Net Worth Update

As of September 1st, my net worth was $45 984 (up 4% from $44 195).

If I exclude house-related assets and liabilities, my net worth is $34 671 (up 4% from $33 330). So, percentage-wise, my house's net worth change is keeping pace with the rest of my finances.

Assets ($117 089, up from $115 384)

• Bank Accounts $6 252 (up 80% from $3483)
• Emergency Funds $2 825 (down 44% from $5 018)
• RRSP Accounts $28 213 (up 1.4% from $27 828)
• Non-Registered Investments $3 641 (up 16% from $3 121)
• Home $75 600 (stable)

Liabilities ($71 105, down 0.1% from $71 188)

• Credit Cards $3 380 (up 20% from $2 813)
• Student Loan $3 399 (down 6.7% from $3 642)
• Mortgage $56 994 (down 0.2% from $57 098)
• Heat Pump Loan $7 293 (down 4.5% from $7 635)

In almost the opposite from last month, when the change was a decrease in debt, this month's change is almost completely due to an increase in assets. My investments partly recovered from the down markets in July, while my credit card bills increased enough to offset the payment of long-term debts. Note that Princess and I made an additional $500 payment to the heat pump loan, which is our highest interest loan.

Painting Tips

My princess and I spent the weekend painting her oldest daugther's new appartment. Things went fairly well, but I figured I should still go over the experience while it is fresh in my mind to see how things could go even better the next time.

First, let me describe the appartment -- it is a two-bedroom appartment on the 11th floor, in a building mostly occupied by university and college students. The previous renters were young males, and they smoked. The ceiling are made of lightly-textured stucco, with the floor covered by carpeting.

Most of the cleaning took place before I really got involved, since I went to get the paint while this was going on.

To make a long story shorter, here's a few tips to make things go faster and less expensive:

1. If you want colors, decide on them before going to the paint store. Selecting the right colors can take time, because the selection is huge.
2. Buy the paint and other supplies the day before. That way, when you get there to begin working, you can do so right away.
3. Get more supplies than you think you'll need. This is particularly true for primer, ceiling paint, and semi-gloss paint for the closets, doors and door frames. You can return usually any unopened white paint without any problem. Colors cannot be returned, though, so you should calculate surface you have to paint and plan 20% more. Having to go back to buy more paint while you are working is inefficient, particularly when your time is tight. Things you will need in addition of the paint: rollers, brushes, masking tape.
4. Other things you need. Screwdrivers, plenty of rags, plastic bags, small plastic containers to hold paint. At least one stepladder is a must (2 or 3 steps high).
5. Clean all surfaces before you start painting. When they leave, the previous tenants probably won't care how dirty the place is. Paint will adhere much better to a clean surface. Water and a general cleaning product will do.
6. Empty a room before painting it. If you can, get all the furniture out of a room before you paint it. Always bumping into someting is frustrating, wastes your time, and can be painful. If you cannot empty a room before painting it, cover everything.
7. Cover the floors. Paint will splatter, that is unevitable. All painting stores sell rolls of this plastic to cover the floors. They are worth it, unless you want to spent hours cleaning the floors after you finish painting (and when you are already exhausted).
8. Prime everything. A coat of primer will save a lot of time and paint, provided you want a nice finish. This is particularly true if there were different colors than the ones you want. Primer dries very fast compared to regular paint, so you'll be able to apply a second coating within an hour after priming. The paint will adhere much better to primer than to anything else.
9. Ceiling should be white. White ceilings reflect more light. White paint is also less expensive.
10. Clean your tools frequently and carefully. Don't let your brushes dry, clean them right away.

Enough for now. Let me know if you have more painting tips!

Net Worth Update

I haven't had time to post in July, and until August 14th I will be away on vacation.

As of July 31st, my net worth was $44 940 (up 6.4% from $42 229 on June 30th). This can be detailed between my assets and liabilities as follow.

Assets ($115 050, down 0.05% from $115 103)

• Bank Accounts $3 483 (down 11% from $3 913)
• Emergency Fund $5 018 (down 10% from $5 557)
• RRSP Accounts $27 828 (up 2% from $27 277)
• Non-Registered Investments $3 121 (up 13% from $2 756)
• Home $75 600 (stable)

Liabilities ($71 188, down 3.3% from $72 875)

• Credit Cards $2 813 (down 31% from $4 109)
• Student Loan $3 642 (down 6% from $3 884)
• Mortgage $57 098 (down 0.2% from $57 201)
• Heat Pump Loan $7 635 (down 0.6% from $7 681)

As you can see, most of the difference is from debt payments. I would like to point out that I pay down my credit cards completely each month -- I never carry a balance. But I do have two no-interest loans on one of my credit cards, on which I make a payment every month. It slightly inflates the amount I owe on my credit cards (about $1000).

My Net Worth

As of June 30th, my net worth was $42 229. This can be detailed between my assets and liabilities as follow.

Assets

• Bank Accounts $3 913
• Emergency Fund $5 557
• RRSP Accounts $27 277
• Non-Registered Investments $2 756
• Home $75 600

Liabilities

• Credit Cards $4 109
• Student Loan $3 884
• Mortgage $57 201
• Heat Pump Loan $7 681

Note that I use the city's evaluation of my house when assessing its value. Since we bought it three years ago, it is probably understating its real worth. I don't have a problem with that.

Also, I only include my part of the house, mortage and heat pump loan when calculating my personal net worth. My Princess' part (40%) is not included.

Knowing What I Spend

In my previous post, I described how I prepare a budget. As I explained, one of the most difficult part is listing all my expenses.

So how do I know how what my expenses are?

When this frog was much younger, he started at the university. At that time, our frog didn't have much money, so he did something to know where that money went, and to make sure he was not over-spending. He wrote down each and every one of the things he spent money on, down to the cent. Everything. The young frog did that for a year.

As you can imagine, by the time I stopped doing that, I knew perfectly well where my money was going. I'll admit now that it was a bit excessive. There is usually no need to do it for such a long time. Usually a month is enough to get a grip on your expenses.

The point is that by writing down all your expenses as they occur, it is much easier to track them. And once they are written down, it becomes easy to categorize them and see how much each category costs you. You don't need to do it all the time. I did it about 18 years ago. And while I was thinking about write this post, I realized it might be a good time to do it again for a month.

After all, my situation has changed a lot in 18 years. I think I still know where my money goes, but it might be a good thing to check. I'll try to do this in September, once the summer is over.