Confront your financial problems head-on. Discover insights on managing debt, bills, and stress related to money.
Living A Lifestyle You Can’t Afford
Let’s face it: if you owe money to people, you have financial problems that need to be addressed with a plan.
Your money issues might not necessarily be problems that will cause you financial stress.
On the other hand, if your debt keeps growing, you may want to rethink how certain events might affect your stress levels.
Finances are for life, not just until you are debt-free, because financial problems never really go away; they get masked by dreams.
Financial problems may include consumer debt, facing bankruptcy, creditors calling, owing money to family and friends, no money to pay bills, and even the unknown.
The list is endless, BUT people with little to no money aren’t the only people with financial problems.
When you are in debt, that can easily change if you lose your job and can’t pay the money you owe.
Can you see how that might be a problem?
Creating A Plan B
The Canadian Budget Binder was created to share a journey of inspiration, new life, and financial problems.
I’m that “guy,” Mr. CBB A.K.A. (MO). Welcome to my blogging hobby!
Since the first blog post at CBB, our budgeting journey has surely changed as expected.
I might tackle chatting a bit about living debt-free, blogging, and life changes.
You might think that just because I moved to Canada with some money in my pocket meant that I shouldn’t have had any financial problems, think again.
Having a University degree and many years of work experience in the UK, I struggled to get a job in Canada.
No one would hire me without Canadian experience.
I would be lying if I didn’t say I could feel the stress mounting up.
Not only was I living in a new country where I thought it would be reasonably easy to find a job, but my career-seeking journey turned out to be a disaster.
All sorts of things were running through my mind, mainly about financial security and my new wife.
My wife had a decent job, but this was all about me.
Returning To School At Age 30
I was responsible for my care, and I faced the choice of finding a job, using my savings, or returning to school.
Once I had my University degree swapped over and credits applied, off to school I went.
My financial problems weren’t over by a long shot.
There was no way I was getting OSAP or any loan, so the economic burden of my education was all on me.
When I started looking for a job in Canada, the most I could get paid was minimum wage.
It was disheartening to know the education I had behind me, buit was t not a shock to know what I know today.
Most educated students struggle to find a job in Canada that eventually pays well.
There is a common misconception about moving to the USA or Canada to “live the dream”.
Sure, circumstances may be different in terms of economy, but jobs are scarce no matter where you live.
Living A Simple Lifestyle
Back in the UK, where I bought my first house at 21 and my second at 24, I was always living simply.
I knew that financial problems were only a step away if something were to happen to my career.
I don’t think many people give much thought to what they would do if they lost their job, yet they focus on being a good employee.
Working hard, experience, and a few bucks in the bank will only get you so far, and I knew that.
I was always looking for a deal because living frugally meant I could pay my bills, mortgage, and still have a few dollars left over to invest in my pension plan at work.
I don’t think, looking back, that I ever dreamed that finance would be such a massive part of my life today, nor that I would be writing about it.
It’s fantastic to see finance-related posts I’ve written shared at The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, and on some well-known financial websites.
Financial problems never end.
Indeed, being debt-free doesn’t mean your financial problems are over, or even far from it. Unless you have money in the bank to carry you until you are buried in the ground, you have financial problems ahead.
So many people think they will be fine in their retirement, relying on the government and the sale of their home, but I don’t trust that for a minute.
Anything could happen, which is like putting all your eggs in one basket, though some people have no other system to rely on.
Rely on your own savings and investments, not what is apparently coming your way.
Where would we be if…
When I found my first job after graduating in Canada, I started to really get a grip on living in Canada and our finances.
I had no idea about the cost of living until I had actually spent a good year here.
We weren’t using a budget yet, but money was always a topic for my wife and me because we were starting our lives together, and we didn’t want debt to be part of it.
On occasion, I wonder where we would be today had we not had the career luck over the years.
I certainly don’t think we would be mortgage-free.
