STICK TO CASH FOR COOKIES
Think twice if you thought bouncing a cheque was a great way to get what you want now and pay for later, even if it’s for Girl Guide cookies.
Some people do play dirty and know they have no money in the bank and use a cheque as if it was a credit card.
The sad reality is no matter if it’s a cheque or a credit card the interest or fees will mount and continue to grow until you pay for your debts.
You also don’t leave a very pretty trail on your credit report either if you are bouncing cheques or not paying off loans that you promised.
I bet after reading this story you will think this guy will start baking his own homemade cookies (try my cowboy quickies) instead of going through this again.
Girl Guide Cookies
This morning I had a bit of a laugh at a story I read about on Yahoo about a guy who apparently has a bounced cheque for Girl Guide cookies. You know those famous cookies which everyone loves. You can buy Girl Guide cookies in the USA and in Canada and they sell like hot cakes apparently.
Well, it may not come as a surprise when I tell you I still haven’t tried Girl Guide cookies but if I do you can bet I’ll pay cash. A Colorado man who bought $42 worth of cookies which seems like lots to me paid and for the sweet treats by cheque.
Bounced cheque
Not many people use cheques these days that I’m aware of except for maybe rent and other odds and sods.
My understanding is that if you bounce a cheque in Canada you may have to pay a Non-sufficient funds (NSF) fee to the place you purchased the items from as their bank likely charged them plus your own bank will charge you for bouncing a cheque.
Oh, yes the items will get pricey in the end so I hope it was worth it to you.
I guess we can consider Girl Guide cookies the small stuff that people still use cheques for. Personally I only ever use a cheque if it is requested of me other than that I use my credit card, debit card or cold hard cash.
When the Girl Guides went to cash this cheque for the cookies it quickly was returned as a bounced cheque. Oh oh, everyone’s worst nightmare.
It shouldn’t be though if we are managing our finances properly although accidents do happen. People should know exactly what is in their bank account and track the incoming income and expenses so they know what they can and can’t do.
This reminds me about a conversation I had with someone who told me they didn’t need to budget because they did it all in their heads. Well, good luck with that.
It didn’t work out so well for this man who after $450 in legal fees and a $100 to file a response he now owes $739.85 for these Girl Guide cookies.
Can you see where I’m going with this. Many people want stuff now but don’t have the means to pay for it. If you are living pay to pay you have to be even more diligent with your finances because one slip could mean not buying groceries or paying for a bounced cheque or late fees.
The same goes for those who make lots of money but spend it like water. You’re not safe no matter how much income you earn. Look at all these celebrities who are going broke or the tax man is chasing after them. There is no easy way around finances unless you track your money, full-stop.
Some people manipulate their own minds into buying something telling themselves they will have the money or they will juggle money to make it work so they can own something that they simply can’t afford.
These are the people who will never get ahead in life because they live a financial lie or roller coaster. It has nothing to do with how much money you earn it’s how your spending it.
I’ve said it time and time again so listening to people say they can’t afford something when they own smart phones, cable or live in a city where the cost of living is so high that the income they do have won’t cover an apartment blinds me sometimes.
We all have our own situations but unfortunately if we have to rent a room and not an apartment than so be it. If we aren’t earning the money for whatever reason and there are plenty of reasons than compromise has to happen. There will always be those exceptional situations though.
Prove it
Now this guy says he can prove that his bank had adequate money to cover the cheque and that the Girl Guide cookies bank has made an error. What I don’t get is how long is it taking to figure this out?
It really seems like a silly situation that didn’t need to make headlines and now I’m covering it because I need to share with you how something so small can turn into something so big.
It’s not that difficult to do, or is it? I would call up my bank tell them about the cheque I wrote to the Girl Guides where their bank said had bounced. I would question why this happened or if it even was processed on my banks end when clearly I have the money in the bank.
I think it should be up to the bank institutions to sort out if this guy does have the money in the bank because one of them made the mistake. They should be paying all the bounced cheque fees for these cookies so this guy can go sit in a corner with a tall glass of milk, his Girl Guide cookies and celebrate.
Now if he is feeding them a line well it won’t be that hard to track in the banking system (at least we should hope with today’s technology) either he has money or he doesn’t. The morale of this story is pay cash or debit for small stuff unless you can pay off credit cards if you use them for rewards points.
If you use a cheque make sure you have the correct amount of funds available and at least track your finances so you know what’s going on and there’s no guessing.
If you are being told that your cheque bounced get on the situation asap and demand to speak to the highest person you can at your bank to solve the problem fast.
If you really did have the money there you won’t back down. This guy is waiting to go to court now over a bounced cheque for Girl Guide cookies.
Yes, I think it’s a waste of money and time for something that should or could be solved without this drawn out process. I’m sure if he is found guilty of not having funds in the bank when the cheque bounced he has to pay the final price.
