’ll gladly accept the consequences.

* I realize that the term “risky mutual funds” is a bit of an oxymoron
** That’s actually what I answered her. She doesn’t speak English so I’m the only one who laughed

Last night, during a marathon “Of course I can read 5 chapters in an evening” cram session, I stumbled upon a lovely little line that I thought I’d share:

“I did not need to be physically in my office this morning to receive the message sent eight hours ago to me by Stephen Graham from Newcastle, England, five time zones away. The message was patiently awaiting me as I slept and then had breakfast at the Waffle House.“*

I think that a lot of us need to remember that, while instantaneous, email/fb/twitter, does not need to take precendence in our lives. Instead of waking up and checking my email/fb first thing in the morning, I should, you know, get out of bed and brush my teeth. Starting my morning off with an inbox of 32 unread messages on one iPhone and 15 on the other is insane! Like my textbook says, the messages will be patiently waiting for me as I go about my business.

When exactly did it become the norm for people to expect a response ASAP? To be honest, aside from maybe 50% of my work emails, everything else that I receive is banal communication — XYZ liked your status, Here’s your weekly Mint update, Vanessa call me — nothing is urgent but yet I have been conditioned over the years to have to read emails as soon as they come in. This conditioning is the reason that I hit snooze, read my emails and go back to sleep, it’s the reason that I check my email in 10m intervals and it’s the reason that I can’t sit through a lecture without checking my email at least 5x.

This obsession with email has to stop. I have already taken email notifications off of my phone (I have to manually check my email now vs having it pushed to my phone) but I’m thinking that I need to go further.

I have been toying with the idea of a partial email ban… For the next week, I will be checking my emails only three times a day. Once when I get to school and am settling myself into work/class, once during lunch and finally about an hour or so before bed (this of course, cannot extend to my work emails since the nature of my job requires me to be in contact with my bosses from 9-5ish)

Let’s put this down on paper: From Thursday February 10th until Wednesday February 16th I will check my personal email only 3x per day. I will still be able to write emails anytime but I cannot read any emails that happen to be in my inbox at that time.

*Urban Geography, 2nd edition: Kaplan, Wheeler, Holoway p. 123

Then I saw this. I am not posting the picture because it requires a very strong stomach: http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/oynfe/so_i_was_cutting_pork_chops_at_work_the_other_day/

The following day I ended up at a vegetarian restaurant — I did not choose the place and was a little stand-offish about going to a vegetarian restaurant. I don’t generally like to try new things and in my mind vegetarian = lettuce and beans — both things that I absolutely do not like to eat.

After a mini-internal debate over whether it would be inappropriate to ask the other 10 people to meet somewhere else, I decided that it was, in fact, extremely inappropriate and went in and ordered a plate of lasagna.

Let me say this: Best. Lasagna. Ever.

I also realized while sitting there that I have only eaten tofu twice in my life and have loved it each time. Why am I so against tofu? Tofu doesn’t have abcesses (see photo above) and probably contains more protein than I get in an average day.

When I got home I decided to start a food diary. For a person who meticulously tracks every penny of her money, starting a food diary was easy. The hard part is admitting to everyone that they were right — not only do I not eat nutritious food on a daily basis but my water intake is dangerously low.

Here are some highlights/example to illustrate my point:

Monday: 3 cups of coffee, 1 white mocha, 1 bagel, pogos & fries and 1 cup of water.
Tuesday: 2 cups of coffee, 2 bagels, oreos, chicken noodle soup, 1/2 cup of water.

Obviously 1/2 cup of water a day in unhealthy. The worst part is, I only drink water when BF pours me a glass, meaning that if I were to be left to my own devices, I would probably be drinking even less water than I am now.

Since I started tracking my food intake, I’ve been disciplining myself much like I did when I started tracking my spending. In the past week I have eaten decently and have started having a side of salad with my meals (covered in dressing of course ) and have been trying to drink more water. As an unsurprising result, I haven’t felt this healthy in years! I am waking up on time without headaches and am able to stay awake and be productive past 8pm. I even had enough energy the other day to stay out until 11:30 *gasp!*

So! The new 2012 goal. I will eat healthier meals, I will eat out only once a week and I will drink at least 3 cups of water per day.

As some of you may already know, I am currently an economics student who is a bit lost in life. I know that I want to have a career that has something to do with writing — journalism, columnist, freelancer, scriptwriter, novelist… The possibilities are endless really but at least I’ve narrowed it down from my previous career aspiration of “anything but a lawyer”.

