I Really Need to Learn About Taxes

Last paycheque I made less than $1000. Total tax I paid on that was about $22.

This paycheque I made over $1000. Total tax I paid on that was about $220.

The difference in taxes I'm paying is insane! How does it even work?! I'm paying 10x more in tax but I certainly didn't make 10x more in wages.

I took a $5/hr increase in pay by switching jobs, but 2.5 hours less per week. Somehow, I'm still making almost exactly the same amount at my new job as my old job.

No wonder dad complains about taxes all the time. No wonder so many people are in debt. I don't even have a mortgage to worry about. Taxes are killing me!

What??

I just logged in to my ING Direct account, and guess what?

The US$ savings account dropped from 3.75% to 3.00% interest rate.

What's with the sudden, dramatic drop? I've got to get my money out of there.

Still Plugging Away... Slowly

I threw another $100 at the UK savings. Sometimes I wish I could just make more money, or do it faster, or something, because I hate the fact that those two little sidebars over there aren't completely full! And I know that probably sounds ridiculous since the entire rest of the world pretty much feels the same way that I do!

In other news, PC Financial has raised their rates to 4.25%, HSBC Direct is going up (I think I read that somewhere), and ING Direct is already at 3.75%. Seems as if ING Direct is content and not in the race of interest rates.

I also read an article today about the rich getting richer, which I already learned in school and something my dad will probably say he knows just from the school of life. Even in grade school they were teaching us about the upside down wine glass of income distribution. So sad to know that your best bet of getting ahead is to be ahead in the first place.

Cost of Safety

Most things I'm pretty cheap about. I don't like paying more than I have to for cotton pads to clean my face, which is saying something since I've already mentioned before how much my skin needs help.

However, I'd be willing to pay good money to catch the sick guys who sexually assaulted two girls at York University. Same for the guy at Carleton, because the kind of torment that he put that girl through? That's enough for him to deserve having his balls cut off. Slowly. And then having his balls fed to wild dogs.

I'm mentioning this on my blog because I am so, so angry at those guys. It isn't right, and I'm beyond outraged. To them I ask, was it really worth it?

Even though I move very often to save money on rent, I always pick places I think are safe and have my parents come and take a look around to see if they like it. They've often encouraged me to pay that extra $100 a month for their own peace of mind. I always griped about it, but after all, they were right.

I'm also still deciding about where I'm going to live while on my exchange. The school I am going to is bigger and nearly not as safe. My friend went there last year, and she told me it's not the kind of place where you can walk around at night. I was talking to another girl who came on exchange to my school from France, and she said she was astounded at how quiet things are here, and she used to take the opportunity to walk to the grocery store in the evening, astounded that she could.

A few of the residences I looked at for my term abroad are in a rather unsafe neighbourhood. I decided on another residence that is in a safer location. I might have to get a bus pass just from the stories I've heard about students getting mugged, walking on the way home, at the school I'm going to. But some things are more important than money.

Money Comes, Money Goes

I was all happy cause I got backpay from my previous employer to the tune of about $125, which was more than I expected. Then, I went to work and got an email from HR saying that they had overpaid me in the last pay period and would have to deduct it from the next pay period. Guess how much they overpaid me? $121.

Sigh. Money comes, money goes.

On the other hand, the Canadian dollar reached parity with the American dollar today for the first time in 30 years. I'm sure that everyone in Canada's already heard about it (we all heard it at work too). I have no idea how this is going to affect things. For instance, when the Canadian dollar was hitting all-time lows five years ago at 60-something cents to the US dollar, we weren't getting any savings over here in the form of lower prices on things. So I don't know if we'll see prices for things rise either?

Lastly... I was looking at properties around here to get a feel of what my next financial moves will be in a year's time. The only thing I'd be able to afford are small condos. I'd basically need a downpayment of $40 000. That's insane! But I know it's necessary since it's pretty much the biggest purchase I'll make. My dad says the housing market isn't good for buying right now cause things here are overinflated. A good time to sell, yes, but buy? Not yet. Which is alright since I have to save up $40 000 for a downpayment on anything anyways and that's going to take time and a full-time job after graduation.

Being Micro-Managed

I really enjoy my job and have a great boss. The only downside is this lady whom I work with frequently. She's a full-time employee and obviously can tell me what to do. The problem is that she tells me EXACTLY what to do. Every last little detail of it.

I dread seeing her or talking to her. And when I do work with her, I often get short but have to hold it in so I get down to shortening my answers in order to show less emotion. I usually first get angry, then get frustrated, then get sad. I need some sort of manual on how to deal with this!