If in fact the Girl Guides bank caused the error I hope they apologize to this guy for putting him through this stress of a bounced cheque and time wasted to solve the problem. To be even nicer they could at least throw in the Girl Guide cookies for free. 😉
Do you still use cheques?
Why do you think cheques bounce?
What would you have done if you were told your cheque bounced but you knew the money was in the bank?
Weekly CBB posts
If you missed any CBB posts from the week here is the list of posts you can catch up on reading!
- Is the humane society the only place to adopt a pet?
- Time to get serious with numbers: Our Budget Feb 2014
- What are your pet peeves at the grocery store?
- Do you need financial motivation?
- Scottish Pancakes
- When the sole provider of the house loses their job
- Toddler suspended after breaking food rules at daycare
CBB at home and the blog
I wish I had some exciting news for you but to be honest not much has been going on here. I’ve been working quite a bit and trying to keep the fort going. I have got out to visit a few surrounding areas to take photos of nature, waterfalls and snow of course but that’s about it.
I’m expecting the next month of so to get even busier for me with the start of Spring just around the corner and all of the renovations I need to get done in and around this house.
March is also coming to an end which means I need to get my butt in gear and deal with paying off this mortgage in full. I’ll talk more about that next week in our net worth update for February.
Other than that, let’s just hope the snow continues to melt and that we don’t have any more surprise snowfalls to add to what we are losing. It’s been beautiful outside the past few days and I hope the sunshine plans on sticking around.
Don’t forget to Spring ahead with your clocks this weekend!
Fan deals and inspirations
Submit your Brag or Inspiration If you have a brag that you want me to share email me at canadianbudgetbinder (@) [yahoo] [.ca] or fill out my contact form by Friday each week to have your brag considered for the Saturday post.
This week Jen Peacock shares her scores from selling items that she no longer uses around the house in a Facebook Auction.
Hi Mr.CBB,
When my parents return home from Florida in April my dad says he will start on finishing our basement so we need to start cleaning it out. We started to sort through it and decided to list what we don’t want/need on a local Facebook auction group.
Here is how we made out:
- Cupboard with frosted doors $32
- Buckley’s lozenges $1.25
- White shelves $10
- Baby gate $10
- Pillows (memory foam) $30
- Coca Cola Calculator $12
- Hall table $34
- Baby clothes $32
- Stuffing $3
Just from getting rid of stuff I had sitting in my basement. I started all of my auctions low and just sat back and watched. People end up getting caught up in the moment and bid like crazy. I ended up getting more money for all of the items then what I originally paid for them.
It was a good week because I also made some extra cash by returning beer bottles found at my parents house from a party my younger sister had. Returning the beer bottles made me a whopping $32.50 from out of nowhere.
I also received a Checkout 51 cheque for $52.51.
What is Checkout 51? Read all about it here and join today to save money like Jen does every week!
In one week I made my family $249.26 extra income!
Making a difference
I’m Mr. 4HWD, I started The Four Hour Work Day site because I believe it’s possible to work less, save more and still achieve financial freedom. There’s no way I’m going to work 8 hours a day in a cubicle for the rest of my life. That just sounds way too depressing.
I’ve worked in the corporate environment for a while and I’ve also worked for myself and I choose the latter. Finding a hobby that can turn into a viable business isn’t something to be taken lightly though.
Being an entrepreneur is a lot harder and a lot more work than working a day job. But the rewards are beyond anything you’ll ever get grinding it out in a cubicle all day.
I like seeing a correlation between how hard I work and how much money I make. And the flexibility that working for yourself provides is one of the number one reasons why people like starting their own businesses.
My site aims to help find you a job that lets you work less but be more efficient in the hours that you do work. Most of us don’t actually work for 8 hours straight so why sit in the office for that whole time?
What is a blog carnival?
Some fans have asked me “what is a blog carnival?” so a little explanation is due here for anyone reading for the first time or for my long-time fans.
A blog carnival is where a blog or website hosts what we call a carnival of blog posts from around the web. Most blog carnivals have a theme and certain rules for submitting which must be followed.
If you are a blogger and would like to learn what blog carnival directories I submit to each week you can find the information in a previous Saturday Weekend Review post that I wrote.
Carnival glory
A big thanks to these pages for accepting my blog posts and sharing them in the following carnivals and/or sharing my blog posts with their fans.
Carnivals
- Carnival of Financial Planning-On Better Terms
- Lifestyle Carnival
- Carnival for Retirement– Brick by Brick Investing
- Carnival of Financial Independence– Reach Financial Independence
- Financial Carnival for Young Adults– Finance with Reason
- Lifestyle Carnival- Master the Art of Saving
- Yakeezie Carnival- 2 Coppers Coins
Blog Mentions
Google search terms
Every week I get thousands of people visit Canadian Budget Binder because they did a search online and found my blog. Keep in mind any spelling errors below are because I share with you the exact way they typed their search engine query to land on my blog.