However, it wouldn’t have been the end of the world, because the mortgage is typically a debt a homeowner holds.
I might be making less money than I do today, which means we likely wouldn’t be living in the house we have or doing the renovations I’m doing.
I’ve since come to realize that, no matter whether you live in a house or an apartment, your financial problems never really go away. Debt-free
Debt-Free Is The Next Step, Not The Finish Line
That’s right, just because you have no debt doesn’t mean you get to live life for free or on easy street. When one door clos, es another ope, ns especially in the financial world.
Our net worth may have gone up and is going up, but since closing on our mortgage, we welcomed our baby boy into the family.
That means that we have baby financial problems to address with our budget.
The best part is that those financial problems make it all worth it because he’s such a joy in our lives.
Parenting is far from easy or cheap, but very rewarding.
Paying for diapers and even his education savings put a dent in our pretty budget savings every month.
Remember that door closing that I was talking about… nothing lasts forever.
Financially Living On The Edge
We are to the point where most of our net income is spent; if not now, but very soon, we will be living on a tight(er) budget.
It’s not the end of the world for us because we could stop payments on certain things to liquidate cash, and life would go on.
My point is that with every level of financial freedom comes a new set of economic problems.
Once we moved out of our rental, we were able to buy our first house together.
It was then that money really took front seat in our financial conversations.
Fear of losing our home or not being able to pay bills set in, and with that, we were documenting our numbers on paper.
It wasn’t long after this that we started budgeting, which was certainly different for us.
It opened our eyes to the expenses we had and the money we were spending.
That’s why I started this blog. I needed a place to document our financial problems and share how we would combat them one by one.
I’ve since realized that we are far from alone in this budgeting journey.
Many of you who read CBB are now budgeting and have come to realize just how important a budget truly is.
Fans want to know…
I get lots of reader mail here at CBB, and I wrote this post today to share some common questions we get from fans.
- Why do you still work so hard when you have no debt?
- You have no financial problems. You don’t even know what it’s like to be poor; those are economic problems.
- A budget isn’t going to help us save as much money as you have.
- The budget is only for people who earn lots of money.
- Dude, you don’t need to budget; you’re rich.
- Do you even make money blogging?
Those are just a few questions and comments sent my way about our financial journey.
It is those types of questions that make me wonder just how much effort people put into their finances.
Some fans are just curious and really want to know so they ask.
I’m not offended; I’m intrigued by how people view money.
You can’t just be a money saver and think that you will get ahead in the game of financial wars.
It doesn’t work that way.
Everyone’s Struggle Is Different
I may not know what it’s like to be poor, but I do know that my parents struggled, and I didn’t get all the gadgets and fancy clothes like some of my friends.
Whaa’a spa otonee’ person may mean is different from another’s.
Budgeting is for everyone, not just those strapped for cash or in debt.
We will continue to budget for as long as we can because we have experienced the benefits.
We’d be fools to dump it in the trash and say we were done with it.
Creating A Hobby To Help Financial Problems
I never started this blog with the mindset “Can I make money blogging?” only because I had no idea you could, nor did I care to.
This is not considered a business, but rather a place where I can talk about life and finances.
Over the years, I’ve realized just how much work it takes to monetize a website and be happy you don’t get those nasty pop-ups when you visit CBB.
Blogging has become my hobby, and you can make money blogging, although what I make gets filtered right back into maintaining the blog.
It’s not cheap to run a blog, especially if you have to pay people to help you keep it.
We are hardly living on easy street, and everything we have come to own is because we never gave up trying.
Two Sides To Savings
Saving money is more than just setting aside cash each month.
You have to take your entire financial picture and accept it all as a problem you need to address.
Now that we are debt-free, I am faced with catching up on thousands of dollars of RRSP contribution room.
My retirement is a big deal to me because my working years in Canada might not be as long as others.
This means that when I retire, I won’t receive as much pension as someone who has worked in Canada their entire life.