The main problem that I’m having these days is that I need a summer job since Job #1 doesn’t provide enough hours to live off of and Job #2 ends April 30th. I have been applying for jobs in online/print media in Toronto/Ottawa/Montreal but in all honesty, I feel like I need to break out of my Quebec rut. I have lived in Montreal for my entire life save for a brief stint in Ottawa. My top summer job cities are Vancouver, Halifax or London (because, let’s face it, London this summer is going to be amazing with the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics)

Unfortunately, as a non-journalism student, my options are limited. I am applying for any jobs that I can find and am ransacking other school’s websites but I just can’t find enough places that are hiring interns. A Google search of “internships in X” brings me to websites of companies who, for a low, low fee of 2-3000$ will find me an unpaid internship. Are these sorts of companies my only options? Really?

SO, the point of this post is to ask you all for help. If you see an open online/print media internship or find a decent website, please send it my way.

Thanks! Vanessa

http://elperiodistaonline.cl/locales/files/2011/09/camilo-ballesteros_230x230.jpg

Alright! Onto the weekly updates!

BUDGET UPDATE

I am honestly so proud that I was able to have two no-spend days this week and come in almost 35% under-budget! That money has been moved directly into my savings account where it will earn a palty 1% interest. Woo. O.o’

Three quick comments that I’d like to make:
1- Second Cup gets more and more outrageously expensive each time I go. Thankfully I kicked that habit awhile back
2- 3$ for a bottle of water!?
3- I bought a finger trap at the science store and wandered around downtown yesterday stuck in it (yes, my friend took pictures and yes, this is what us Montrealers do in our spare time)

WHAT I WORKED ON THIS WEEK
One PF-related article for you PF-lovers and one news-related article for whomever would like to read a news-related article:

• The Downfalls of Credit Cards. Opinion: Her Campus McGill Blog, February 2nd 2012
• Montreal’s Weird Weather. News: McGill Tribune, February 6th 2012 Story was cut due to lack of space

LINKS!

Asian Pear bought an iPhone and is app-crazy!

There are only 2.5 years until we can see if Back to the Future II was accurate (My money’s on “not”). Since the second installment is my absolute favourite, I adore thie Lego set.

We’ve all heard about people who present themselves to be in a higher-income bracket than they are (ie, minimum wagers who wear Canada Goose), but what about people who do the opposite? I can absolutely relate to this article by Money Reasons in which a co-worker is shocked that he could afford to send his daughter to a pricey weekend trip (the co-worker had assumed that he was poor)

The Investor wrote an article that I would have liked to have read, oh, say seven years ago. He (she?) argues that university is not worth the time and money that it requires.

And finally, another “wish I had read this years ago” article, The Washington Post reports that 2-year colleges are the way to go.  What?! You’re saying that, in order to be a journalist, a two-year journalism degree would have helped me more than a 3y paralegal DEC + 3y Bachelor of Economics? Crazy talk.

My friend and I were starving and went to Pizza Hut (how horrible, I know!). When the waitress came by it was just like the movies — she said “blah blah blah” and I had no idea what she was saying to me and answered “water” When she took our order… Oh my, it was back and forth with her or I or my friend saying “what” to everything that the waitress said.

In the UK, food is either to “eat-in” or “for take-away”. They pronounce this “taheetinorfahtakaway?” as if it were one word, much like how we say “forhereortogo?” Remember this.

While I knew that the Bank of Scotland was allowed to issue its own banknotes, I was not sure how much actual independence they have from the Bank of England. I went to a Bank of Scotland branch to ask and the teller was unable to answer me (although she did do her best )

Edinburgh knows how to do fireworks. On New Year’s Eve they launched fireworks from multiple places around the city so you were essentially surroundedby fireworks. So gorgeous. I, of course, spent New Year’s Eve hanging with the hotel staff in the kitchen because parties are not me thing, pas en tout!

There are four banks in the UK that are allowed to issue their own banknotes independently of the Bank of England. These bills are Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank notes and they are sooo colourful. UK money is differently shaped the higher the denomination goes and the coins are shaped in some archaic fashion meant to confuse anyone with common sense.

You cross with care *all of the time* Even if you don't see cars coming towards you, they are there -- and they are coming towards you

In an Italian-run chip shop (french fry store), we saw "chips, cheese and brown sauce" displayed. Canadians know what that is -- a poutine!!