Here are a few of my favorite searches that may have even brought you here and you’re reading this, right now.
- Should landlord discount rent for a frozen toilet: I’d be more inclined to get the problem fixed rather than trying to find a way to get cheaper rent. Sorry it doesn’t work that way.
- I luv you ma wife hava a nise Saturday– Ha, sounds like someone trying to find a quote for his wife.
- Preet Banerjee girlfriend: Ha, wrong website. Sounds like Preet is a sought after man 😉
- Best things to steal from stores– Ummmm NOTHING.. omg really someone searched this!!
- Millionaire Budget– Nope, not this blog yet.
That’s all for this week’s edition of The Saturday Weekend Review #62. Have a great week and catch me here again next Saturday with more updates.
-Mr.CBB
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- The Saturday Weekend Review #54: What to do in the winter that won’t break the bank.
- The Saturday Weekend Review #55: Do you expect to get a retirement farewell party?
- The Saturday Weekend Review #56: Could I live in a 420sq ft apartment?
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Photo Credit:freedigitalphotos.net/ Stuart Miles and Pixomar
Cindy says
With kids, I still write cheques. I’m not willing to send large amounts of cash with my child to school for things like school trips. Also, I pay registration for all sports with cheques… Most of these associations aren’t set up for credit cards or things like Interac online. I also still use cheques for church tithing, although some churches in my area do have debit available.
Christine Weadick says
I write very few checks anymore. For the furnace maintenance company when the bill comes in, is about it. Everything else is debit card or automatic payment. Mind you trying to get an exact figure on the bank balance can be interesting. I don’t think we have ever had the same figure from the bank and the check book…. We use the one in the check book as our running balance. I do the bank book once a week for the automatic payments, on Thursday as then I’m taking out the weekly mortgage payment and the transfer to savings. I will look at the bills to be paid and anything that will be coming out between this Thursday and next goes in the book then under the date on the bill as that is when the money should come out but doesn’t always. Example is our hydro bill is dated March 9, it’s already in the book and the amount subtracted from the total. It likely won”t come out before Monday at the earliest. But that money is gone so far as the book and I are concerned. Things like groceries and such in the day to day spending will go in the book as it is spent. It works for us to know the bills are paid on time and the money is there for it and anything else that comes up.
As for the article…those were some mighty pricey cookies!!!! If this guy could prove he had money in the account for the cookies at the time he wrote the check, why didn’t he say so then instead of all this fiddling around and saying it now????? Something doesn’t smell right here……
Wow Jen did pretty good selling her stuff!!! We have some beer bottles here to go back at some point. We also pick them up while walking around. Once the good weather is here there will be more beer bottles and cans to pick up. The little bugger brigade will be out Friday and Saturday nights and tossing the evidence here and there. I’ve picked some up by the pizza place across the street and the younger boy will come home with any he sees on his way home from church. Every little bit helps!!!
The snow is slowly melting here, the weather the next few days might be interesting…hubby is fighting a migraine right now…. Hope you don’t get one too!!! Have a good weekend……
Mr. CBB says
That was what I couldn’t quite figure out Christine. It seems like something that could easily be sorted it out is turning into a waste of time and money for everyone. Why didn’t they just get the simple answer yes or no and why an error happened instead of this circus? Who knows….
Mary says
This article reminds me so much of a now-ex relative, who would write a cheque on one empty account, then write a cheque on another account to deposit and supposedly cover the other cheque. Round and round, over and over, constant debt, constant anxiety for the spouse, constant fear for the whole family. Nightmare. When the spouse could take no more, they were divorced. Having drawn up the divorce documents, the debt-creator then declared bankruptcy,escaping his responsibility, leaving his spouse with all the debt he had created, as they were legally married when it was accumulated , . Beware of someone who writes cheques as this person did, . Not only themself, but their spouse and family.could end up paying the price. It took 9 years but his spouse cleared the debt, as they refused to declare bankruptcy. Now they wait each month to see if the child support will materialise, partially or at all.. The cheque fraud (for I believe that is what it should be called) was obviously just a symptom of total irresponsibility.
Mr. CBB says
Wow, that’s scary Mary. People will do whatever they have to in order to smooth things over if only for a day or a week until it gets brought to the surface.
Pauline says
Those are some pretty expensive cookies! I don’t use checks anymore, and I hate when someone gets the checkbook out in front of me at the supermarket, is that 1950s all over again? I carry a couple of European checks in case I run low on cash and my card gets stloen, I can deposit them here but that’s it.
Mr. CBB says
Haha, I feel the same way. Actually someone did it the other day to us at the supermarket come to think of it and my wife said, well done you picked a good line lol.