I’ll likely get a UK pension, but I don’t even know what it will be, and I’m not waiting around to find out before I take action.
My defined benefit plan at work right now isn’t permanent, so until that day comes, I’m treating it as a financial perk.
There are days I wonder why I blog, and then there are days that I’m happy I’m still blogging.
This blog wasn’t created to become as big as it is today, but it has shown me there is a massive gap in personal outlets for people who want to talk about their financial problems and successes.
I believe that financial problems affect everyone, and until you own up to them, they will sit quietly in the back of your mind.
This little blog started as the engine that could and is still chugging along at a fast speed.
Building Financial Knowledge
I’ve learned so much along the way, whether from other bloggers or from the fans who write to or chat with me every day.
However, my perspective on finance has changed.
We only really get a glimpse into our own lives, so we don’t know what it’s like to live in someone else’s shoes.
I thought that when we paid off the mortgage, I would quit blogging, as many PF bloggers who start a debt blog do.
They get rid of the debt, and they are gone forever. Not this guy.
Stick Around
Canadian Budget Binder is a place where financial problems are real and aims to showcase how money affects not only our families but all the fans who pop a dash.
The best part about being debt-free is that your financial stress levels are minimized.
It’s been over a year now that we’ve been paying only for investments and living expenses.
One thing’s for sure: your budgeting journey won’t be a waste of time.
If my hobby has become your daily stop to chat and read about financial problems and successes, I welcome you to my second home.
This blog might not be financially successful, but we do have a fan base that is a bigger success on its own.
I’m Mr.CBB, and this is our financial journey.
Q: Do you have a hobby that helps you stay focused?
-Mr.CBB
- Check out my new Free Recipe Index
- You can now have full access to my Ultimate Grocery Shopping Guide in Canada.
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I enjoyed this post and you are right…if you aren’t sitting on enough funds to carry you and your loved ones until you are dead and buried, there is potential for financial problems. Over the course of my working career so far I have faced financial challenges many times as you can see:
1. after college establishing my own business in the Montreal area and before the business was even off the ground, having to
purchase a car to earn the desired income (debt…yuck!)
2. obtaining gainful employment in a new province, Ontario when my family transferred out of the province during a precarious
political situation
3. learning employment #2 did not suit me, I resigned BEFORE I had achieved a replacement position (not brilliant on my part!)
4. struggling for 3 months with no income coming in and not qualifying for EI yet either
5. at the end of my first marriage, I attempted to obtain a transfer with my national employer to another province but nothing in
my field was available at the time. So one more time, I resigned without a good safety net in place because my savings were
depleted satisfying the marital debt and getting out of our real estate holdings before I left for BC
6. having become gainfully employed, I still needed to move back in with my parents while I saved enough to get an apartment.
Trust me, it’s hard to go home when you have lived elsewhere for a decade!
7. struggling for 3 months with no income and no extended medical either when I was seriously injured in an MVA plus had all
sorts of medical expenses to pay before the car insurance claim was settled.
8. struggling for 18 months working 2 full time jobs while hubby re-trained after being downsized from his position of 15 years
9. more struggles financially when we had a health related uncertainty for hubby…especially as he carries our medical insurance,
pension benefits & we could have been facing not just lost income, but some very expensive benefits as well
10. not yet revealed
Having faced all of the above, it has become clear to me that I need 2-5 years worth of “after tax” income in an emergency fund to handle our finances while we do whatever may be necessary to be financially viable again.
It sounds like a lot of money but it lets me sleep at night. As we age, another downsize in hubby’s employment would likely not be replaced $ for $… no matter how hard we tried. It’s all well and good to have life insurance but what if you don’t die? Do you have a non-employer related disability policy? How about an emergency fund??