I try to visit McDonald's in every country that I visit to see what sort of interesting regional foods they have. Usually the food is too weird for me (UK=cheese melt dippers, Netherlands=breaded hamburgers). This was the worst meal (they're called meals, not trios) of my life. The sauce was tangy, the french fries were bland and my drink was Fanta. This was my first time drinking Fanta and now I know that Fanta sucks.

A statue carved into the wall of Edinburgh Castle. These carvings were more intricate than the ones that we saw in Paris but were, unfortunately, not as well preserved.

A STATUE OF ADAM SMITH!! I wasn't able to get a picture with him because, while I am tall, Adam Smith Statue is taller

A quart of milk cost half a pound (about 0.80$)

We were soooo excited to find a dollar store. I'm sure that passersby were amused at the two jumpy Canadian girls taking pictures of Poundland

Walker's=Lay's and they have the sstrangest flavours. We tried cheese and onion as well as barbeque chicken. My opinion is that they are ok but they aren't super-crazy-bet-you-can't-eat-just-one tasty

Holyrood House, former home of Mary, Queen of Scots and current home of Queen Elizabeth II while in Scotland. The Scottish Parliament is across the road and there are gorgeous hills off to the side.

Torches, torches everywhere. Anyone was allowed to grab a torch and roam the streets

More torch people

A chess set featuring Queen Elizabeth II as the Queen and Prince Phillip as the King. Seriously, I wanted this so badly.

One of many creepy Edinburgh alleyways

I was over-budget in almost every category this month and was over-budget overall for the third month in a row. Seriously, this has got to stop.

January also marks the first month since February 2010 that I spent more than I earned. The reason for this is two-fold. One, I am missing two paycheques that are “on their way” and two, I had a few unexpected expenses. The amount is trivial but the feeling that I spent more than I earned is a ding to my pride… I wasn’t even here until 10 days into January and I still spent more that I earned!? Number one PF rules Vanessa — you failed.

Obviously, my net worth is down (again) but not by much so I’m suppressing that knowledge so that I don’t stress out over money when I have more important worries (summer job, midterms, extra-curricular activities).

Here’s the damage:

The worst part of this whole experience has been that I’ve lost my spreadsheets for 2011. The last back-up I found was February which is entirely *not helpful*. Thankfully I have this blog that I can use to recreate my spreadsheet but specific numbers like how much I earned, how much taxes etc I paid (basically all the stuff that I haven’t revealed on this blog due to privacy issues, is gone. Buh bye!

My 2012 spreadsheets are also gone but that’s a bit of a moot point at the moment since I have all the data in my Piggie app that I can transfer to Excel within 10 minutes.

Oh, except that I don’t have Excel anymore. I’m using this “Microsoft Works” business that is just not cutting it for me. Le sigh.

BUDGET UPDATE

Yup, I overspent this week. I blame my lunch meeting and the most delicious lasagna I’ve ever tasted (vegetarian/spinach lasagna, me??). Also, BF and I went for pho on Saturday and I offered to pay before seeing the prices… Once you add in spring rolls and BF’s soft drink, the bill comes to 18$ and the budget is blown. Le sigh.

I also ate out too much this week and, once again had takeout coffee which puts me even farther over my coffee budget for January (not that I can really tell since I don’t have my spreadsheets anymore!)

WHAT I WORKED ON THIS WEEK
A whole heck of a lot of nothing. I ran around all week like a headless chicken and have nothing to show for it (except this twitter post: https://twitter.com/#!/RT_Acronyms/status/162600412338327552).

LINKS!!
Posted on one of my Top-Favourite sites, TYWKIWDBI, shows what the average American academic calendar looks like.

This has made the rounds in the blogosphere lately but I thought that it would be nice to post again. Who does Google think you are? For the record, Google thinks that I’m a man between the ages of 35-44.

Jenny at Geek in Heels posts a girl who drastically altered her appearance with makeup. This reminded me of Frugirl’s post about her growing makeup stash

Daisy got a new car (and new debt) which is a tad bittersweet. On the positive side, Civics are the most awesome cars and I would love to have one even if it comes with a mountain load of debt. There, I said it — I’m not 100% debt-adverse.

