MONEY IS YOUR BOX AND A BUDGET IS YOUR KEY TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM Understanding the difference between a living wage and minimum wage is just as important as knowing your financial numbers from start to finish. Just the other day on Facebook I was reading through the comments after a sponsored post by a popular budgeting app popped up on my screen advertising their service. I suppose reading what others think about budgeting is important to me since this blog revolves around budgeting and frugal living topics. Two of the most important comments I wanted to talk about today which I read stuck in my head because I wanted to speak up and tell them, don’t wait for a living wage to budget, do it now. I’m not budgeting until I have a living wage Why should I pay to use a budget when I’m broke Your debt costs more than you think once you factor in all the interest calculated over the term of paying it back. In fact reading the bottom of your credit card statement might just shock you when you see how long it would take to pay off whatever you charged. Go have a […]
Waiting For A Living Wage To Start Budgeting Is A Bad Idea: The Saturday Weekend Review #252
How Spring Cleaning Helped Us Uncover A Hidden Pot Of Gold : The Saturday Weekend Review #251
SELL DUST FOR CASH WITH SOME GOOD OLD-FASHIONED SPRING CLEANING Don’t wait around for your pot of gold because the only way to fill your pot with cash is to get out there and make it yourself. Let the green of St. Patrick’s Day today inspire you to start spring cleaning your home for some green of your own. Many people go chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow not realizing they have a pot right under their nose, at home. It’s time to clean up the cash you having lying around the house and put it back where it belongs, in the bank. A deep spring cleaning includes more than just wiping walls, cleaning cupboards, windows and the outside of your home. One of the most dreaded chores but most rewarding is a thorough spring clean-up that uncovers ‘stuff’ you haven’t used in months or even years but has worth to it. If you put it for sale online you’d likely find a buyer and recoup some of the money you spend buying the product. It’s amazing how many people tell me they are broke yet they have loads of stuff around their house […]
How To Test Budget A Mortgage Before Buying A Home : The Saturday Weekend Review #250
LIVE LIKE YOU OWN THE HOUSE BEFORE YOU BUYING Think about the above statement for a moment and ask yourself how that may have changed your past or current budget before buying your home. You may find that had you created a test budget before that purchase you may have noticed that you shouldn’t have spent so much. Typically you wouldn’t hear me say anything about using a test budget because a budget is a budget, however there are times when pretending to budget comes in handy. Forget about the word pretend for a moment and consider the reasons why you would want to prepare a test budget and how it would benefit you as a potential homeowner. Can I afford the house Can I afford the house Can I afford the house Start Young Finish Free I often like to believe that anyone who starts learning about finance from a young age will have basic knowledge to make financial decisions that may not impact their lives the way someone who did not. This is why I urge parents to teach themselves about finance FIRST and pass that knowledge on to their kids. Even then there are […]
The Ultimate Guide To Protecting Yourself From Rental Scams : The Saturday Weekend Review #249
The best way to protect yourself from rental scams is to meet face to face. It’s equally important to be aware of red flags that fraudsters dangle at unsuspecting renters. If you value the money you work hard for ( I know you do) and want to protect yourself from perplexing rental scams it’s time to get informed. One of the worst decisions we can make in life is signing something we don’t know anything about. The days of searching for a rental via print media are far less than they were 20 years ago since most people take to the internet for rental property listings. Even though word of mouth is top-notch in the rental community even then you must keep your guard up. By now everyone should know that letting your guard down when it comes to doing business online may come back to haunt you. Parents, if you have a young adult new to the rental scene pass along this vital information about rental scams so they’re protected. Most often students moving away for University and College looking for student housing get stung along with those who post wanted ads on social media or websites such […]
Why Are Hospital TV Rental Costs Beyond Ridiculous? : The Saturday Weekend Review #248
WHEN YOU REALIZE HOW IMPORTANT A HOSPITAL TV IS TO A PATIENT THE COSTS ARE NOTHING MORE THAN AN EMERGENCY EXPENSE WELL SPENT. When you’re in an all-white room in a not so comfy bed where not all patients are able to take care of themselves that hospital room becomes a very lonely world. For many patients and care-givers in Ontario the price of a hospital TV and WiFi is beyond over-priced and a topic I wanted to discuss with all of you. I’ve always been the first to say if you can’t afford it, don’t buy it but there are times in our lives where money is not the objective, life is. This is something that Mrs. CBB and I have learned through personal experience and just recently with my sick father-in-law who says, “You can’t bring money to the grave”. Hook me up, but at what cost? What I did learn recently is that not all hospitals in Ontario offer the same perks and prices for technology based services such as a hospital TV or internet. For example these are the charges for Wi-Fi at Hamilton Health Sciences hospitals yet the University Hospital in London, […]
5 Examples Of A Wealth Mindset To Inspire You In 2018 : The Saturday Weekend Review #247
Building wealth from scratch takes more than just Money Who wants to become a millionaire these days? Not as many people as you think because they are working on becoming debt-free before anything else. You must understand that to reach your top-level of financial success you must carry a wealth mindset wherever you go and with whatever you do in life. Sounds like lots of work BUT if your goals especially for the new year are to smash debt, build investments and increase your income you simply can’t spend without mindful habits of the rich. Why the rich? Last year I published a post about Rich being my new Happiness and I wrote that to remind myself and others that YOU define rich, not anyone else. I wasn’t shocked to see how popular that post became only because most people are getting rich shoved down their throats these days. Never-mind becoming rich, I just want to become debt-free. For most people this year will be a year of finding even more ways to save money because budgets are getting tighter, employers are laying off or shutting their doors and minimum wage has gone up and so will everything else. […]
You Won’t Believe The Year CBB Had In 2017 : The Saturday Weekend Review #246
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY SIDE TO OUR BLOGGING JOURNEY I’m not sure if magical is the term I’d like to describe 2017 for Canadian Budget Binder like it was in 2015-2016 but I will say it was challenging and we conquered it. We may not have reached all of our blogging, personal and financial goals but there was no way in hell we were going to give up, and we didn’t. There is no good, bad or ugly to CBB rather we tend to view it as opportunity to do better, learn from our mistakes and take on new challenges. I’ve grown so much as a blogger over the years and the most important thing I’ve gained is a reminder that this blog is MY opinion. I don’t get bothered as much when people say what they want to say like I used to. You can take it, or leave it. Isn’t this the way we should look at most things in life? If it adds value stick around but if you’re not willing to change your financial situation or don’t care then leave it. One of the coolest things we did in 2017 was take […]
Santa, All I Want For Christmas From A to Z : The Saturday Weekend Review #246
NOT EVERYTHING FOR CHRISTMAS COMES WRAPPED IN A BOX I often reflect on just how lucky I am to have such a wonderful family and know that I don’t need anything more but happiness in my life. Money is nice too BUT it won’t make or break what it is inside my heart. This has become my new rich and because of the way my financial mind has changed over the years no one can stop me from putting family first, not even money. I won’t make this a long post today because I realize most of you will be out doing some last-minute Christmas shopping, wrapping gifts, baking, drinking, partying and maybe even catching up on sleep. Just more smiles Funny how the mind of a child works. Perhaps adults could learn a thing or two about looking outside the box, literally. Yesterday as the doorbell rang and Mrs. CBB opened it to find more Amazon deliveries waiting to be brought in the house. If you’ve ordered from Amazon Canada you know that every box comes with the signature arrow from A to Z. Our son can’t understand why Amazon keeps sending us boxes of smiles. […]
