Canadian Budget Binder

What’s Happening At The CBB House?

I’ve worked like a mad man trying to get things done around the house this past week and as you all know multitasking is not what I’m good at and neither is Mrs.CBB. Besides my career, the blog and hanging with the wife and friends I’ve set aside time to work on plans to get some renovations done around the house which are long overdue. Our plans so far include new updated bathrooms a new kitchen and some simple landscaping.

Making sure we  keep in line with what comparable homes have sold for to get the best return for our renovations. The last thing I want to do is over-renovate and lose money. The catch is we now have to save the cash to do these renovations  since our savings account will be depleted shortly. We knew we would be using up our cash to pay off the mortgage and are in no huge rush to renovate. That only means our plans will be stretched out over the course of the year and into next year.

We planted the garden as you would have read the past two weeks and I’ll be starting my flower seedlings shortly which I will blog about. I’m going to be getting rid of lots of plants in the back garden that we no longer need. I’m thinking about asking the neighbours (the nice ones) if they are interested in some free plants. There is nothing wrong with them it’s simply that we have too many varieties. I also have to split our Hostas this year as we have no space for them. If they don’t want them I will list them for free on Kijiji or freecycle as I’m sure someone would be happy to get their hands on therm. If you are looking for free plants a great place is freecycle as we picked some up in 2012 from a woman who was clearing up her garden as well.  What are your favourite flowers?

What’s Happening With The Mortgage?

We also paid a large amount off the principle of the mortgage the other day, part 1 of a few to get rid of it once and for all. I’ll be blogging about what’s new with our mortgage and what we will be facing in the upcoming months before we pay it in full. Sometimes things seem easier said then done and in this case it was something that was easier said then done, but we’re well on our way to owning our home outright and that makes us happy.

We’ve worked very hard to be where we are today and although we are far from an early retirement we know that learning from the mistakes we have made along the way has helped us gain an inch and sometimes a mile. I’ve read so many personal finance articles about what we should and shouldn’t do when it comes to paying off the mortgage, investing and keeping money in an emergency savings . I realize that all that matters is making an action plan that’s a fit for us. There is no right or wrong answers as we all have unique situations and I think that those that know what they want are one step ahead of the rest and that’s good.

What’s Happening With Life?

We don’t always know what we want so we take time to investigate and learn about our options so we can make informed decisions. I’ve learned about money since I was young and although I could have made better decisions here and there I’m happy with the path I’m on. One post I read that I agreed on although we are FAR from millionaires is “5 things your millionaire neighbour isn’t telling you” at the College Investor. If it’s one thing I’ve learned it’s to keep my mouth shut with my friends and family about money. I also learned to live below my means and love my wife and work with her so we are on the same page when it comes to finances and life. Divorce can cause your finances to take a huge hit. All work and no play is not a great mix when it comes to marriage. We are making plans to spend some quality time together this summer and maybe do some travelling in and around Ontario. We also have a date night once per week where it’s just the two of us, a good home cooked meal and a movie.

What’s Happening With  Canadian Budget Binder?

I have been on the hunt for some amazing new posts by my fans which I enjoy sharing. It’s always nice to dedicate one day a week to post a personal story that someone in our community wants to share with us. Canadian Budget Binder is NOT just about budgets. The budget binder has categories and every one of those categories represents a part of our life so Canadian Budget Binder is about Money and Life. The blog design is still in the works and I know many of you have emailed me asking about it. Hang tight because you never know when something special is going to happen here.

Giveaways

This week I’ve decided to hold a “Quickie Contest” at the blog and many of my fans who have been around since I started the blog know that a Quickie has nothing to do with jumping in and out of bed in a hurry. A Quickie means I’m holding a Giveaway for the fans that is only on for a certain amount of hours. Today I’m hosting a Quickie Contest for my Canadian readers to WIN $25 in Canadian Coupons. Read this post and at the end of the post you will see the Giveaway Widget, click on it and Good Luck!!

For all my other readers from around the world there is a contest on right now that I am co-hosting where you can walk away with $500 CASH through PayPal if you are the WINNER! Enter via my blog post- Starting Our Frugal Garden From Seed. You can find the link just below in the next section. In that blog post you will find a widget to Rafflecopter, click it and all the details are there! Good Luck!!

