$140, 936 (+1.2%)

Let see, what happened this month?  Since its January, we have probably mostly survived the aftermath of Christmas shopping (total spent about $400 on gifts) and Boxing Day shopping (I spent $70 on some boots and went to the States on New Year’s Day for some “After Christmas Sales”- bought some great work wedges at Aldo for $38).

Retire by 40 suggested I talk about my total 2011 increase in net worth (which is a fantastic idea).  Looking at my old posts, I have increased my net worth this year by $14, 961, which is about a 11.8% increase from January 2011.  Ideally, I would have liked to have saved more than $20,000 but I guess I can shoot for this target when I finish school.

Okay, so here’s the breakdown for this month:

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$139, 265 (+1.6%)

My credit card bill was pretty crazy this month because of the trip to Hawaii for BF’s family’s wedding and the textbooks for next term (I bought USED from Amazon.com to be picked up in the US… but the bill was still ridiculous).

I also spent $100 for donations to charities in preparation for year end.  I have yet to calculate how much I have donated in 2011.

I spent $187 on three toner cartridges for my laser printer from Costco.ca (I LOVE MY LASER PRINTER btw).  Pricey, I know, but you wouldn’t believe how many pages I have printed out already.  I’m sure if I had an inkjet printer, I would probably have gone through 10 inkjet changes by now.

I haven’t done anything drastic investments-wise, but am planning again to move some investments/ cash from dividend payouts in my non-registered to my TFSA.

Oh, I got a scholarship from the application I told you guys about a while back (if your’e ever in school, just apply apply apply! You never know if you’re going to get it unless you try).  It is enough for next term’s tuition.  I haven’t included it in my net worth this month because it’s going to be deducted anyway very soon.

Okay, so here’s the breakdown for this month:

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$137, 109 (+1.6%)

Let’s see, I have no idea how this became a positive increase of 1.6%, but I won’t question the net worth gods.  I had a lot of expenses this month.  I paid for my flight to Hawaii for BF’s sisters wedding and I also paid for a portion of my flight to Thailand for February.  I finally (you’ll all be proud of me) got my windshield fixed (after being scared into it by a colleague).  I haven’t really been going out period, and working part time means I only fill up my gas tank about one every three weeks (sweet!!), so my expense of gas went from $150+ a month to perhaps $50 a month.  I also cut down on the cost of my dog food (he was on a special diet that cost $120 a month, now it is down to about $50 a month).

Okay, so here’s the breakdown for this month:

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$134, 931 (+0.8%)

I was super busy this month in terms of schoolwork so I think my spending was at a bare minimum (not even having time to grocery shop, really).  I also received my first reduced paycheque, the only consolation is that there is less tax when you’re earning next to nothing, which is nice.  I could get used to this less tax thing…

I moved more shares in-kind from my non-registered Questrade account into my TFSA account this month, but just XDV.TO.  I took advantage of it being pretty much “at cost” in my non-registered portfolio so I won’t incur any capital gains when selling.  I have about $2500 left in my TFSA contribution room for 2011.

I still have some shares in BCE and TU (Bell and Telus) that are in USD that I would like to see in my TFSA but I think I’m just going to let them sit there in the non-registered for now.

I’m really interested in buying HSE.TO (Husky) and Dividend Ninja picked this stock in his Dividend Growth Index as well.  However I don’t have much capital at the moment.  I’ll need to do some brainstorming to see where I can get the money to get me some Husky.

I sold the old cabinets on craigslist from our renovations and made a cool $350 off of junk, which is a nice feeling.  I put that money towards buying BF his birthday gift.  I’m glad I didn’t listen to BF when he said to just list it on Craigslist for free. Heh Heh.

Oh and PS Happy Thanksgiving Canada!!   I am proud to say I resisted the temptation to go shopping down at the Seattle Outlets, BF ended up going and came back with a cheesecake from Cheesecake etc. for me (yum!)

Okay, so here’s the breakdown for this month:

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$133, 736 (+0.8%)

I have NO idea how it managed to squeak out in the positive territory this month since the markets haven’t really improved much.  Well, I’m not complaining   This will likely be the last green net worth update I’ll see for two years, because I’ll be making substantially less as a full time student and a part-time employee.

Let’s see, I was a busy bee this month.  I was able to:

• put more money into my TFSA
• buy more SLF (hey, the dividend yield is at >5%… ) in my TFSA.  I have 98 shares so far and will just need two more to reach the magic number 100, which will give me an annual dividend yield of $432. $144 (Thanks Steve!)
• move some shares in-kind from my non-registered account to the TFSA account.  I moved my shares in BMO.TO, CPD.TO, and CYH.TO
• This gives me less and less TFSA contribution room which makes me feel warm and squishy inside

Okay, so here’s the breakdown for this month:
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