My Finances

In line with my attempt to fix up my finances, last April, I started logging all money related data into an excel sheet. This will definitely allow me to see where my money is going. And having three months worth of data, so far, has given me a better idea of where am I wasting money, and how much am I really saving.

I separated my document into 4 categories:
1. Income
2. Investments
3. Debt/Obligation Expenses
4. Miscellaneous Expenses

My monthly "net" is computed as:
Income - (Investments + Debt/Obligation Expenses + Misc. Expenses)

What's left just goes straight to my savings account.

And what gets accumulated in my savings account eventually will be used for some "purchases" that I'd like to do some time in the future.

Now, I've only had three months worth of data, and I've been in Canada all those time, so it'll definitely be different once I am back in Manila. No extra Canada income and expenses for me!

Going back to my excel sheet, I've noticed a couple of things:

1. Miscellaneous expenses goes to shopping, food, and extra curricular activities. You only spend a few bucks here, and few bucks there, but eventually when you add it all up, it gets quite big. We have a tendency to scrimp on huge expenses, but when you list down all the mini expenses, it sums up to perhaps, an even bigger amount.

2. Investments and Debt Obligations take up majority of my monthly expenses. There are what we call good and bad debts, and my debt here is definitely not a good one. It's more of a luxurious debt for me because I wanted a car, and it's not earning me any money, but it's something I wanted, and I love very dearly. On the other hand, at least, I am still maintaining the consistency of investing monthly. I believe that if we want to prepare for our future, starting earlier is better. Thus, I make sure that I regularly and religiously "pay myself first" by setting aside money for my investments.

I used to be very thrifty and always saved a lot of my income. I realized how much of a "kuripot" person I am when I was about to go to Canada for the first time (this was way back 2008). When I was preparing, that's when I realized that I didn't have much clothes to bring over to Canada! Paulit ulit lang pala ang suot ko the whole time! That was a crappy feeling because normally, at home, we have someone who washes our clothes everyday. But in Canada, you don't do laundry on a daily basis! You do it on a weekly basis! Thus, what I needed was at least a week to two weeks worth of clothes! And you know how it is when you are cramming to buy clothes for yourself, you just can't find what you want/like when you need it!

My mom kept on reminding me that I am now earning my own money, thus I should start enjoying it! And so I started enjoying it, buying this and that but still on a controlled manner.

That is until late last year, when my spending habits went through the roof!!! Ok, I have to admit, that was a coping mechanism at that time.

Which is why early this year, I finally decided that I need to take some action and fix up my finances. I started diversifying my investments and I started my excel sheet. Well, I'm still spending quite a bit (I'm excused! I'm in Canada anyway!), but at least, I have some things fixed and aligned.

Hopefully I will continue to strive hard to maintain or even improve my financial standing. It'll definitely take a lot of work, but I think the important thing still to remember is that we still need to enjoy! There's no point working and working like crazy, earning the big bux but couldn't even enjoy the fruits of one's labor.

Longest Day Race

Aside from the Hike we did last Sunday, we also ran the "Longest Day Race" last Friday night. It's an annual even held during the spring/summer season here in Vancouver - in UBC to be exact.

For some reason, this picture keeps on rotating. I'll leave this in this position for now.

This is my second time joining this race. The first time was two years ago, and I joined the 5km. Now I can do 10km! I was with a couple of friends and all of us ran the 10km. I didn't run for the time though. I was there to motivate my other friend, who's running his first 10km. He did pretty well! 1 hour 14 minutes. Not bad!

The nice thing about this run is the after party - BBQ!!! A ton of food, burger, fruits, cookies, chips, you name it! We got to stash a lot of free stuff for ourselves as well. Some of which, I used for the hiking trip the following Sunday.

I like how things are going these days, I've really become more into fitness. In fact, we have a couple of things up and coming. Later this afternoon, we're joining this stretching class in the fitness center, and then this coming Saturday, our first Grouse Grind! Then next week, we're thinking of doing another hike.

My only concern is that I hope, I can continue this fitness craze when I get back to Manila. Let's wait and see.

I Conquered The Chief!

A friend of ours from office invited us for a hiking trip to Stawamus Chief in Squamish, British Columbia, not knowing what was in store for us! According to him, the hiking trip would take around 4 hours. Ok, that's not so bad. But that was under the assumption that the hike wouldn't be that hard!!

