All the money or the simple life honey.

So, as some may know, I'm currently a renter. My landlords are pretty cool. They don't flip if I'm a day late with the rent check, are good about coming to fix stuff and so forth.

Oh, and they kind of gave me life too, so good on them for THAT.

However, times are tough all over and the time comes to downsize and liquidate assets. So I've been given my notice. That's right, I've got roughly 730 days to vacate the premises. I'd say this is a pretty fair amount of notice, wouldn't you?

So this brings me to my newest goal, saving some change so I can get me one of those mortgage-things and a wee abode of my own. In two years I'd like to have somewhere in the ballpark of $15 to 20K saved up and hopefully I can find a decent place in the 130-180K range. Now, considering right now my savings account has a balance of somewhere in the area of ten dollars, I have some work to do.

Last week, like a grown-up, I went to the bank today and set myself up with a real savings account. Not an account that I call a savings account but never really accumulates anything, but one of those high-interest, we're-going-to-take-your-first-born-in-exchange-for-an-ABM-withdrawal type accounts.. the ones that keep your money locked up tighter than a virgin in an adamantium chastity belt.

The savings account will take $100 bucks out of my regular account each month, plus there's a feature that, everytime I make a debit purchase from my checking, the amount is rounded up to the nearest dollar and then the difference is put in the saving account. So that's pretty cool.

I've also been looking into options for paying down as much of my debt as possible, including bugging my bank, whom I have been with for nearly 15 years without so much as being offered a freaking OVERDRAFT into giving me a line of credit at a better rate than the LOC credit I'm current paying off at a different bank. Haggle Haggle Haggle.

So I've been trying to think of other ways I can save up as much money as humanly possible, while still being able to, you know, eat and have a life.

WAYS TO SAVE AND/OR MAKE EXTRA CASH

• All money from my Etsy Sales goes into savings
• Half of any HST credit, work bonus and other unexpected payments go into Savings, the other half into the 'fun money' (or bills if I am behind)
• Any money when I roll my change goes to savings
• Take more clothes that I don't wear to the consignment shop
  
• Bottle return money. Start having more BYOB parties.
• Bring a little hat to put at my feet when I go to open mike night, and hope people take the hint.

WAYS TO PAY DOWN DEBT

• Find Line of Credit with lower interest rate than I am currently paying, and make sure that's where the interest rate STAYS.
  
• Put $100 each to LOC, CC and Student loans each month, whenever possible.
• Come tax time, use return to pay off LOC. For the remainder, half goes to savings, half to fun stuff.
  

WAYS TO TIGHTEN MY BUDGET

• Cancel Accident insurance. I am insured through work so it's redundant, plus being accident insurance, if I did hack off my leg with a chainsaw, they'd probably find a way to say I did it on purpose.
• Remove 'Full Value' option from my car insurance. Each year this just gets higher, since the car gets devalued. I don't commute far now, so if my car gets written off for some reason, I'll drive a beater.
• Learn to do my own oil changes.
  
• Quit drinking Timmie's and go back to office coffee. Make own coffee in travel mug for long trips.
  
• Pack my own lunches
• Eat leftovers for dinner
• Call Rogers about better long distance plan.
  
• Check out RCSS's coupon board when grocery shopping.
• Pre-game when I go to the bar. Store bought beer has a lower markup than bar beer.
• No more free sex. I should at least get a meal out of the deal. One less meal I have to budget for in the weekly grocery bill.*
• Lose that last damn 20 pounds so I can become a Lifetime member at Weight Watchers and stop paying to go to the damn meetings.
• Recruit as many people as I possibly can so I can get a sweet discount for kick-boxing.

I know the obvious one I've missed is giving blood on a regular basis, but I'm not a good candidate for blood donation, what with the clotting issues and all.

And now, A Musical Interlude:



*NOTE: Dinner does not mean there will be sex, but sex better damn well mean there will be dinner. Or breakfast, I'm not picky.