Garth Turner. The whole blog. My favourite quotes so far include: “And people are insanely risk averse. Sure, they’ll buy a house in a bidding war during a recession when they’re unemployed with 5% down, but freak at the thought of any investment not ‘guaranteed’.” and “Well, of course. It’s different here. Canadians have found a secret way to suspend the laws of economics.”

http://www.ocol-clo.gc.ca/images/user/Illust12_e.jpg

Up until I was 12, I had never met an immigrant.

(Well, I did have a neighbour who was Jamaican but she was in her 40s when I grew up so I’m not counting her). My neighbourhood was mixed-class with a plumber and a nurse on my block as well as a teacher and a few white-collar workers. My elementary school was about a 20-minute bus ride from my house and was a mix of different ethnicities — white, Native American, black, Asian — but no one was from another country — everyone was Canadian, 100%.

When it came time for high school, my parents decided to send me to a private school. At this school I met a girl from Sri Lanka, another from India, a few English girls — this was amazing! These girls had accents and ate different foods and when I went to their houses they had weird fancy furniture — it was so cool!

After two years I switched back to public school. The school was closer to where we lived and, since I was expected to do more schoolwork as the years went on and get a job, I begged my mom to let me change schools (note to parents: bad idea).

This school was fine — same kids I went to elementary school with plus a bunch of other ones. The same ethnic structure remained — white, Native American, black, Asian — but again, everyone was Canadian. As a teenager, I scarcely realized it, nor did I care.

In Cegep, I was “exposed” to immigrants again. I was working in downtown Montreal by this point and there were so many different people! At 17, I still didn’t care, I just wanted people to pay for their groceries and get out as quickly as possible. Two new friends I made from Cegep were Russian and I thought that they were weird.

Flash forward to 2010 — There I was, on my first day of grown-up work — being an immigration paralegal! I was not excited. All of my friends from paralegal school were working in corporate settings — banking, trademarks, business law — how did I get “stuck” with immigration!? This wasn’t fair!

Over the next four months I learned so much about myself. I love immigrants — I love that people want to live here, in boring old Canada. I stopped taking Canada for granted and started appreciating the other cultures that were around Montreal.

Now, onto the Bill 101 part. If you’ve made it this far, you probably have the impression that I grew up in a rural area with no immigrants etc. This is impossibly true. I grew up in a suburb of Montreal, one of Canada’s immigrant strongholds, where there were immigrants — I just didn’t see them.

Québec, the French province I’ve called home for my entire life, has a law that bars immigrants and their children from attending English public schools.

“Wait!” You may be saying, “isn’t Canada a bilingual country? Shouldn’t people who want to live in Canada be allowed to choose to educate their children in English or French?” Unfortunately, this law was once more restrictive but this is what 35 years and numerous Supreme Court battles has resulted in — Americans, Chinese, Haitians all must send their children to French schools if they immigrate to Québec.

The theory behind the law is solid. Québec wants to preserve its language and culture from drowning in the sea of English that surrounds it. The practice behind the law is what is shaky and a quite a hotbed for discussion around here. You see, French schools teach bare-bones English — so little in fact, that you can meet an adult who cannot hold a conversation in English. We refer to these people as having a “yes, no, toaster” English education.

I currently work with a woman at Job #1 who was talking about how her son’s kindergarten class gave parents the option of having the children spend one day a week in a Spanish classroom or an Arabic classroom. There was no English option because English education is legislated to begin only in 4th grade (the reasoning behind that regulation is to avoid confusing the children).

This law, Bill 101, is the reason that I didn’t meet any immigrants until I went to private school. This law is the reason for ignorance in this province towards immigrants and is oppressive towards the French-speaking population. French-speaking people are required to send their children to the school that the government chooses but, as an English-speaking person, I am fully able to send my future-children to the school of my choice and I will surely be sending them to a French school. I made this decision because it is the only way to offer my child a true chance at bilingualism and the opportunity to experience and embrace the multiculturalism that Canada is known for.

BUDGET UPDATE

The budget so far: I’ve spent 16.42$ on “hot beverages” this week (22.36$ this month) which puts me over budget. Thankfully, I went to Wal-Mart yesterday where there was a sale on my favourite brand of coffee (Van Houtte) and I picked up two containers. I’ve washed out my coffee machine and it’s been on constantly since last night This afternoon when I wanted a coffee, I went home and made a pot, just so that I could save 1.71$ at Tim’s The only other category that I’m over budget on is my “reading” category since I didn’t renew my books before going on vacation and someone requested one. Ooops.

