Posts Tagged ‘The Saturday Weekend Review’

The Saturday Weekly Review #21- End of May And A Dog and Garden Update

Posted: May 25, 2013 in The Saturday Weekly Review
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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The Saturday Weekly Review

It’s near the end of May so a garden and a dog update is in order even though the weather has been less than cooperative. I was hoping to have all my plants in the ground by now but that’s far from what’s happened.  It’s nice to see all the neighbours outside now though cleaning up their yards and gardens keeping the neighbourhood tidy.

With the weather being so unpredictable lately it seemed like every time I wanted to get some landscaping done it would rain. I’m happy to say the worst of the landscaping job is done and I probably saved myself a couple of thousand dollars doing the work myself. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve brought our plants in and out. I was outside last night covering our fig tree and planter boxes in case they were damaged with the expected -5 wind chill. 

All the other plants that were movable came inside for the night. I guess that’s one thing about having lots of plants is that you need a back up plan just in case frost does hit. You want to protect your investment but at the same time you don’t want to go nuts doing it in the process. It does get tedious hauling plants in and out but if you really want to keep them healthy it’s worth the time and effort to keep them safe.

I noticed one of our neighbours yesterday putting bags over his plants as well as potato sacks and turning blue recycle bins upside down. You don’t want to smother the plant, rather protect it from the elements over night and I thought that was a brilliant idea. If it happens again I may just pull out our extra bins and make good use of them.

For our planter boxes I just drilled some screws quickly around the box and attached garbage bags to the screws to hold the bag in place. It worked like a charm although the fig tree is a bit more demanding. I may look into getting it a frost jacket for next year. Don’t ask me what the heck a frost jacket is either, I just made that up but it sounds catchy. Maybe I can start a new business venture in plant jackets.. any takers out there?

Here are a few photos from the garden… at the end of May 2013. I will share more as they start to come out.

End Of May Garden 2013 part 2

Rhododendron White

Not Just A Dog, Our Dog

If you follow me on Facebook you know our dog has been ill and that is why I’ve been quiet on the blogosphere this past week or so. We took him to the vets this week and he had some minor surgery done but enough that he needed some good drugs. I had a chuckle after because the vet said, “oh he loved the drugs, he was so relaxed” because my poor dog has never been to the vets for anything other than shots and meds. He is very active and always on the go so maybe taking a bit of a relaxer wasn’t so bad after all. When he came out he was stumbling all over the vets and the cat that lives at the vet come up to him again, nose to nose.

He would normally move right in on the cat (a female)  but he just looked at the cat and turned away. It was the cats chance to say, what’s a matter big boy, can’t face the pussy cat can ya now! Our dog was tormenting the cat when we first arrived but the cat was taking it, hissing then hiding behind a door in a doctors room. I can only assume the cat knew that all in good time the evil dog would come out like he was drunk and the cat was going to have a go at him. Sure enough, the cat did and I wish I had my camera with me.

I try to see humour in moments like this because I know one day there may be a visit where there will only be memories. I’ll be sharing more on the topic of the death of a dog and what to do when your dog dies this week. It’s not a topic many want to deal with but it’s reality and it costs money so like responsible owners we will take care of our dog the best way we can. I hope and pray he has many more healthful, happy years with us.

The $600 was worth every penny and why it’s important that we budget for potential pet expenses each month as a projected expense. Now I just have to put him to work to pay us back, maybe he can help dig holes in the garden for me, lol. The costs of  owning a pet can be very expensive and another reason why asking yourself if you can really afford one is important.

Blog Update

Well, I finally have my hosting sorted out which means CBB will soon be self-hosted. Sadly though all my WordPress subscribers will stay here at WordPress unless you actually subscribe to the blog so I encourage you to do that today. You subscribe on the home page of the blog. I can’t link to it here and that’s just another reason I want to move so I have more control over the blog to make your experience easier.  Who knew that writing a blog would be so much work but it’s great fun. As a hobby I enjoy learning and sharing with all of you.

My designer has jumped in now after working hard with me for the past couple of months to create a new site and now the mock-up is completed. He is working behind the scenes to get the blog ready for me to do my thing. I don’t know when it will all be said and done but I’ve learned patience is a virtue and when you try to rush you don’t get the results you want. I’ll keep you posted.

Plus… we are working towards 6000 Facebook Fans… if you aren’t hooked up with CBB on Facebook, do it now! Thanks and Welcome!

