Canadian Budget Binder

15 Frugal Ways To Stock Children’s Books For Your Home Library

September 29, 2016 By Mr. CBB 1 Comment

READING IS ABSORBING INFORMATION THAT YOU CAN’T GIVE BACK Reading DOES matter in a child’s life and should start the minute they can look into your eyes, listen with their ears or touch with their hands. We began reading to our son shortly after he came home from the hospital. Not only that but we began to play soft music throughout the day like my wife did when he was in her tummy. That might sound daft to some people but for a baby hearing their parents voice talking to them is soothing and what better way to begin than by reading a book. Children’s Books can be expensive Have you ever seen the prices on brand new books that have never been cracked open? Some of the prices are mind-blowing especially on children’s books. Next time you’re in a book store or if you have any children’s books at home flip them over or look in the front cover to check for prices. Shoppers who pay full retail price for children’s books only do so because they really, really want it. Sometimes it’s hard to resist those cute books that you know your son or daughter […]

Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: Amazon Canada, Chapters Indigo, cheap books, children's books, Costco Canada, dollar store, e-books, e-reader, eBay Canada, Facebook, Financial literacy, free children's books, garage sale, Kids Books Canada, kijiji, Kindle, Literacy, Loblaws, Mastermind Toys, Melissa and Doug, PC Plus Rewards, Scholastic Canada, shoppers drug mart, Shoppers Optimum Points, St. Jacobs Market, text and tales, The Canadian Children's Book Centre, the crossings used books, Toys R Us, Varage Sale

12 Practical Ways To Afford Expensive Food For Less : The Grocery Game Challenge 2016 #4 Sept 26-Oct 3

September 27, 2016 By Mr. CBB 5 Comments

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The most expensive meal you will ever eat is the one you can’t afford. When you crave the most expensive steak but your budget can’t afford it there are ways to get what you want but the key is, patience. Luxury food differs from person to person depending on their grocery budget but it is possible to splurge without paying the price. Most frugal consumers read the flyers and create their grocery list based on that alone. If you really want something that you just can’t afford it’s important to be mindful when you grocery shop. By that I mean scanning for prices. You may not be able to buy it at that moment but eventually you’ll get what you want. We get a bit happy in the grocery store if we find 50% off packages of bacon or other expensive food that we would never buy full-price unless we had to. Even then we may never buy some of the more expensive food on sale because it’s not practical for our family. Over the years we’ve experienced just about every way possible to purchase expensive food that we wouldn’t typically try for less. You may buy a fattier […]

Filed Under: The Grocery Game Tagged With: Canada, Enfamil, expensive food, expensive food products, expensive meal, expensive steak, grocery budget, Grocery store, PC Elite MasterCard, President's Choice, SCOP, zehrs

Warm Spiced Apple Pear Sauce

September 25, 2016 By Mr. CBB 3 Comments

HARVEST THE SCENT OF FALL AND LET SIMPLE FLAVOURS FIND THEIR WAY INTO YOUR HOME. Enjoy this warm spiced apple pear sauce to finish off a meal for an Autumn dessert. The relaxing aroma will fill you house with Fall festival smells that will linger throughout the day. If you’re anything like my wife she has to smell every spiced candle on the market when the Autumn season say GO. I say forget the candle and fill your home with love starting in your kitchen. Let me show you what we’ve done in less than 30 minutes. Trying to create recipes for fresh pears and apples this time of year is fairly simple if you stick to basic Fall Harvest recipes that have been served up for decades. In our fruit basket we had 2 Bosc pears and 2 Royal Gala apples that needed using up so in less than 30 minutes I had a small kettle filled with spiced apple pear sauce. Related: Magically Moist Apple Cake with Butter Rum Raisin Glaze The apple sauce has very little sugar added since apples and pears naturally have sugar. You don’t want to overpower the fresh organic flavours of your […]

Filed Under: Desserts/Treats Tagged With: apple and pear recipes, apple pear, apple pear sauce, applesauce, bosc pears, Orange Pippin, pear recipes, pear sauce, recipes with pears, Royal Gala apples, spiced apple

Makeup And My Beauty Routine Is Going To Bankrupt Me : The Saturday Weekend Review #191

September 24, 2016 By Mr. CBB 7 Comments

BEAUTY IS A BIG INDUSTRY THAT CAN SWALLOW YOUR MONEY WITH DESIGNER PROMISES My wife was talking to her sister on Skype while she was getting ready for work yesterday morning. She was in the bathroom straightening her hair and said she had been up since 5:30am and she was running behind as it was 7am. I’m in the kitchen prepping the pumpkin spice coffee into the coffee pot that was graciously gifted to us by our neighbour for watching his cat while they went on holidays. In the midst of pouring the water in the back of the worst coffee pot ever I’m trying NOT to listen to them chat but it’s hard not to when the topic is about Money. You have to understand something about my wife’s sister, she’s a Hollywood beauty enthusiast and loves everything to do with make-up, body lotions, creams and perfume. Her closet is an entirely different situation but let’s just say in the past 3 weeks she’s donated over 4 garbage bags full and she’s still not done purging at the advice of her mother. When she was younger there was no hiding that she had debt because she was spending […]

Filed Under: The Saturday Weekly Review Tagged With: 20x Optimum Points, Beauty, beauty budget, Beauty Routine, Budget, Chewtown, Chris McMillan, Classy Career Girl, Clinique, ESI Money, Halloween, Halloween crafts, Hope and Cents, IHeart Crafty Things, Kim Kardashian West, L'Oreal, MAC makeup, Make-Up, messy bun, shoppers drug mart, Spider Plate, value-village, walmart

Fixed Income Seniors Struggle To Learn How To Budget

September 22, 2016 By Mr. CBB 6 Comments

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DON’T LEAVE YOUR FINANCIAL DREAMS SCATTERED ON THE GROUND Learning how to budget after never using one has caused two seniors we know anxiety over their financial future. If they could do it all over again they would change so much about the way they managed their money. They know they can’t turn back the clock and must face the reality of living on a fixed income with little to no retirement savings and lots of grandchildren. They are not alone as many Canadians on a fixed income struggle to make ends meet and must juggle their money to balance their budget, if they use one. Living on a fixed income is a big deal especially for seniors or individuals who rely on money from sources other than from an employer. Cost-of-living increases can cripple those who live on a fixed income especially if they have no other sources of extra money to take from. People are talking about finance and income so much these days particularly in Ontario because most people are struggling with soaring utility costs and high debt loads. Comparing a Hydro bill to a mortgage payment is not unusual for some homeowners these days. If […]