WHAT I WORKED ON THIS WEEK
This week was slow since it’s the beginning of term:

• Hey! What’s Wrong with the Internet Today? Opinion: The Political Bouillon, published January 18th
• An Inside Look at SSMU and PGSS Finances News: The McGill Daily, published January January 21st

LINKS
Bridget, Daisy and Little Miss Moneybags have all changed their urls/feeds

Cait quit Facebook in August and wrote a post today essentially descibing my feelings towards fb right now: It’s becoming an environment that is unhealthy (in terms of “fake” versions of myself/friends and stalking old acquaintences)

How Long Will a Bike Last on the Streets of NYC?

If you read one article today, make it this one. Maybe it’s the fairytale lover in me that like this so much but this is definitely a must-read: In Which I Fix My Girlfriend’s Grandparents’ WiFi and Am Hailed as a Conquering Hero.

(yes, the photo of Link is absolutely necessary)

Cute bathroom at the airport

Down arrows mean "forward" apparently

Eiffel Tower, day 1: Yeah... It's back there somewhere

L'Arc de Triomphe: My favourite monument

Eiffel Tower, day 2: Still foggy

On Pont Aléxandre: My favourite statue of all of Europe

Obelisk and a ferris wheel at the end of the Champs d'Élysées

At the Louvre. Unfortunately, I didn't learn about FB's secret staircase until after I came back

Notre Dame! Very small by today's standards but impressive when you remember how old it is

An almost unfogged Eiffel Tower

At Chateau Versailles

At Chateau Versailles. Ornamentation on top of ornamentation

I call this photo: A picture frame made of picture frames

Hall of Mirrors at Chateau Versailles

Bed feather -- for when your bed isn't fancy enough

Chinese food in Versailles

Paris and Versailles were patrolled by military police. No one seemed fazed.

The first clear photo

Notice how the letters are not in the standard order

Leaving Paris, finally!

Next Friday, Edinburgh!

Filed under: Europe, Vacation ]]> http://randomthoughtsandacronyms.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/paris/feed/ 3 randomthoughtsandacronyms IMG_0127 IMG_0134 IMG_0153 IMG_0165 IMG_0176 IMG_0198 IMG_0220 IMG_0223 IMG_0245 IMG_0256 IMG_0280 IMG_0314 IMG_0319 IMG_0326 IMG_0337 Chinese food in Versailles Military at Versailles Eiffel Tower at night IMG_0459 French Keyboard Ryanair flight to Edinburgh http://randomthoughtsandacronyms.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/a-frugal-girls-guide-to-europe/ http://randomthoughtsandacronyms.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/a-frugal-girls-guide-to-europe/#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:59:02 +0000 Vanessa Pagé http://randomthoughtsandacronyms.wordpress.com/?p=519 ]]> So I’m back to Europe and my bank accounts are feeling it.

The total damage is……………………

Are you excited??

2 009.89$

My savings goal was 5 000$ but I only managed to scrounge up 3 801.28$ (It would have been more if my last paycheque of 2011 hadn’t gone missing). I knew when I left that I was going to need to use some of that for tuition in January and to pay Virgin Mobile for my stolen cell phone (yes, I’ve only finally settled this last week) so I set myself a budget of 2 000$.

That 2 000$ was tight!! I was definitely forced to be frugal and not buy some things that I would have liked to have bought (tulips from Amsterdam, funky UK magnets from Paris) but I did buy a lot of stuff (books, souvenirs) and ate pretty much whatever I wanted whenever I was hungry. I know my priorities

Here’s the official breakdown:

But how did I wrangle a two week European vacation for 2 000$?

Travel in the off-season
I can’t say that I feel I missed anything by traveling over Christmas. Westminster Abbey wasn’t accepting visitors (although I’m not sure if that was due to the time of year or not) and the palaces in London were generally closed. Will I die from not being able to see Kate Middleton’s wedding dress? No. Would it have been nice to see the gardens of Chateau Versailles in full bloom? Yes, but they were still spectacular. Also, it was a bit chilly, but nothing compared to home.