Hi Mary,
You nailed it with everything you said. Some people think they are on easy street because they have no debt but in reality they have no idea what tomorrow will bring. I often say Charity begins at home for this reason. By the looks of it your experiences have certainly motivated you to think about what you need in the event something were to happen again. Your number 10 may never come Mary but at least you will be prepared. 🙂 Thanks for sharing this Mary.
I’ve always done a form of a budget for about 20 years. I’ve always made sure that I’ve had enough money to pay the bills as they came due based on my pay cheques but I wasn’t aggressively paying back my debt. I did know what my debt was and a fairly good idea of how much I owed though.
Since following your blog for the past couple of years, I have finally realized that if I want a life in the future I need to remove this debt from my life. Not saying that something else won’t pop up but it will give me the flexibility of dealing with it. My budgets have changed and evolved but they have also provided more information that what used to be there. I’m not worrying about becoming a millionaire or even have $10,000 in the bank as my current goal is to deal with my current consumer debt. It takes baby steps and lots of hard work will accomplish that goal.
Good for you Dee. It’s hard to not want to budget once you see the benefits. I’m glad CBB has helped you. Once you pay that debt off it opens up many options for you. Either way with no debt in front of you life is so much easier.. less stress too!!
I have a similar hobby Mr. CBB!
“Budgeting is for everyone and not just for those that are strapped for cash or in debt. We will continue to budget for as long as we can because we have experienced the benefits. We’d be fools to dump it in the trash and say we were done with it.” Loved this! Our budget is our chance to figure out how we can reach goals and checkin our budget is our shot to see if we’re still on the same page.
It’s funny because I didn’t dream that I would be blogging 4 years later… but I’m enjoying my time here.
So glad you are still here blogging away for/with us!!!! Yes it can be very difficult getting on your feet in a new country, my grandparents did it after moving here from Great Britain as you have. There are often articles in the paper about people moving here that end up doing things like drive cab as the credentials are not recognized here, sadly. Very highly educated folks too.
Finances are with us until well after we pass on… Memory serves me from when my Mom died it took Dad close to a year for things to be all said and done. I know he had to file a final tax return for her. There is a lot of paperwork to be done.
What I get from your blogs and such every day is friendship, support and hope. Hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it isn’t a train. Hope that I can get some level of financial organization with the little we have coming in right now. Hope that I’m not alone struggling……. Thank you all for that.
Hi Christine,
Thank-you for your kind words. You’ve been around for a long time and I’ve come to bond with many of you. I’d miss our conversations if you weren’t around as I learn plenty from all of you. Blogging is not easy but I push myself to make sure I stick to a schedule but these days if I miss a day, oh well. I remember when I was blogging 7 days a week. I have no idea how I pulled that off because posts take me upwards of 5-7 hour to write and edit. It’s easier now. The best thing we can all do is take some form of action with our finances even if it is talking about it and finding new ways to make improvements. Mr.CBB
Being debt free doesn’t mean you’re done! After paying off my college debt, I thought I’d be free, but financial problems just love to tag along. “I don’t think many people give much thought to what they would do in the event they do lose their job as opposed to trying to be a good employee. Working hard, experience and a few bucks in the bank will only get you so far and I knew that.” The thought of losing my job does not only affect myself but my entire family. I learned that I shouldn’t live by the day and keep paying debts but I should save and invest where my earnings will grow for my family.
I actually had the making money mindset when I first started my blog. Oh how naive I was, thinking it was an instant money maker. When I read people said it’s a lot of hard work, I kind of thought to myself, yeah, yeah, I can do it. I’m a hard worker. No, blogging is a LOT of HARD WORK, but like you, I really enjoy it. Even during the time I wasn’t making any money at all. I never thought I would be still blogging up to now.
My parents came to Canada in the 70s and were fortunately able to get decent jobs in decent industries. They have great pensions and are really enjoying their retirement. Unfortunately it’s not that way today and I can only imagine how frustrating it was for you and for people who are in the same boat. Having lived my entire life in Canada, I’m not sure if I could ever move to a new country and start all over again.