What Happens in Vegas...

"If you know how to live in Vegas you can have the best time." - Tony Curtis

I recently got back from an awesome vacation in Las Vegas and I'm still adjusting to the relative quiet of Toronto. This was my first visit to Sin City and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. To be honest, Vegas is cray... and yes, I dropped 'z' to emphasize how nuts the place actually is.

To describe the city, Artie Lange said "Vegas means comedy, tragedy, happiness and sadness all at the same time." From my point of view (because I'm a huge people watcher), it also means inhibition, excessiveness, poor life choices, and a hell of a lot of fun.

Beautiful view of the strip from our room at Vdara

 Some of you who follow the blog might wonder why I went to Vegas when I'm trying to stay on a budget. You might think "Vegas on a budget - is this even possible?" I'm sure it is, and on an even tighter wallet than mine.

Before I went, a friend told me to expect to spend anywhere between $500-$800 for four days in Vegas. That doesn't even include the airfare/hotel/fees. ARE YOU NUTS?!? I definitely don't have the cash flow to make that a possibility - I didn't want to skimp out on my trip but I also couldn't justify acting like a high-roller.

Looking to save a few bucks? Here's a few things my friend and I did to keep the cash spend low (or at least, as low as we could.)

1. Hit the outlet malls
Like most major metropolitan centers, Las Vegas is a shopping mecca. The Shops at Crystals is a high-end shopping mall that has designer shops like Balenciaga, Roberto Cavalli, and Van Cleef & Arpels. However, unless you're a high-roller, these places may break your bank. At the same time, you don't want to completely cut yourself off from retail therapy, and that's where the outlet malls come in. Las Vegas has the awesome Las Vegas Premium Outlets situated on either end of the strip. You can find great deals on brands like Michael Kors, Fossil, and BCBG Max Azria (among others.) When we were there, most of the shops were running 50% deals on a lot of the items in store (and that was after the huge savings the outlets were already offering).

2. Public transit
Let's face it, cabs are crazy expensive. Add in the horrendous traffic in Las Vegas, and you'll just watch the fare meter tick up and up. A day pass on RTC Transit (the Las Vegas Transit Authority) is just $8 for 24 hours of unlimited rides - when you compare this to the $6 for 2 hours only, the day pass is a great deal! If you think you'll be using transit a lot during your stay, a 3-day unlimited pass is only $20. We also took a special bus from the airport - it cost $15 USD for a roundtrip to/from McCarran Airport and you could schedule it to grab you at your hotel at any time. 

3. Work the system
Did you know that most of the hotels on the strip are owned by MGM Resorts? This means that there is a good chance your hotel can get you a deal on something another hotel is featuring. My friend and I wanted to go see the Cirque du Soleil show "Zarkana", which was running at the Aria Hotel right across the roundabout. The Tix4Tonight booths were advertising "half-price" tickets at over $90 for balcony seats. However, we called our concierge and they were able to get us really great balcony tickets at $55!

4. Head off the strip
The stores located close to your hotel (aka are the most convenient) jack their prices up because they know most tourists can't be bothered to find a deal. You're in Vegas, you're catching rays, drinking in the splendours... what do you care that you have to pay $3 for a Coors Light Tallboy? If you're like me and don't mind walking a little bit, you can save a bit of money. Even heading off The Strip for a few blocks can net you way better deals. At an off-strip location, we got alcohol, soda, and sunscreen for several dollars cheaper (about 25 per cent) than offered at the CVS directly across from our hotel. Another great thing about the United States is that they sell booze just about everywhere - even our gas station beer was cheaper than found on The Strip!

5. Know your limit
This applies to regular spending as well as gambling. If you're afraid that you'll bankrupt yourself at the ATM, remove the temptation. Either leave your debit card at home or set a strict daily spend limit with your bank. To start, my VISA has a low credit limit and won't let me charge more than $20 over it so I was never in danger of losing any hard cash. If you still want to gamble without setting foot in the highrollers's room, all of the casinos have slot machines with low betting amounts. My friend and I played the penny slots after our dinner at Tao and managed to win back a few bucks ;). 

6. Make a package
Bundle, bundle, bundle! If you're not using a booking site like Red Tag or Travelocity, why not? Unless you're booking with travel points, you're missing out the great deals you can get when you combine your hotel and flight. 

7. Hotel with a kitchen
I know that it's not always possible to get a hotel room with kitchenette, but it's a sure-fire way to save money. Our room at Vdara Hotel and Spa came with a mini-fridge, sink, microwave, and range top. While the fridge didn't store much, it did allow us to choose our alcohol, restaurant leftovers, and items for breakfast. Even when you economize, three restaurant meals a day can add up... try to get groceries when you can and hopefully your hotel room will have places to store them. 

