How I paid for my Van & Conversion

Everyone has their own success story on how they achieved their goals and dreams, and although money doesn’t bring happiness it does bring some form of freedom and ability. Financially for me, it was putting a plan in place and since then endless hours of work on top of work, which I knew would be the case when I decided to make this dream a reality. Once I knew I wanted to buy a Van and do the conversion myself, Steve and I went to a cafe to look at my current status, first I picked a dollar amount I wanted to put down as a deposit of my own funds, and from there calculated how much I made, how much I would need to save each month in order to reach that number to purchase the Van. And finally how much I could save each month to put away for the conversion cost.

During this time, we met with my builder to discuss labor and material cost, determining that value gave me a better idea of just how much I would need to save for the conversion side of things. 

The Plan

My Financial plan was based on a spending allowance of $800 (sometimes $700) a month which was distributed into 4 categories (4 mason jars) and then ensure at the end of each month I was saving $2000 to put away into my Van Fund, once I earned enough to purchase the van and it was paid for – the money went into the Van conversion fund. Prior to buying the van, I started my plan in December 2020 and purchased the Van in March, therefore anything earned from April to July was all going towards the material and cost of the conversion work. 

My Income

When it comes to my actual earnings, nothing abnormal here, I have always worked more than one career (I like to keep busy and I like money) haha. I work full-time for a company in Ontario and have been for the past 6 years, this is my mainstream of income. A little over part-time I work in the Sports/Health Nutrition industry and have been for the past 8 years here in my city. On top of those 2 careers, I coach athletes in Cheerleading a few times a week and on occasion take on clients for any creative – photography/videography assignments. 

To simplify things, a typical week would look like this; 

Monday530am – 630am Coaching →  7am to 7pm Ontario CS/Nutrition Store →  
730pm to 830pm coaching
Tuesday8am to 9am Meeting → 7am & on call Ontario CS → 4pm to 5pm Coaching 
Wednesday530am – 630am Coaching →  7am to 7pm Ontario CS/Nutrition Store
Thursday530am – 630am Coaching → 7am & on call Ontario CS 
Friday7am to 7pm Ontario CS/Nutrition Store  → 730pm to 830pm coaching
Saturday10am Coaching (Odd times working at the Nutrition Store for 5 hours)
SundayMe Day 🙂 

Although I have been grinding and yes, burning myself out a little to meet the financial goals/needs, I don’t exactly recommend doing it this way if you don’t have to. But in my case, I had bigger than normal purchases and a specific self-decided timeline which meant I had to tighten my seatbelt a little tighter… and I did.  I found myself burning out here and there but when I noticed this emotionally, I took the steps needed to step back and put myself first. 

Upon working endlessly, I was on a more personal level healing in my own way from the past and present life, so I made the time for myself to put my healing and emotions first on specific days/times and took every evening opportunity to spend with my best four-legged friend.

At the end of the day, I worked, I saved and I gave it all away (haha) in the best way of course… to make this happen. I will shamelessly mention, I was generously gifted a few dollars to go towards my conversion as a proud of you moment which helped tremendously. If you haven’t yet seen my youtube Video also explaining and showing you a day in the life of my [work] life, check it out HERE.

Thank you to absolutely everyone for your endless support and for following me along this long-awaited journey. If you have a moment, I would love for you to Subscribe to my channel and engage in my adventures!  🙂

Many Blessings,

Cassandra Rae, xo