CREDIT CARDS ARE MORE THAN JUST A BACK-UP PLAN! There’s no doubt you need to be careful with credit cards. There are people of all ages throughout Canada struggling with credit card debt in the thousands or tens of thousands. And if you start missing payments, your credit score will be in danger, which will affect your ability to acquire assets and may even limit your employment options. Related: How to avoid turning $1 into a $29 Credit Card fee However, credit cards are not inherently bad. Money mismanagement is, and the two don’t necessarily go hand in hand. If you are conscientious about how you use your money, you can actually save money by taking advantage of credit cards. Instead of battling to pay installments, you can live the lifestyle you choose without letting the debt ever get out of hand. There are multiple ways to save money using a credit card. These are 5 of the most effective. 1. Transfer your balance to a 0% APR credit card If you are already carrying credit card debt, there is a simple way to get out of paying crippling interest. Many credit card companies offer a 0% […]
A Love Letter And Life Lessons: Money Fool To A Budgeting Money Saver!
A love letter taught me a life lesson steering me away from becoming a money fool and into a budgeting money saver. I know what you are thinking and you are probably right. What did Mr.CBB get himself into this time. Well the morale of the story is always the icing on the cake so I’ll save that until you get deeper into the thick of things. A Fool And His Money If you’ve ever considered yourself a money fool which to me means someone who spends without a care in the world then you may learn a lesson or two here. You may be someone who doesn’t worry much about what’s right and wrong but you know that at some point you have to make decisions you might not want to face. You are spending cash to impress others or to make yourself feel better but there comes a time when you must pay for those pleasures. If you spent money you didn’t have or too much money then you have to decide what your next financial step will be. I often think back to when I was younger and ponder what I might have done or experienced that […]
The Grocery Game Challenge #2 May 13-19, 2013-Discount Days And Rewards Programs
What would the grocery game challenge be without discussing discount days and rewards program perks to save money in the grocery budget? Essentially a discount day is a day or many days where a grocery store offers discounts to its customers and in some cases like Juanita’s, a further discount for holding a loyalty rewards card. I was intrigued by the deep discounts some of the fans, especially Juanita who scored some great deals on groceries at Sobeys during a discount day that offered a %10 discount to all customers and a further %5 if you were a Club Sobeys member. She may not have gotten everything free or a 98% savings but she saved a significant amount of money by planning this shop and the savings that came with it. I’m not too familiar with discount days at Sobeys as I don’t frequent that grocery store as it’s too far of a drive for us to the nearest shop. I find it interesting to read all about the different discounts and savings programs all around the world, not just in Canada because pricing isn’t always the same. In many cases staple foods are not the same either so our diets differ and […]
Saturday Weekend Review #14- Credit Card Surcharges, Would You Pay Them?
Paying to use our credit card each time we swiped it would certainly make the choice of not using it easy for us. A recent conversation with a local pizzeria owner we frequent shared with us that it does cost him money when customers use a credit card. If we ever order a pizza now we pay in cash because we kinda feel bad about it, but not sure if he meant to make us feel that way or we feel sorry for him. He does make a good pizza for a reasonable price though. Canadian businesses are charged fees from 1.5 to more than 3% of each purchase put on a MasterCard and Visa credit card. Best of it is, if you are using a premium credit card merchants have to pay more. The transaction charges imposed are per the anti-competitive rules set out by the competition bureau of Canada. Would you not say that this is just part of the cost of doing business? We have seen signs at shops that say “Cash Only” or “Debit and Credit Card Machine” down in our days but tend to stay away. In Canada merchants can ask the customer to pay a surcharge […]
PF Weekly Reading List #10-Can I See Some Stolen ID Please?
I’ve never had my personal identification (ID) stolen before and when I was reading through Yahoo News yesterday I was laughing out loud after what I had read. So to shorten the story an Applebee’s waitress loses her walled filled with ID, credit cards, cash pretty much everything a person would keep in his/her wallet. A few days later the bank rings her up to tell her cheques are being issued in her name. Right about that point I’d still be calm trying to sort it out but I know the wife would be freaking out. She’d be freaking out the moment she knew someone has stolen her ID. Then the plot thickens. So the waitress is at work and heads over to serve a table and asked for ID after they order alcoholic beverages. This is the point where she looks down at a driver’s licence and guess what……….. It’s HERS! I know I shouldn’t have laughed but I’m probably not the only one who read the story and thought, what a bloody coincidence that was. What would you do? Your first instinct may be to reach over grab her by the shirt and give her a one, two […]
The Grocery Game Challenge #10-Mar 4-10,2013-Road Trip To Target Canada
The arrival of US Discount store Target Canada has ended in 3 Ontario cities Milton, Fergus and Guelph. These 3 pilot Target stores in Canada opened their doors today to anxious waiting customers. We thought we would go on a road trip to the closest Target store to see what the fuss was all about. Instantly I said, it’s a “Zarget” as there was still an aura of Zellers in the air. I’m sure the reminiscent feelings will slowly die off but it carried through most of the store. In fact it seemed more like a modernized version of Zellers with the high-tech electronics section with some pretty cool cameras (I was tempted but, not this time. There was also the expected traditional pharmacy and the health and beauty section for cosmetics which was bright and so very Hollywood. The great part was the wide aisles, bright colours and it seemed spacious, not cluttery at all, then again it is a new store. Housewares seemed different as there were styles that we had never seen before and the clothes departments were airy and open as opposed to crowded with old clothes and loads of discount racks. A huge change was the amount of […]
Building Credit In Canada As A New Permanent Resident
Building Credit all over again in a new Country is not easy but is certainly possible to do. I’m still here and living it up and don’t fancy heading back any time soon. I’ve battled through all the permanent resident requirements with my lovely wife at my side and it’s been such a learning experience that I hope to share with all of you. It took me just over 100 days from the time I sent out my package that I prepared to Immigration Canada to being accepted as a Permanent Resident of Canada. I am truly blessed to be living in such a beautiful country like Canada and all the opportunities it has given me. Now I’m doing my part and giving back. Many people who land in Canada as new residents often find themselves lost when trying to establish credit to build a credit history. New Permanent Resident When I moved to Canada from the United Kingdom I was what they used to call a “Canadian Landed Immigrant” now called a “Canadian Permanent Resident”. Although I did some research on a Canada Immigration Forum it was more about the legal aspect rather than the financial. I already knew how to […]