On a side note, I'd recommend the Vdara to anyone looking for a great place to stay in Vegas. Even the most basic rooms are luxurious, staff are pleasant and attentive, and it's close to anything you need. Only caveat: if you're heading to Sin City during a huge event like UFC, confirm your room before you go. We were accidentally given a room with only one King bed for two girls, though we had reserved a double room. By the time we were checked in to the hotel and got up to our room, the hotel was fully booked for UFC and there was no way to get two beds.

8. What's for free?
Events in Las Vegas are expensive... but they don't have to be. There is a lot to do in town that is free... and if not free, at a low cost to you. The Bellagio Fountains put on choreographed shows that include music and lighting. Starting in the afternoon, these shows are timed every 15-30 minutes so you're sure to see something! The Bellagio also offers free admission to the Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. Another great find was the dueling piano bar at Harrah's. We'd been on the lookout for such a place as my friend loved it the last time she was in town. Dueling piano bars aren't free.. but they're super entertaining and a lot cheaper/more in tune than pop stars whose names have been censored for their protection. 

Here are a few things I would've done in hindsight.

1. Don't hit up the lobby Starbucks
You may need caffeine... but are you willing to stand in a twenty minute long line and pay 30 per cent more for it? I'm sad to say that I was. Next time I'd head to one of the other trillion Starbucks in the immediate vicinity, make use of those instant Via packets, or even get a cheaper cup of joe while I was hanging out pool-side.

2. Avoid the souvenir cups
Well, avoid the large souvenir cups. One cool (read: touristy) thing to do in Vegas is to head to one of Fat Tuesday's many locations and grab a yard-long plastic cup filled with an alcoholic freezie. A smaller cup will do just fine! You probably don't need the extra booze and sugar in the big cup... and no matter what you tell yourself, you won't be bringing the big cup home in your suitcase.

3. Bring more cash
ATM fees suck... especially cross-border ATM fees. Even before I got on the airplane, I knew that I would need more cash than what I had brought. But for some reason, I decided to wait until I was on my last fiver to take out more money and incur the wrath of the financial fee fairy.

Do I regret ordering drinks pool-side? Hell no. There are some pricey things in Las Vegas that you just have to say yes to. If you've been to Vegas, is there anything I missed? Do you think it's possible to see Vegas without breaking the bank?

To keep the Sin City feeling rolling, here's a video of The Rat Pack (featuring Johnny Carson) to serenade you away.

In Case of Emergency...

In this volatile economic climate, it is very important to expect the unexpected. That’s where an emergency fund comes in. To put it basically, an emergency fund is money set aside for emergent expenses. In the economic crash of 2008, many people found themselves without a job or steady income stream. They got into further issue (read: DEBT) by relying on credit because they had no emergency fund and/or very little savings.

Do I have an emergency fund? No. Do I intend to set up a separate banking account for emergencies? ABSOLUTELY. I'm leaning towards a TFSA (but more on that later.) I do have about one month's expenses sitting in my chequing account but I'm loathe to change it over. Why? No clue. Laziness? Fright? Not having done the appropriate amount of research on which kind of account to use for it? Let's say a mix of all three.

Many people worry because they don’t have enough to set aside to cover the approximately one to six months of expenses financial experts advocate for. They worry because they either don't have the chunk of change available right now or just can't imagine ever being able to put away that kind of money. But I think you should think of an emergency fund as a long term goal: slowly but consistently put aside money until you reach the amount you would like.

Another point of contention among financial experts and people desperately trying to put together a workable budget is how much you should set aside. Some say 3-6 months of salary, others say a flat fee of $3000, or 3-6 months of expenses. For me, that would be three wildly different amounts! You have to decide this for yourself so consider how long you would need to use the emergency fund (how long would you expect to be out of work or paying for a medical procedure, etc.)

You also need to think about what constitutes an emergency. Is it replacing a dying computer? Probably not... unless that computer brings in your only source of income (but scroll down for a few thoughts on that.) On all the blogs I've read (see my Blogroll for sources), emergencies have ranged from sudden unemployment, to emergent medical procedures, or weather-related damages to a home that aren't covered under insurance.

Advice on emergency funds that I agree with most (these just seem to make the most common sense):

• If you have an unexpected bill that you construe as an emergency, try to come up with an alternate plan to pay for it (if possible.) Can you pare down on your cell phone data plan or commit to no restaurant food this month? On that note, if you can pay the bill by tweaking your lifestyle, is it really an emergency? Thoughts?
• Your emergency fund should stay untouched until you face a bill that you literally cannot afford to pay (and the new Marc Jacobs bag that you put on your VISA last month doesn't count).
• Can you decrease the cost of the emergency? Can you shop around for a better deal on the car you are replacing after it got totaled in an accident?