Hot Posts Of The Week

Canadian Budget Binder’s Weekly Blog Posts

If you are a regular reader you would have already received these awesome posts  in your email but just in case you missed reading one I’ve put them all together here just for you.

  1. PF Weekly Reading List #20- Pay Me $100,000 And I’ll Flip You A Burger
  2. I Can Buy It But Can I Afford It?
  3. How To Price Garage Sale Items
  4. The Grocery Game Challenge May 20-26,2103- Eating Too Much Food
  5. What Are Realistic Investment Returns?
  6. Mr.CBB’s Buttermilk Chocolate Banana Bread
Making A Difference

If you are a personal finance blogger making a difference and would like to get featured please email me today. I can’t promise I will feature every site as it runs only once per week but you can’t get featured if you don’t share your site.  A big warm welcome to Money Bulldog today.

Making A Difference Money Bulldog

Hey everyone, my name is Adam and I blog over at Money Bulldog.

Before I ramble on I’d like to first say a big thank you to Mr.CBB for inviting me on Canadian Budget Binder today and for giving Money Bulldog so much support since we first kicked off just over 12 months ago.

When I first decided to start Money Bulldog I had just – well I say just, it had actually been a couple of years- taken a step back from working in the finance sector. I had worked as a whole of market mortgage broker for just over 6 months, after which I took the very difficult decision to leave my job because of all the dodgy practices I’d seen go on in the industry.

As I was only an employee of the company I was being pressured to sell mortgages to people who didn’t need them, at rates that weren’t right for them, and to cross sell unnecessary insurance products in the process. Well, after months of resistance to pressure I finally decided to call it a day and rebuild my business, which I had run for several years previous.

This is really what inspired me to try and make a difference. After seeing just how easily people were being ripped off, I decided to try and explain a few simple areas of mortgage and insurance finance, hopefully to help people see through a lot of the jargon that was being fed their way and make more informed financial decisions.

It’s funny because even today those posts that I wrote back in the early days of Money Bulldog are still some of the most popular for people coming through to my site from Google, so it’s nice to know that people still find them useful.

As time has gone on, I’ve slowly been drawn into the world of personal finance blogging and have found many other things to write about. We now try to combine personal finance with personal opinion and occasionally a little bit of fun.

The most important goal of Money Bulldog however is still to make a difference. I still want to do whatever I can to help people get a grip on the vast world of personal finance and succeed with their financial goals.

I hope you’ll pay us a visit sometime and chip in your 2 cents, after all if there’s one thing we love over at Money Bulldog it’s another persons opinion and voice, come and have your say. Have a great weekend everyone!

Blogs You Should Check Out And Follow

Who’s Talking Canadian Budget Binder

Thank you all so much for taking the time to share CBB this past week!

Carnival Glory

web search terms

Google 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 Google and typed it in search incorrectly, or me ;-) Another week of thousands of search terms but only a few good ones worth mentioning.

Top Pick: What happens to bread recipe when you don’t have baking powder or baking soda?- THIS! (scroll down once you click the link)

  • Dream Men’s Closet- See I’m not the only one who wants to party in the closet!
  • Sick of Wasting My Time- Well then don’t!
  • Homemade Pizza- You came to the right page.. I have the best pizza recipe in the world!!! OK in our house, the best pizza in our house.
  • CBB SEX Toronto- I’m not sure on this one…
  • Why don’t the big grocery stores like Sobeys carry a raisin pie?- Run with it Sobeys your customers want pie… give them raisin pie!
  • U Cheated On Me- Someone is in trouble

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The Saturday Weekend Review #18- Is It 24 Hr Lasting Perfection or Lasting Perfection “Style” ?

Posted: May 4, 2013 in The Saturday Weekly Review
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
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The Saturday Weekly Review

Lancome is feeling the heat over some 24 hour long-lasting perfection foundation make-up as one woman sues. Consumers want to know is it actually a “lasting perfection” product as it claims or is it lasting perfection style make-up? I know I’m writing about make-up today and not beer, budgets, gardening and DIY but I couldn’t help myself. When I read the lengths one woman is willing to go to sue a company because a product “faded significantly” “overnight I knew I had to keep reading.