Other things that sucked about traveling over Christmas holidays: The royals were at Sandringham and not in London (boo!), I had to rush through two family Christmas dinners in two nights, we found a lot of shops closed on January 1st. These are all specific pitfalls that could have been avoided if I had had a choice over my vacation time (studying and working at a university kind of restrict my travel dates )

Traveling in the off-season led to low line-ups, meeting tons of Europeans/Australians (we only met one American), less crowding (and trust me, there was still crowding — I wouldn’t *want* to visit some places in the high-season), cheaper room rates (except over New Years)

Budget Carriers
We travelled with Ryanair from Paris to Edinburgh and with Megabus from Edinburgh to London. Was it barebones services? Yes. Did it matter? Not a bloody bit. We got from point A to point B safely and on time (actually, Megabus got us to London an hour early)

Travel overnight if possible
This is a basic tip: Travel overnight to save on room costs. Not only will you not have to stare at hours of highway but you’ll fall asleep in Place A and wake up in Place B! Easy peasy. Obviously this won’t work if your trip is only a few hours. Sure a nap might be nice but leaving Place A at midnight and arriving at Place B at 5am is dangerous and not fun. Bonus tip: Buy an eye mask or else you might find difficulty getting to sleep.

Pack lightly
We wouldn’t have been able to fly Ryanair if we had had bags larger than a standard carry on. Having to have taken a different airline would have cost us 100s more that we just didn’t have. Also, I was forced to put sooo many wonderful things down because I knew that I had no room in my suitcase. Examples: A pillow about money (I can’t remember what it said now which is a good indicator that I didn’t need it ), a tea set, a soft-boiled egg kit of Buckingham Palace with cutters to make soldiers out of your toast *that are actually in the shape of soldiers*!

Avoid ATMs
Take out the maximum amount of cash that you have budgeted for your trip and do not visit ATMs. First of all, this will allow you to not spend more than you have. Secondly, bank fees are outrageous over there!! One currency bureau that I stopped at told me that they charge a 16.5% commission. Crazy.

I’m going to be posting photos of my trip, city by city for the next five Fridays — this way you won’t be inundated with photos. Tomorrow, Paris!

When I was 12, during the summer before high school, I spent every, single day on the internet. My parents weren’t around and back then things like “internet addiction” were unheard of. I taught myself how to be safe — always use a fake name, lie about details, never tell anyone where you’re from. I used to go into chatrooms when I was lonely. a/s/l meant age/sex/location and I would always say “14/f/quebec” because I figured that would throw them off. I don’t know if I just got lucky or if I successfully evaded predators but I’m here now and safe

My other hobby was Harry Potter trivia — I would scour the internet for hours looking for new tidbits of information. I was the first person in my 6th grade class to know that a Harry Potter movie was coming out (I was also the first person I know to have an email address: vanessa@kidsurfer.com Try and get a vanessa@ anything address now)

As I grew up, my parents never pressured me to get a job etc and I began to spend more and more time on the internet. When I was 14 I started researching colleges and universities. When I was 15 I finalized my plan: I was going to study Russian and German in CEGEP, Film Studies in university and go to law school at McGill. I would work at Stikeman Elliott when I graduated in 2014. Right.

If I reflect on my short life now, I realize that absolutely everything I am and where I am is due to the internet. Without the internet, I would have had no friends growing up. I lived on a street with no English children and went to a high school 1.5h from my house. MSN was a God sent to a lonely teenager. The internet also filled my head with knowledge that I still use today. “How many eggs in a gross? 144. What’s the currency in France? Well, now it’s the Euro but it used to be the Franc.” I impressed people left and right in the early 2000s with knowledge far superior than anything my classmates knew.

When I applied to CEGEP in 2004, I knew what I was going to do. Our school didn’t have guidance counsellors to help us out or teachers that cared enough so I took to the internet. Online I learned how to apply, how to figure out my schedule, how much it would cost etc. I’ll never forget what my mom said when I told her that I got into CEGEP: “And who do you think is going to pay for this?”

I remember that phrase for two reasons. Firstly, because it was probably the first time that I realized that my mother is very bitter and hurtful. Secondly, because I now realize that, had it not been for the internet, my grade 11 high school diploma would have been the end to my formal education.

Without post-secondary education I would never have gotten the job that I did (in the city) and would have, most probably, stayed in my small town and worked at one of the restaurants. I can name about 20 people in my graduating class that went into CEGEP and about 7 who are in university. I can name 1 girl who actually graduated — and she gave birth about a month later.

The internet gave me Facebook — a tool that I used extensively to make new friends when my old ones told me that they didn’t want to hang out with me anymore because I wasn’t fun.

The internet gave me online job sites that I searched daily to find a job 24km (15mi) from my house, in a city that provided me with many opportunities to become who I am.