Please don't read this as me preaching about the financial do's and don'ts but instead slowly figuring out the workings of a successful grownup life. I need all the help that I can get! If anyone has any advice on emergency funds, I'm all ears. What about you guys? Is anyone socking away some bills for a rainy day (aka the day the rain leaks through the roof and floods the kitchen?)

Losing your job or dealing with a serious illness is stressful enough without adding money woes into it. Take care of yourself now and put money away so that you don't run into trouble later. You can't leave it all up to chance because there are way too many ifs in this world.

*If you're looking for more resources on the importance of an emergency fund, definitely check out Give Me Back My Five Bucks. I know I say it all the time, but Krystal Yee really knows her stuff!

Pretty Reckless

"Craving, not having, is the mother of a reckless giving of oneself." - Eric Hoffer

Have you ever gone to check your bank account balance, only to find far less money in there than you expected? You frantically scroll through your banking history, looking for the out-of-place purchase or fraudulent activity... only to find nothing of the sort. Instead you just find financial stupidity of your own design... willy-nilly bank withdrawals, Starbucks lattes every day, food court takeout lunches.

Those tiny purchases you barely blink an eye at are actually the foundation of some pretty reckless spending. "But it's just a dollar here or there," you say. "Does it really matter?"

 You're damn skippy it does. But why?

• You'll get charged bank fees out the wazoo for overzealous use of your debit card (ask me about the Christmas season in university where I got dinged $75 by the bank for all the extra times I used my debit card... that was more than all the money I spent on Christmas gifts combined!)
• You won't actually be seeing where your money goes or have an accurate idea of what you're actually spending
• You have no idea what your actual bank account balance is (and boy howdy will it come as a shock. It always does.)
• It destroys any chance of sticking to a budget
• Myriad other reasons not listed here (but for reference, go check out Gail Vaz-Oxlade's site or Give Me Back My Five Bucks)
• Straight up, you're throwing your money away. 

So how do you fix it? First, let's please remember that I am no financial wizard myself and have also been guilty of reckless spending a time or two... okay, a bazillion! I've included some tips from money wizards below, as well as a few things that have worked for me in the past. 

• Leave your debit/credit card at home.
• Why this works: you don't have access to it so you're not tempted to spend it.
• When you do go shopping, do it with a list.
• Why this works: This 'money rule' from Gail Vaz-Oxlade does test your willpower but makes you better off in the end. Her advice if you see something you want that hasn't been written down? "Put whatever you think you want on your list, and GO HOME. If you still want it in 48 hours, you can go back for it." 
• Take out cash at the beginning of the week and when it runs out, you're done.
• Why this works: a little self-explanatory, I think.
• Avoid places where you can spend money.
• Why this works: see above
• Sleep on it.
• Why this works: For one, this helps curb the dreaded impulse purchase. Research shows that 88% of impulse purchases are made on sale items... so after sleeping on the idea, you may come to the realization that the sale item really wasn't that great a deal after all. Vaz-Oxlade makes a great point when she says "If you walk away from the idea of the buy, giving your brain enough time to weigh the actual benefits against the actual costs, you’re moving from impulse shopping to problem recognition."
• Take more than a casual interest in checking your online banking history.
• Why this works: the more aware of the running total, the less inclined you will be to spend like a rapper... or a Kardashian... or the dreaded combo of the two: KIMYE. 

You are the architect of your own (financial) destruction (and if you can identify the TV show that line is from, I'll give you a virtual cookie). You are the only one that can make the changes that will keep you on the path to financial success. It truly is the little things that add up in the end.

Tales of Me and the Taxman

If you drive a car, I'll tax the street,
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat.
If you get too cold I'll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet.
Don't ask me what I want it for
If you don't want to pay some more
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman
- Taxman by The Beatles (1966)

Would I call myself a "money moron" as my financial idol Gail Vaz-Oxlade would put it? Normally, no. But when it came to filing my taxes this year, I most definitely found myself on the receiving end of some pretty vicious insults from my biggest critic (that's myself, btw.) When you're new to the grown-up world,  I'm sure it's pretty common (acceptable even) to not be aware of the full array of claims you may be eligible for. But it's not acceptable to not be aware of the duties/requirements expected of you as a taxpayer.

Ignorance is not bliss, people!

Hopefully my experiences this year can help some of you out, or perhaps just getting this out in the open will permanently knock some financial sense into me. Here's hoping!