As a consumer we have marketing terms thrown in our faces all the time in hopes of reeling us in to buy products and spend our money. How many times have we heard people question whether products are organic, fat-free and so on but now the claim of a product not lasting long enough has surfaced. It’s just the name of the game for marketers, a game of who can capture their audience the best in order to sell product, full-stop.

It’s been going on since the dawn of time and as consumers many of us are just used to the hoopla we read but there are some people who really do buy into it, literally and it’s not just make-up. I can’t keep track of all the break-through sciences on the television anymore and walking into the shops or heading to your local cosmetics counter is living proof of “beauty gone wild”, it’s a big business. Beauty is not cheap either, especially when you have to pay for it.

We’ve all been stung at one point or another with products we’ve bought that didn’t work as expected or claimed. I’m sure we can all riffle through our homes and find something we no longer use as it simply didn’t turn out the way we expected it to or like it said it would or should.

As I have my morning coffee and read this Yahoo article about an Orthodox Jewish lady, Rorie Weisburg, from Monsey, New York who is taking on cosmetics giant Lancome. The post states Weisberg abides by her Jewish laws and does not wear make-up from Friday sundown until night-time on Saturday so she wanted a product that would “enhance her natural  appearance” and comply with her religious laws. Apparently that didn’t happen so now she wants to let them know that she’s not happy about it.

According to article Weisburg claims “she was tricked into believing that the company’s new Teint Idole Ultra 24H provides a full day and night of “lasting perfection” as the product’s website states.” 

I’m sure many people wonder if she is merely after money or if she going head-first against companies in order to set a precedence amongst the advertising industry. What I’d like to know is how is she going to prove that she didn’t get the “24-hour lasting perfection” look with this product.

There are so many variables that can come into play starting with the her skin-type right down to other products she may have used underneath, reactions to what she did during the 24-hour time frame it was on her face. I know women who are naturally beautiful (including my wife who hardly if ever wears make-up) that wouldn’t be caught dead outdoors without their “look” on. Make-up can really change the look of someone to the point that they look like 2 different people with and with-out make-up.

Looking good, especially with make-up is part of the flawless look that some humans crave, it makes them feel good, confident, beautiful like they can take on the world. Personally, I don’t mind a bit of make-up on a woman but when it alters the natural look of a woman it’s not my cup of tea. I like a woman who can get up and go and not spend hours in the bathroom with enough cosmetics to open up a small business.

Maybe we are being naïve consumers and people may laugh thinking we should know better than to believe claims of  24-hour long-lasting products but then why bother putting it on the packaging in the first place if it can’t deliver? I’ll tell you why, It sells, It makes money, It makes women and men who use cosmetics feel confident and beautiful. It’s just not beauty products though. Maybe it does deliver but we’re just not using the product as directed by the manufacturer.

Looking at Make-Up In Store

There are people who truly believe these claims of “flawless”, “24-hour”, “water-proof” , “oil free” and don’t think twice about dropping the cash to purchase items especially from big name companies. My favourite is the “anti-aging” products with endless product lines for these creams, lotions and potions. We are buying into youth and it’s costing people big bucks in their budget because we want to believe there is no such thing as getting old. Sorry to say, the products may help but it’s true we will all become old and wrinkly at some point.

We are after all using our hard-earned money to purchase products and if they say they do one thing yet do another it may seem deceitful in the eyes of the consumer. It’s no different from light and lite or is it really fat-free what you are eating? We put our trust in companies to deliver quality products and why should it be the consumers who get stuffed at the cash because of it?

I’m sure if we reach in and read we will find the small print disclaimers that many consumers fail to read because they are buried somewhere on a label but that’s no excuse I guess. I know most times when I’m at the grocery store and picking up products I’m more interested in the meal I”m cooking. I’m already cooking in my head and just running around picking up items on my shopping list.

The fine print is not what we want to read, all we see is the glam and beauty of products. How many people miss the scanning code of practice at some Canadian stores? It’s right in our faces most times but we fail to see the fine print because we aren’t looking for it. If they are allowed to use catchy names to grab the attention of the consumer I guess we better be reading labels like we do ingredients on products at the grocery store.

Welcome To The Real World

Many of the comments I read after the post were straight forward and one simply stating “welcome to the real world” and of course that is what it all boils down to. As consumers we need to make informed decisions about what we buy either based on others experiences or simply risk the product not living up to its expectations or trial and error. What works for some might not work for others.