The internet gave me the PF blogging community that I shyly stalked day in and day out for 2 years before jumping into the blogging waters myself.

The internet gave me the means to communicate with my shy, computer-addicted boyfriend which, in turn, gave him the confidence to do things that he couldn’t imagine were possible.

The internet gave me the ability to realize some dreams that a dorky, unsocial loser wouldn’t have thought possible that first summer 11 years ago.

Today, January 18th, is a sort of informal protest day for bills being considered in Washington — SOPA and PIPA. I recommend that you Google them to find out the nitty gritty details but in essence, the bills will make it possible to shut down websites if a portion of said website contains a hint of copyright infringement. Some protesters are arguing that the bills will shut down the internet. This is not a view that I share but I do believe that there are better ways to fight copyright infringement without touching the wonder that is the internet.

As silly as it sounds, I owe so much to the internet and this post is my small way of protesting SOPA and PIPA — I hope that the internet can stay exactly the way it is for future kids/teens who, without this amazing research tool, would otherwise be stuck in the life of their parents.

This is my 2012 budget. Every week, my paycheques are deposited in my ING chequing account and then funds are dispersed to their appropriate accounts (ie, my monthly allowance is 285.00 so each week 71.25$ is transferred to my Scotia account for me to spend). I chose to budget my allowance in 2012 since, when reviewing my expenses, seeing that I spent, for example, 4 500$ in “Allowance” is not helpful.

My transportation costs are itemized monthly but I only have to buy a transit pass every 4 months. I will break this down monthly however so that I’m not under budget 9 months of the year and over budget the other 3

In true Vanessa fashion, I read the post and then filed it away in the “to do” drawer of my brain — I was fighting a cold, preparing for two final exams, working a bit of overtime and frankly, since I don’t have internet, the idea of going to university to sift through blogs and find people for me to nominate seemed like a monumentous task. Shameful, I know.

Now that I have more time, I am accepting the nomination

Part of being nominated for this award is passing the love around, which I’m only too happy to do. So here are the rules for getting this award and passing it along:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and Paste the Award to your blog.
4. Have faith that your followers will spread the word and love to other bloggers.
5. Have Fun!!

I’m not sure if these ladies have less than 200 followers but I like their blogs so I’m nominating them:

The Asian Pear: http://theasianpear.blogspot.com/
Geeky Math: http://chipsforsupper.wordpress.com
Ginger: http://www.gingerwontsnap.com/
Carla: http://halfdozendaily.blog.com/
eemusings: http://eemusings.wordpress.com/

So I came back from my trip to find that my debit card had been “compromised” while I was away (I didn’t bring this card with me). Also, BF’s version of groceries includes cake, chips and chicken nuggets not because he or I like these foods but because they were on sale. O.o’ As a result of these two unfortunate events, I had to go to the exchange bureau to get Canadian money to be able to get some sort of food in me.

The bank? They had no idea why my card was compromised, nor were they able to fix the problem. They suggested that I go to my branch where I was told that they would investigate and get back to me. Oh and no, I wasn’t able to have a reactivated account and no, I wasn’t able to have the money that they took out of my account (my account was frozen because of unusally high service fees which triggered an alarm).

The rest of the week saw me sick as a dog and unwilling to do groceries or cook anything sensible for supper/lunch.

In good news! BF’s grandmother gave us a coffee machine!! We’ve yet to set it up or use it but once we do, my coffee purchases (which average about one per day) should go down to zero!!

I will be posting my 2012 budget tomorrow but let me just say this — it’s tight! This coffee machine is a blessing because I think that I have only budgeted 20$ for coffees for the entire month. I am hoping that this bit of good luck continues for the rest of the year

Alright! So, here’s a summary of 2011:

• I had budgeted to spend 6 000$ and spent 9 960.75$. I consider this a success since, when I made the goal, I didn’t know that I was going to move out of my parents’ house in 2011
• I saved almost 60% of my income this year!! Happy dance!!
• My net worth increased by 22% this year (It would have been more had I not gone to Europe of course but alas, I regret nothing )
• 2011 was the first year that I did not work over the summer and was therefore unable to bolster my cash reserves (I took summer courses instead)
• I travelled to 10 cities in 7 countries this year: Varadero Cuba, Havana Cuba, New York City, Paris France, Versailles France, Edinburgh UK, London UK, Amsterdam, Antwerp Belgium, Brussels Belgium
• I got a third part time job and quit another
• I bought an iPhone 4 and an iPhone 4S resulting in total cell phone bills for 2011 of…….: 1540.18$ (plus the 500$ one I received January 3^rd 2012)
• I had my braces removed!
• I read 19 books this year
• I had my camera stolen and subsequently bought two new ones (bad PF blogger, bad!)
• I quit coffee for three months
• I joined the gym and took tennis courses to try and better myself
• I began volunteering and joined a few organizations to see when sort of things interested me (ie what do I want to be when I grow up )
• I began to blog regularly