I was under the impression that the hike will just have sloping paths, zigzagging its way around the mountain, but I was mistaken. The first part of the climb reminded me so much of the Grouse Grind! It was like walking up endlessly in a staircase with no end in sight, add to the fact that you're climbing and stepping on rocks and roots instead! Total madness. Took us around 1 hour something just to go to our first stop, the rock, which isn't even halfway up!

But swaying away from the topic for a moment - I didn't expect my legs to hold on that well. Seems like my gym time is paying off!

Anyway, back to the chief. After reaching the end of the "Staircase", we reach this point where you need to grab on to a set of chains just so you can climb up! Scary portion of the climb, but very exciting. Unfortunately, I don't have hiking boots so I had to stick with my running shoes, which wasn't a good idea. Climbing through slippery rocks was very scary and my running shoes aren't providing me with the grip necessary to climb up there. I was scared like shit at one point, because I was holding on to dear life and my feet kept on slipping while I attempt to cross this huge boulder. I have no idea how I got to the other side, but what I do know is that I got a little bit of scratch mark in my legs after that portion.

Of course, anything you work hard for, always pays off after. Thus, reaching peak #2 was amazing! Unfortunately, it was foggy so we didn't see much of a view from up there, but we were given a different perspective with all the fog up there. It actually feels a bit more scary with all the fog around you, and you cannot even see the end of the cliff (just like my picture from up there)!

So all in all, it took us 6 hours to climb up, go to peak 1, 2 and 3, then climb down back to the parking lot. I find that going down is as hard as going up. Going down is terrible on the knees and ankles. Our friend Ronald, could hardly go down anymore. His knees were killing him. As for me, when I woke up this morning, I was expecting my legs to be sore, but it's not (I ran 10km last Friday night, so the soreness was still there). But I'm surprised that my shoulders and my back are pretty sore! Argh! I will need to rest for the next few days for sure or else I might aggravate the pain in my back. No gym

But then again, this is one activity I won't forget for a long time. I probably won't do this activity again next week, but perhaps, I'll do it again when I'm back in Canada some time in the future.

gym, work

I missed yesterday and today's gym sessions. :( I'm so disappointed.
Missed it yesterday because I went to watch a movie instead, and I missed tonight because I was too tired from my stupid work these days. I need to do my circuit training tomorrow! And this coming Friday, I have a 10km run! Can't wait!

On the other hand, my work these days have been terrible, terrible. I hate it! I hate the shitty reporting work that for some reason, always goes back to me. I'm hoping for a miracle that everything will just go away, and that I can just go back to doing coding, and that's it. Perhaps, I ought to pray about it tonight.

Canucks craze

Canada normally has a cold weather majority of the year which is why it's no surprise that hockey is their favorite sport here. And with the Vancouver Canucks reaching the Stanley Cup finals, everyone's just in hockey fever here.

I haven't seen this type of love and support by a whole city (or perhaps, even the whole country) to a sports team ever! A week ago, I was walking at Broadway and I see all these people, of all kinds of race, age, you name it, wearing a Canucks jersey, Canucks shirt, just about anything as long as it has the Canucks logo in it. Cars even have the Canucks flags sticking at their window. You'd even see houses setup with all Canucks related stuff!

In Manila, I'm guessing that when the Mavs won the NBA championship yesterday, everyone was talking about it. But here? We almost didn't know that NBA just finished, because basketball's just not the sport here. Everyone's just talking about the Stanley Cup!

The whole Canucks being in the finals of the Stanley Cup has proven to be good in the economy too. During a Canucks game, tons of people make their way to downtown, to different pubs and bars to watch the game. In fact, for this finals series, they even close off some areas in downtown because the fans are just everywhere! There's just this feeling of elation everywhere when the Canucks are playing. Once, I was in the skytrain, I saw these guys wearing their jerseys, had their face painted with the Canucks color, shouting around, and holding a replica of the Stanley Cup! So much fun to see these fans! I love their energy and support!

Think of it as when Manny Pacquiao has a boxing match, everyone in the Philippines is zoomed into their tv sets to watch the match. The only difference I see with the fans here is that, everyone's wearing the Canucks jersey (which by the way, will cost you 130++ dollars per jersey)! It's total madness, but it's so much fun too!

Tonight's game 6 at Boston with the Canucks leading the series 3-2. Everyone's gonna go bersek if they win! And I sure hope they win! It'll put everyone to a good mood! :)