Of course keeping the receipt helps so you can easily return it for your money back if you are not satisfied which I’m pretty sure Wesiburg could have done. Would it have changed the way companies market their product? No, it wouldn’t have and clearly she wants more than just her money back.

At the end of the day as consumers we need to be aware of how products are being marketed towards us and take a stance on the products we purchase if we are not happy. If you aren’t sure, don’t buy it do some online research about the product and see if any others have posted their experiences. Keep your receipt and if you are not happy after using a product, simply return it and ask for your money back.

We can’t believe everything we read nor hear and I’m sure marketing will continue to bring us the frosting like it always does. Perhaps naming the product “24 hour lasting perfection style” foundation might have solved the entire problem.

What products have you purchased that didn’t live up to it’s claims? Did you return it?

The Deck

Canadian Budget Binder Weekly Review

It’s been a busy week for me trying to get spring cleaning done around the house but I did finish the deck which I’m happy about. Now I just have to tackle the many other items on the list for 2013 summer. I’m in the mid-stages of design for the new site and will be working hard to get you the new design you have all been patiently waiting for since I told you about in late 2012.

We also had another successful month at CBB with just a shade under 38,000 page views for my little blog here and thousands of visits. Thanks so much for being a fan and continuing to share CBB around the web!

Our friend Pauline also informed me this past week that Canadian Budget Binder made the prestigious Top 100 list at Technorati which to be honest I just learned about. I’m still learning lots about blogging but Pauline put it all into perspective for me which I can always count on with her although as of last night we were saved from being kicked off the Technorati island. We are survivors!

It means you rock haha! Seriously though, this is a highly volatile ranking and I guess we’ll get kicked out pretty soon, in the meanwhile I am enjoying a nice traffic bump and hope you are too!

Finally, just a reminder of “Frugal Food Sunday’s” on my Facebook page. Pop around to share your recipes and kitchen secrets with all of us who are eager to try new creations out in our own kitchens.

Hot Posts Of The Week

Canadian Budget Binder’s Weekly Blog Posts

The CBB Blog Post Bundle… just for you!

Making A Difference

Making A Difference eyes on the dollar 2

I’ve talked about how important it was to “Make a Difference” not only with my life but with this blog. I put out a call for other bloggers to email me a few sentences about why they are making a difference with their blog and to share what that difference was.

This week I’m sharing a good blogger friend of mine Kim’s blog “Eyes On The Dollar” as Making a Difference. Kim is no stranger around Canadian Budget Binder fans especially to those who play The Grocery Game Challenge which Kim actively participates in. Thanks Kim for taking the plunge and making a difference.

Three years ago, my family had over $100,000 in consumer debt and student loans. I worked all the time, and spent my time at home worrying about paying bills and being resentful of having to work so much.Through facing our fears, making big changes, and rethinking what normal should be, we’ve paid off all that debt, invested in rental property, and best of all, I’ve been able to cut my work schedule dramatically.

I started Eyes on the Dollar to share my story and let readers know that there is another way besides working yourself into oblivion to make payments on things that don’t add value to your life. It’s not fun to talk about how horrible I used to be with money, but if one person can read my story and believe that your path in life can always be changed, that’s the difference I hope to make.
Thanks for all you do. You’re a big inspiration in how to do things the right way! Kim
Blogs You Should Check Out And Follow
Who’s Talking Canadian Budget Binder

Thank you all so much. If I missed you please send me an email and I’ll get you on the list as I don’t always get the pings.

Carnival Glory

Only a few carnivals took on CBB this week, thanks for sharing I’ll always remember!

web search terms

Google 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 Google and typed it in search incorrectly, or me ;-) Another week of thousands of search terms but only a few good ones worth mentioning.

Top Pick: Sexy Body Binder-Not sure what they mean but if it has the word sexy in it then it must be some HOT!

  • Chef Michael Smith Spice Drawer- Did you mean BIG WALK-IN Spice Pantry… oh ya his pantry is awesome!
  • We Are Getting Married- So excited you had to search for it!
  • Mouldy Butter- I knew that photo would be a star!
  • Dollar store pee test- Haha.. I’m pretty sure it’s a pregnancy test not a pee test
  • Sexy Neighbour Walks Dog- More sexy at CBB… it’s just a sexy kind of place I guess and if you think your neighbour is sexy, by all means get out and mingle! Of course only unless you are not married.

Quote-Budget and Money

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Make-up in store/Ambro Freedigitalphotos. net