As a young person recently out of school and entering the workplace, I've gotten used to receiving a nice chunk of change back from the government after I filed my annual tax return. Low-income jobs, tuition/books fees and my timid foray into the world of RRSPs has always added up to a hefty return, and I've gotten used to this. Nay, have started to expect as my due! Why would I expect anything less when I went online to Turbo Tax and started to fill in all the lines and boxes with my financial information? So when I clicked 'calculate return', I immediately thought it was an error when I saw a negative red number! 'What did I forget to enter?' I thought frantically as I pushed through my stack of papers. 'How can I possibly owe almost $900? Turbo tax must be doing something wrong!'

'Oh yes,' I thought, when I noticed my error, 'I forgot to enter taxes paid from my second job at the grocery store. Silly Lisa, you must pay more attention.' But the horror only multiplied when I found my T4 and saw that I hadn't paid taxes there... at all. You see, I made the cardinal error of not amending my federal/provincial tax when I got an additional job.

You should be aware that when you get employment, you need to fill out a TD1 form (at least you do in Canada.) Your employer uses it to determine the amount of your federal tax deductions - all Canadians can claim the Basic Personal Amount (a figure hovering around the $11 000 mark). Aka you will not get taxed on salary made up to this amount. When I was at school, I would never make even close to this amount at my job so filling it out was quite easy.

It wasn't until I got my first "real" job that my salary rose to above this mark, and it was the first time that I carried more than one job at a time. But this being my first time for these things should not be an excuse. I simply didn't think to amend the TD1 at my secondary job to show that I had more than one employer at a time - you NEED to do this so that your secondary income gets properly taxed and so that you don't find yourself owing the government a huge chunk of your hard-earned change in April. (Note: if you're a freelancer, you also need to be aware of that tax situation as well.)

So here I am, having to give money this year instead of getting something back. And yes, I kick myself every time I think about it because I have no one to blame but myself. I definitely high-tailed it to my manager at the grocery store to amend my TD1 as soon as I realized my error. I head into the fabulous summer season (as well as birthday and wedding season) broke... but smarter. So I guess it's not the absolute worst place to be in.

Bottom line: don't be like me, don't be a money moron.

Bills, Bills, Bills

The shoe on my feet, I've bought it

The clothes I'm wearing, I've bought it

The rock I'm rockin', I've bought it

'Cause I depend on me

- Destiny's Child

  
I think one of the scariest things about being out on your own is being 100% responsible for every bill that comes your way. You have to pay to play, and all of a sudden you might find yourself cutting back on everything on food to cell-phone minutes just to make sure your cheques don't bounce. 

This is the position I find myself in: for the first time in my life, if there is something that I need/want, I'm the one who has to spend the money. Food, on me. Rent, on me. Getting new contact lenses because I can't see worth a damn, that's on me too. Please don't think this is a diatribe from some super spoiled girl whose parents just handed over the plastic every she needed something. That's definitely not the case. Since high school, I've had a job so that I had an influx of cash... but I was also lucky enough that my parents split the bills with me (especially when it came to post-secondary education.)

But now that I am out of the house and living on my own, I can't sponge off my parents anymore (besides an occasional weekend visit.) If I want to eat dinner, I'm the one who has to go to the grocery store. 

There now exists this thrilling yet terrifying feeling of no safety net. Every purchase I make seems like a gamble... especially in a still uncertain economy. The ever-present sense of financial guilt also rears its ugly head. Should I put more money down on my line of credit? Should I be directing a larger share of each paycheque to my savings? How bad is it that I can't seem to make any headway on an emergency account?

I can't be the first person in the world to have these feelings, but sometimes in financial matters, you often feel like you're going it completely alone.

What doesn't help matters is the following: this morning my debit card got declined at Tim Horton's for a paltry $2.37. After going to a local bank branch and seeing that my bank balance was far below the expected, I found out that someone had stolen my account information and pin number and had made two unauthorized withdrawals from my account. Suffice to say, your day doesn't start off well when you find out that someone in India has just withdrawn almost $400 from your chequing account. I have nothing but great things to say about the TD Bank Loss Prevention Centre - I'll be getting my money back in less than 48 business hours (which could be 4-5 days which isn't optimal during holiday shopping season) and now I've got one of them new-fangled VISA Debit Cards. 

Lesson learned from this whole schmozzle is simple: it's perfectly okay (and healthy) to be worried about being the only one responsible for paying your bills. I'd much rather be paranoid about my bank balance and check it several times a day, than to be completely lax and miss some fraudulent charges. But just remember that you have a whole network of people (friends, family, the bank's loss prevention centre) who will stand behind you as you navigate this crazy world of fiscal responsibility.

Hopefully everything is going smoothly out there for all you and that you can take some time to enjoy the holiday season. I plan to do just that.. though I have to admit that I will be enjoying it a little more once the money is returned to my account.