January 1st Net Worth

Very bummed to see such a big red number.  I expected to lose money this month since it was Christmas and our first month with the baby, however I was not expecting to have so much trouble getting a hold of my Record of Employment to get my Maternity benefits.  I should be getting it tomorrow.  I got my vacation pay with my last paycheck and Kyle signed for his since he was taking 2 weeks off after Willow was born.  From now on we will not be including vacation pay in our net worth.

December 1st Net Worth

Our net worth is not increasing like it used to, but that was to be expected.  The green column is the status of the accounts and the numbers to the right of the green columns are how much those accounts increased or decreased compared to the previous month.  I love having a zero in the liabilities. :)  My bank account was the only thing that didn't go up, although we did not lose money.  We don't bother splitting expenses 50/50 and I usually pay for the majority of misc purchases including groceries.  Regardless, not a bad month considering we spent so much on Christmas and Willow.

November 1st Net Worth

Since I first got accepted into the fashion design program in Vancouver in Sept 2010, I started tracking our net worth.  We needed a lot of money, between my tuition, the cost of moving, and wanting to have enough money leftover to not be broke, and we had just under a year to get it.  I needed to make sure that we were setting aside enough money each month to meet our goal of $20,000 on time.  Of course now school has been postponed for another year, but I still keep track of our net worth.  Why not?  It's nice to see how much your money grows each month :)  Here's our net worth as of November 1st compared to our net worth at October 1st.

The green highlighted column is the total of each category.  The white column to its right is how much that category increased from the previous month.  Our cash is generally our tip out money.  But my cash went up a lot more because Kyle's brother paid me back for ordering something online for him when I ordered Kyle's Christmas gift.  At this point I've maxed my Tax Free Savings account for this year, so for now it's just bringing in interest.  Plus I got my anniversary bonus this month, only $1.65, but still, that's a $1.65 I didn't have before!

Our vacation pay we've been saving up for when the baby comes.  Mine will automatically be paid because I will technically have to be terminated to get my maternity leave.  Kyle is saving his for the two weeks he'll have off when she's born, that way we won't be broke.  By the time she comes he'll have enough that after taxes it will be the same as a regular paycheck.  How's that for planning ahead? :)

However, unlike most net worth statements, I don't include our RRSP savings.  This is because I'm keeping track of all spendable cash so we know we have enough for school and the move, as well as what we have left over for emergencies or other savings like a car or down payment.  Since our RRSPs are locked in and for retirement, we don't have access to that money, therefor I keep track of it separately.

The best part is that we have no liabilities.  The few times I actually use my credit card to buy something I pay it off as soon as it shows up on my account.  It's a nice feeling to have no liabilities :)  Of course, I'm still excited to get a car and buy a house in a few years.

All in all it was a pretty successful month especially considering how much we over spent.