Here’s a quick breakdown of my 2011 expenses sans commentaire:

2011 expenses

As you can see, 2011 was a great year I haven’t thought about 2012 goals yet but once I do, I will be updating my “Goals” page

• On Cyber-Monday, ING had a “sale” and was offering 1y GICs with an interest rate of… 2%! I pounced and literally put every free penny I had into that GIC. Why? Impulse buy
• My hotel costs (minus deposits) for my upcoming trip to Europe will be approximately 370$. My vacation fund currently sits at 2000$. Is that enough for two weeks in Europe? Rationally, I’m thinking that it’s plenty but irrationally I’m going “OMG EUROPE IS SO EXPENSIVE AND I’LL BE BROKE WHEN I COME BACK!!!”
• I had to pay tuition. I was planning to only study part-time so I had budgeted for only 1300$ in tuition. I added another class last minute so my tuition jumped to 1750$.
• I have exactly 0$ in my school savings account and will have to buy books etc in January
• My two pairs of jeans got holes on the same knee one week apart. Luckily The Gap has a sale today so I picked up two new pairs but still… Clothing is expensive!
• My Visa bill was a little higher than I planned this month because I ordered too many things online. I emptied my piggy bank to pay it this morning.
• I had to pay both Virgin Mobile and Fido this month. I can expect another 500$+ bill from Virgin Mobile around Christmas time. That will be due around the end of January.
• I booked a trip to the Dominican Republic (awesome deal! Seriously!) with BF and it’s sitting on my credit card. The bill will only be due January 30th and BF will pay me his share by then but it’s still so painful to see my bill that high

When I get paid next week I’m going to take the 600 or so dollars and put it towards my school savings account. That should take care of my textbooks for next semester. The next paycheque I get I will put towards my Virgin Mobile bill.

Any paycheques I recevie while on my vacation will go untouched until I get back and should amount to maybe 1000$. That money will go towards my Visa bill that will be due on the 30th of January.

Sorry for all this! Getting it out onto “paper” is really useful

This is why I track my spending — to embarress myself enough to do better next week. Here’s a summary of my week: Tim Horton’s x3, Starbucks x1 and MCDONALDS x3. Three times! Disgusting.

When I first started at my windowless room job I used to bring so much food with me — we’re talking a bag of chips, some chocolate bars, a lunch — and I would eat it all and wash it down with 2-3 coffees from Couche-Tard (from Mac for all you Canadians). Once I found out that we could order take-out I would eat some every day. I was unstoppable.

This past August though when I was getting almost no hours at the windowless room job, I had to cut back considerably (Even with all of my cut backs and no-spend days I still ended up going over budget in August… That’s how bad it was). I began to introduce the following items to my routine:

1- Each morning I wake up at 5.45am and make a thick egg sandwich.
2- When I get to work at 6.50am I “steal” hot water from the cafeteria and make myself some tea
3- At my first break I used to be ravenous so I began to plan ahead. Now I pack a second egg sandwich in the morning for my break
4- At lunchtime I have a decent lunch — meal, snack and something sweet. I’ll usually “steal” more hot water at this point and have a second cup of tea.
5- Once work ends I run home and grab a bagel/toast to sustain me at my second job and long enough to get back home and make dinner for BF and I.

On the days that I work at the university however… The first thing that I do is head to Tim’s — I don’t even like Tim Horton’s — but it’s so hard to resist. There were yummy donuts and muffins and I really, really enjoy having a cup of coffee while I read my emails at work. There is nowhere that I can get a cup of hot water and there are no water fountains that I can get water from to boil in the microwave.

I usually bring my lunch but it’s discouraging nonetheless to feel “obligated” to stop at Tim’s I know that I should be strong enough to resist but I get such horrible hunger pangs when I haven’t eaten for 2-3 hours.