Book Smart!

Book Smart!

Looking at my budget, living on minimum wage just won't give me the outcome I want in the long run. Its enough to survive on but there is no way I can save for a house or a car.

Now I didn't plan on going back to school so I don't really have a page for it just yet.
Due to this post I will more than likely be making a page for it in the near future.

I have taken the decision to go back to school, and by school I mean high school. Since I only graduated last June, I can go back and upgrade some of my classes. The career path I am choosing requires some classes that I have not taken yet. On top of classes that I had not yet taken, it also gives me the opportunity to go back and do better on the classes that I need or like. Maybe something happened that year, a death in the family, a death of a friend, a bout of depression, or just lack of motivation. What I am doing allows for you to go back and improve the grades of those classes, by getting higher marks I am more likely to be accepted to the college classes that I will be applying for next year.

Speaking of college, I am on my way to talk to my bank about their "Student Loans" or "Student Lines of Credit". Yes unfortunately that will be doing the exact opposite of what I am trying to do, which is be debt free. Luckily the course I will be taking is under 5 grand therefore it should not take that long to pay off, as long as that course gets my into the apprenticeship program I am aiming for. It that all works out I will be making more than minimum wage and my budget will balance itself that much more.

Just because I am going back to school this fall does not mean I am giving up on getting a job. Granted it will be a minimum wage, part-time job, it will still be an income I can put into savings so that I will have a cushion to fall back on once I enter school. If I can keep that money in savings while I am in College I will have some extra funds so that if emergencies happen or I need to pay rent and I am running low on my student credit, I have the money on hand. 

The problem is deciding where I would like to do my apprenticeship as it is a 5-year experience to become a journeyman. In which I do not intend to be moving around a whole lot during it, I am not even sure if I can do that. I am thinking about moving in with my parents once more as my step-father is also in the trades and that way I will have a place to stay at relatively low rent.

In here I have also not mentioned my boyfriend at all and where he fits into all of this.
He is finishing up his studies as well and has yet to decide what career he would like to pursue. Once he does we will be moving, when we both finish up school and looking for a place, even if it is with my parents, where we can both find work and hopefully move on from there.

Off to my appointment!

Lets Get Started!

Hello, and Welcome to My Journey to Making My First Few Years on My Own Debt-Free!

Now a little background information.
I live in Canada and although we have free healthcare we also have a lot of poverty and not a lot of work. My family was always frugal when I was growing up as my mom was a very young mother who hadn't finished a lot of her schooling. My hometown used to be thriving but as of late is has died. The refineries are shutting down, oil production is a mystery, malls and local shops are closing and call centers seem to have taken over.

Fresh out of high school, looking for work and hoping to get a place of my own to call home I have decided to live as cheaply and as cost effective as I can. With the help of my boyfriend I intend to explore every avenue of frugal living. These topics will include growing my own food, or at least some of it, thrift store shopping for things from clothes to appliances, doing my own tailoring and savings money where I can.

I created this blog for a few reasons to document my journey, to help others like myself to start off and stay debt free, document my successes and failures and also get help from people who have learned from their journey.

In preparation I have watched many, MANY indoor gardening videos, taken home-ec classes and have researched and created budgets to make sure I can do this as effectively as possible. 

Time to get started!