Why Christmas is so expensive!

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So my family never does anything big for Christmas. A typical Christmas for me is Christmas Eve at my Mom's house, decorating the tree, playing games and just enjoying our time together. Christmas Day we wake up nice and early to do gifts with my Mom, Sister and myself. It is still like when I was a child, the tree is filled with gifts! The only difference is I tend to load it up myself. I buy my mom all the things she needs but can't afford throughout the year. This usually includes clothes, household supplies and a few extra things. It adds up quickly, usually amounting to around $300 - $500 for my mom alone, but she worked very hard to give us everything we needed while we were kids, so I think its only fair I treat her back.

Then we spend some time at my Dad's apartment where ALL my sisters and their family meet to spend the afternoon together. This is where it really adds up! I have 3 sisters, 2 brother-in-laws, 4 nieces, 1 nephew (boys are always out numbered in my family), my Dad, and my Step-mom. Now with 13 of us squeezed into my dads little living room! It is quick a hectic and costly day! I try to set a $50 limit for each person, going over on some (like my dad) and under for others (babies are cheaper to buy for). This costs me around $600 for these family members.

Then after all that is done, it is back to my Mom's for turkey dinner! This marks the end of the Holiday Season for me! It's back to work on Boxing day!

On top of that I have a few friends I buy for, and try to Bake or something for my coworkers. All in all my Christmas Budget is usually around $1200!!

I know, I know, I am trying to save and pay down debt, I should cut back, but Christmas is the only time of year we exchange gifts, we usually don't do birthdays for the adults, and just small gifts for the kids. This is one of the only times a year where we are ALL together, so I don't worry about the money I can earn by picking up a few extras shifts

There are few things I think are more important then being debt free, but to me family is more important than money. 

Net Worth, November 2012

I figure a good place for me to start on my journey out of debt, is to evaluate my net worth. As this is my first Net Worth post, this will be the base for all other changes. So lets dive right in!

Debt:  

Student Loan: -$18,696 After graduating from a 3 year college program in business, and working hard through the summer, I have managed to get it under $20,000! This may not seem like a lot, but just 7 months ago (April) I walked out of that school with over $25,000 in debt. So in the last 7 months, I have paid off almost $7000 in student loans, with the help of a $2,450 government grant.


Credit Card #1: -$1,143  This is so high because I decided I was going to try to put all my expenses on my credit card, then pay it off at the end of the month. Theoretically a good idea to help me build up my credit, but I found I just overspent, and it went up way to high, way to fast. This should be mostly paid off by the end of the month.

Credit Card #2: +$35 I know, I know.. a credit card in the positive?! Well, what happened was It was fully paid off (yay me!) and I used my reward points to earn $50 cash back, which was applied directly to my card, therefore making it positive!

Assets:  

Cash:  +230 This is my daily account, so it changes all the time.

TFSA: +$150 I recently opened a TFSA with ING Direct to start putting money away for a new car and a house. My car is old, a 2002 Neon with 175,000 km. I figure it will last me hopefully another year to year and a half. I do a lot of driving though, with my family being 1-2 hours away. This will be changing though, as I am moving home as of January, but in the mean time, I have increased my daily commute to about 2 hours round trip. When I opened this account, I deposited $100, and got the $50 referral bonus, which was a nice increase!

RRSP: +$100 I recently opened this, as a way to start saving for a house. I have been putting $25 ever 2 weeks, I figure this is better then nothing. This account is with Scotiabank, but I do plan on switching all my accounts to ING Direct in the near future. I don't want to be paying $50 a month anymore!!

Overall Net Worth: -$19,324

So due to my large student loan, and little savings, I have a negative net worth! I am been working hard and putting any dime I have towards my loan, to get rid of it once and for all! 

Who is Miss Moneyholic?

I am a 22 year old recent graduate, with a boat load of debt! Thankfully, I have mostly learned from other peoples mistakes, and primarily only have a student loan. All credit card debt could be paid off the month of if need be. Now that being said.. I am about to quit my 2 jobs, pick up and move home!

I was living in Toronto with my boyfriend, worked a office day job to get my career started, and served at night, to help pay down the debt. I have a car, and worked mostly every day, same goes for the boyfriend. He had his full time, and part job he worked to pay down his debt. Therefore, with both of us working days and nights, and going weeks without seeing each other. eventually, I couldn't take it, I was very lonely, and started to miss my family A LOT! So I decided to break up with my boyfriend, quit both my full time, and part time jobs and move back in with the Daddyo!

So that brings us to today, I am in limbo. I have yet to give in my resignation to either jobs, as I am trying to wait out until Christmas. Although I did tell my supervisor, just because he has been so good to me, and I felt out of respect he should know. I am currently staying with a friend out of the city, making my commute about an hour each way every day. I am going to be staying with her until shortly before Christmas, where I will then be moving back into my Dad's apartment, where I lived before I moved away to college.

My plan is to find a full time day job, with the help of my sisters, and a part time serving job. The same set up I had in Toronto. The bonus of living with my Dad, is while I am there, I am hopefully going to be living rent free, meaning all that money can be put towards my debt. If all works out as planned, I will be debt free by next Christmas! Now I am not saying this will be easy, but with a lot of hard work, and the benefit of serving in a high tourist area during the summer,  I will make this happen!

So for now, I am doing my best to stay afloat during this holiday season, and just make it to 2013!