The thing I like about money is that I'm completely in control of it. There isn't somebody giving me a call a few times a day to question what I've done, if I've done it right, or to say that I haven't done it properly (because it wasn't done according to someone else's way of doing things).

I'm a little peeved right now.

Redeeming Air Miles

I deposited money in the bank today to put towards my exchange. If you add up the total amount of money I put away for exchange and my student loans, that's more than $10 000. It's exciting to see that I've reached the five figure point!

My dad asked me to loan him $2500 so I had to take that out of my exchange savings. That's kind of a bummer to see my balance go down so drastically. Sigh.

I'm looking at how much it costs for a plane ticket for my exchange. I got a quote yesterday and it's going to cost something like $1220 for a round trip ticket, but that's only if I return within three months. It's going to cost more if I want to return later than that (and I do). I didn't ask though cause the lady at the counter was so rude, I wanted to just throw a business card in her face and walk out. (But I didn't).

My dad told me he's going to redeem his air miles for the trip, so now I have to learn how to redeem air miles points on their website. Most of the offers available on the air miles website are for travel within three months as well (i.e. if I leave in January, I have to return in March). I'm wondering if it's better to get two separate one-way tickets because there's 10% discounts if I do, or if I should just get one round trip ticket instead. I'm leaving during the low season, but I'm returning during the high season... I've never booked a flight before or redeemed air miles, so this is another financial first.

Finally Getting Paid...

I finally got backpay from my former employer, and I think I'm getting paid at my current job this week. That would be nice, because it seems as if I've taken some sort of hiatus from my finances.

I am updating the money sidebar by decreasing my UK exchange savings from $7000 to $6500 to reflect my scholarship. After I deposit my money tomorrow at the bank, I'll update the total thingy on the side to show how much money I've saved.

I would love to write something more substantial, but tonight, I'm exhausted from work. I'm out of the door and at the bus stop at 7 am, and I don't get home until 7 pm. How do people with children and mortgage payments do this?! I'm exhausted from just a few weeks!

Taking a Class

I just paid about $350 for a three day workshop that is being held at a local college. When I suggested it to my boss, he said that he had heard good things about it and thought it would be a good idea.

I'm not getting reimbursed for it from work (I wish!), because I'm working on a student contract--one of the lowest of the lows, down there under part-time, contract, and temporary work. I don't get benefits or anything remotely close to that. But that's ok, because this $350 is an investment in myself.

I talked to him about taking more regular classes at a local college (non-transferable credits to my university, unfortunately) and he suggested that I not do that. He said I should focus on my job here, and that I'll learn a lot. Sometimes it's better to just take it easy and not get exhausted. Ironically, a lot of people have said that same thing to me. Should I take that as a sign?

A lot of people at work think I am 17 years old. I don't know where they got this idea from, because I sure didn't tell them that! I don't know what it is about me--is it the way I look? The way I talk? My acne coming to haunt me again? I am unsure. What worries me is that they'll think I'm more young and inexperienced than I actually am and they'll hold back from seeing me as an actual employee and just see me as some kid. That's scary because I would love to work at my current job full-time after graduating and wouldn't want them to think I'm not capable.

I Sold Some Textbooks!

Like the title says, I sold some textbooks. I bought them for $96 + tax a year ago and sold them for $82. That's $14 depreciation in one year... Not too bad, I think. I don't think I could get better dollar on textbooks.

I'm hoping to sell some more but I have to figure out how to offload them. I just hate the fact that they come out with new editions all the time to make more money and screw us students over with obsolete editions that aren't used and can't be sold.

A Family Meeting, a Twist, Where Next?

The other day I sat down with my parents and talked about where we would like to be a year from now, financially and otherwise. I brought up the idea of graduate studies or the possibility of working full time. Of course, if I continue with school, I'll pay for it myself.

My parents have always told me ever since I was young that they would like to live with me through their retirement. So I kind of made plans for that. I assumed that we would keep the family home. I thought I would move back home after university and give my parents a monthly contribution to support them through their retirement. But I'd also get to live rent free... So you could consider it giving my parents rent, if you want to think of it that way.

Apparently, I was wrong. (?!)

My parents told me that they are thinking about selling the house (!) and moving (!) far away (!).

I had not anticipated this!

My parents told me I am welcome to move with them, but this is my home now. I don't want to move away from this place. So now, I don't know. A year from now I might not be living here. I might have to find a place to live around here. What I do know is that I still have to make monthly contributions to my parents though.

Now I'm really thinking--downpayment on a place of my own? Renting? What's next?

