Money for One: Edition #3 Puppy love
Welcome to Money for One, where solo earners share their budgets with us. Once again, thank you for those who offered to participate. If you’re interested in participating, email me at singlebudgette@gmail.com.
Age: 44
Pronouns: She/her
Occupation: Digital Producer
Annual income: 92k
Do you have kids or not? No kids
Amount in RRSPs 67k
Amount in TFSAs 0
Amount in RESPs 0
Amount in RDSPs: N/A
Do you have any student loans? No
Do you have any credit card debt? No, but LOC debt is 10k
How much is your monthly rent or mortgage? $1240
How much do you pay a month for groceries? $350
How much do you pay a month for cable/streaming services? $50
How much do you pay for hydro? $80 – $110 (my water and electricity are lumped into one payment)
Do you pay for health insurance? How much? No (it comes out of my work, I think I pay $40 every two weeks?)
How much do you pay in insurance a month? (Could be home, car, disability, critical illness, life) car: $333 (damn u toronto! + being a new driver late in life), $45 condo insurance, $70 for Pet insurance (has paid out up to $2500 in past years).
How much do you spend on travel? $2000 per year
What else do you spend on, monthly? (Glasses, classes, equipment, etc.) S$ome software subscriptions, (Wordpress, Nintendo Online, Sophos, NYT Games) around $40 a month, and pet food and dog walking around $370 a month
Do you have an employee pension? How much do you contribute to it? Do they contribute? Yes, I contribute 1314 a month, they match
It’s payday, what three buckets are you putting money? (Could be travel, renovations, retirement, glasses, health, etc.)
Savings (travel, emergency things like a new set of tires),
2. Debt repayment,
3. Just trying to enjoy a cup of coffee once in a while.
How do you feel about the financial freedom and challenges that come with being the sole provider for yourself? What aspects feel empowering, and what aspects feel limiting?
I can make all the decisions and prioritize what I want (like if I want to buy my dog ridiculous harnesses that look cute), but then going on vacations as a single person costs a lot more.
What does one week of spending look like? (Think Sunday to Sunday). Please track everything down to taking the TTC, buying gum, etc.
Sunday:
Coffee: $3
Pay what you can skating at Ever Green Brickworks: $5
Parking $13.50
Netflix (shared w/ fam) $41.78
Monday:
Coffee & Lunch at work: $20
Condo fees (beginning of month) $506
Dog walking bill (for last month) $320
Tuesday:
nothing! Work from home ☺
Wednesday:
Property tax bill (3 payments, split bi monthly) $150
Coffee & Lunch at work: $20
Thursday
Metro groceries: $12
Gas (energy, not car) Bill: 42
Friday
Pizza Diner, $40
Tshirt from podcast swag store: $40
Saturday
Groceries for the week $78
Too Good To Go - $13 (rescued cake bag!)
Phone bill: $38.42
This week’s readings:
Canadians cutting spending, delaying purchases amid tariff turmoil: MNP survey (Toronto Star)
How a teacher paid off $65,000 of medical debt (The Cut, paywall)
Can you pass a seven-question quiz on financial literacy? (USA Today)