Expect an upcoming blog posts about “the neighbours”  and how they can get on our nerves and have no interest in cooperating to make our outdoor living space not look like a dump. Do you have a neighbour that rubs you the wrong way? Send me your story and I might include a snippet from it in my post! 

 Canadian Budget Binder Blog Posts 

If you would like to contribute a post to Canadian Budget Binder I am currently accepting posts from fans and fellow Bloggers! 

• The Grocery Game Challenge #11 Shopping Twice a Week March 11-17,2013~ Post your shop and you may be my next WINNER!!
• Mr.CBB’s Chocolate Chewy Big Bites- Chocolate Cookies you WILL want to try!!
• How Smoking Affected The Cost Of Our Insurance Premium- Check out how much money we saved with our insurance premiums just by quitting smoking!  
• PF Weekly Reading List #11- Free Money, Want Some?- Amazing what kids can do when you turn your back.
• How I Paid Off My Osap Loan Fast- Students are struggling to get rid of their education debt, find out how one fan of CBB did it and fast!
• Starting Our Frugal Garden From Seed- Learn how we started our garden, tools we used and lots of great pictures to help you get started. PLUS Enter to WIN $500 CASH… details in the post just click the link to find out more!
• The Saturday Weekend Review- Door To Door Sales Begins!- Get ready to say No or to listen to what the salespeople want to sell you!

Canadian Budget Binder Mentions Around The Web

Thanks for sharing Canadian Budget Binder with your fans!

• Prepper Podcast Radio Network- Shared Making The Best Of What Is Available- My Grocery Shopping
• Reflections With Rhonda- Rhonda shares Starting Our Frugal Garden From Seed
• Eyes on the Dollar- Kim is hoping I don’t whip out the bamboo shoots and shares The Grocery Game Challenge
• Money Bulldog UK- Adam shares How smoking cost us money with our life insurance
• Coupon Christine- Check Our Checkout 51 says Christine!
  
• The Frugal Farmer- Laurie shared how we started our garden from seeds
• Planting Our Pennies -The Pops gave a shout out about The Grocery Game Challenge
• My Own Advisor – Mark shares how we went frugal with our garden
• The Frugal Farmer- Shared A Before and After Meal Using my Ricotta Spinach Fettucine
• Cents and Sensibility-  Lindsey shared  a post all about The Grocery Game Challenge
• Wise Dollar- Jose shares How We Started Our Frugal Garden From Seed
• Fit Financials -Shared Canadian Budget Binder Net Worth Update February 2013 Move or Stay?
• The Outlier Model- CF and Brian Shared our Canadian Budget Binder Budget Update
• Mo Money Mo Houses- Jessica Shares The Grocery Game Challenge!

Carnivals

Not many this week as I didn’t really submit to any.

• Personal Finance Carnival- Aspriring Blogger
• Carnival of Financial Planning- Brick By Brick Investing
• Carnival of Financial Independence- Reach Financial Independence

Top 10 Facebook Fans This Week

• Mary Campbell
• Christine Weadick
• Nicola Don
• Jen Peacock
• Wendy LeDrew
• Juanita Paul
• Katrina Bearinger
• Beth Anne
• Tammy Burke
• Tricia Murphy Sanders

Search terms really help me to understand what people are looking for at Canadian Budget Binder! Any typos below are simply how the person who searched typed it in search, or me  Another week of thousands of searches but only a few good ones worth mentioning.

Top Pick: Irish Illegals In Toronto and how many? – Like I’m going to know….

• Abuse of the Scanning Code of Practice- That’s interesting as I didn’t know it could be abused or really thought much about it to be honest. If a company is alerted that a product has an incorrect price it is now up to them to get the price fixed immediately. If someone were to come in the next day and you STILL haven’t fixed it how is that the customers fault? Am I missing something? If so, let me know what’s going on with SCOP.
• ID for Illegal Immigrants in Toronto- Nope you won’t find any of that funny stuff here although I’m sure someone is making a killing in extra side income on this one.
• Heck Out 51- lol.. oopsie missed the “C”
• no yes- well which is it, no or yes haha
• Why Filing for Mat Leave Sucks- haha, oh brother I can’t stop  laughing. Although I’m sure it sucks when you lose a good portion of your income.

Rafflecopter Giveaway<<< CLICK THE LINK Contest Ended

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• How I Reduced Our Grocery Budget From $1100 To $600 In 6 Months (canadianbudgetbinder.com)
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