My parents said that if I wanted to pursue graduate studies, that they would rather I do it right away (they are firm believers that you should never take gaps in between studies) and that they would hang on to the house so I could live here until I was done. Still, I don't know.

If I get a place of my own, I have to figure out how much I need, what kind of place I want, what I can afford, how much I can save, and what's my timeline. And it'll be hard since I'll be giving my parents a monthly contribution too.

If I go to school, I won't be able to give my parents any money. They may feel obligated to keep the house so I can live here while going to school.

If I get a job... Oh wait! Is anybody even willing to hire me?

Man, life after graduation is going to be more complicated.

Some Good News and Some Choices

I guess I'll start off by saying that the good news is that I got a $500 scholarship to go towards my exchange, which isn't half bad. ($500 > $0, so I guess I should be thrilled!) That said, I'm still looking at $10 000 CDN for the total trip. That's down to $9500 with this scholarship. But I also still have $21 000 CDN to pay off in student loans by next summer.

As for the choices I have to make? Well, I have to make a decision as to where I want to live while on my exchange. The university basically offers standard bedrooms (where you share a bathroom with four flatmates) and en-suite bedrooms (where you have a private bathroom).

Standard room = ~$3000 CDN
En-suite room = ~$4000 CDN

The difference is about $1000 CDN for the twenty or so weeks I'll be there... Obviously I should go for the standard room.

The problem is the thing about my skin (which I wrote about yesterday). I'm not particularly ashamed of my skin but washing my skin makes it quite red and ugly. Normally I have to wait until everybody is sleeping before I wash my face so I don't come out looking all red and blotchy. Having an en-suite bathroom would allow me to avoid that.

I once had this conversation with my mother, who simply said "Why don't you spend the money on clearing up your skin instead of make up and other band aid solutions?" As if that thought didn't occur to me! I have had prescriptions for my acne (which I stopped because of the medical side effects) and I've used Proactiv (but that made my skin dependent and eventually reacted strangely to it). I easily burn $20 to $30 a month on skincare products, trying to clear it up in the first place.

The reason why I am having a hard time choosing between a standard room and an en-suite room is that I find a lot of people can't look past my skin problems. They zone in on it and then stare. And there is nothing as annoying as knowing that somebody is staring at your breakouts and then they talk to you about it. My parents do it. My friends do it. What's worse yet is that people who don't know me will look past me because of my skin. In fact, I sometimes have trouble making friends with people who feel uncomfortable looking at my blotchy skin. I'm not joking. I don't hide because of my skin, but usually those guys who are all about good looking girls will just look away.

The en-suite bathroom option looks like a God-send because I'll be able to take off my make up in the privacy of my own room... I won't feel like waiting until everyone else is asleep to wash my face. Most importantly, I won't feel constrained. I won't feel like crap every morning and night, wondering which of my roommates are going to see my blemished skin and leave us both feeling uncomfortable.

But financially, I just can't justify it. $1000 CDN would be better spent elsewhere, like socializing or travelling or just something tangible.

To be honest, my deepest fear is that I won't be able to make lots of good friends while I'm on exchange--and if I'm spending nearly $10 000 CDN to go away for a few months, I truly hope that I'll make friends and have a good time. I'm just afraid that people won't want to be my friend because of my skin (which has happened before) or people will treat me differently because of my skin (which happens a lot to people with severe acne) or people will offer acne solutions/treatments (which has also happened, and I know they're trying to be nice, but those solutions never work and serve as painful reminders that that is what people see).

I know it sounds crazy that I'm saying that a $1000 private bathroom will allow me to make friends--but for anybody with severe acne, that kind of logic makes sense. If no one sees my poor skin, they won't be afraid to look me in the eye. There is a certain kind of pain I feel when people look at my skin instead of my eyes. And that's worth $1000 in itself.

I feel like crap.

What do I do?

Money Can't Buy Happiness

I was cursed with really bad skin. It doesn't affect my confidence that much cause I know I am the same person, whether I have clear skin or poor skin.

But there is nothing that makes me feel more down than seeing my girlfriends for the first time in a long time, and having one of them comment on how I should go get a facial.

I know she meant it in the best way possible, and she did so delicately, but her eyes kept wandering between looking at me, and looking at my breakouts.

I can easily burn $20 to $30 a month on skincare products to take care of the problem. I've done the Accutane and Proactiv thing but stopped cause I didn't like the side effects from either one. This is one of those days where I feel like no matter how much I spend, I'm always going to be unhappy with my skin.

Sigh.