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 To Build Your Wealth Without Earning Big Bucks : April Net Worth Update (+1.96%)
YOU MUST BE EARNING BIG BUCKS IF YOU’RE DEBT FREE- Not exactly. The misconception that you must be rich and earning big bucks if you’re debt free is SO WRONG. The first thought that comes to mind when a young person says they are debt free without a mortgage is that they must have inherited money from someone. Typically the parents are the first target of interest, but does that really matter? Not really. It helps but it’s not often parents have the spare cash to dish out but for those that get that kick-start if they aren’t money-wise they could lose it all. Buying a house depending on where you live in Canada is becoming out of reach for many people especially millennials looking to get into the real estate market. A recent house sale on our street went for nearly $700,000 at just under 1400sq feet. Have a look at how much we value our house at in our net worth chart below and you’ll see what I mean. Manulife Bank issued survey results on Tuesday that suggest 45 per cent of millennial home buyers received a gift of money or a loan from family. That compares […]
5 Important Budgeting Rules We Won’t Break : Our April 2017 Budget Update
Budgeting rules are not laws that will strip you of your financial independence. They are your guide to financial success. Your budgeting rules may not help you get out of debt in 12 months but it will help you get out of debt according to your payment schedule. The more money you can pay on your debts the faster you will get rid of them. Earn more> Pay Debt> Save More> Repeat which also means for some people that a second or even third job is needed. I can’t tell you what you SHOULD do because I don’t know your numbers this is why it’s crucial to have in-depth look with your financial planner. Since Mrs. CBB and I do our monthly budget together we were talking about what we’ve accomplished and continue to do to make our budget work for us. Besides being on the same page financially we both follow budgeting rules that we feel have been crucial to our zero debt success. This month will mark three years of us having total debt freedom since paying off our mortgage. Often we wonder how we managed to pull that off before the age of 40 when so […]
Will the Ontario minimum wage hike help? PF Friday Grab a brew #57
IN ONE POCKET OUT THE OTHER Surviving on minimum wage is not easy in fact when I moved to Canada the only jobs I could find were minimum wage jobs although that was still a struggle at times. Living in the UK was equally as difficult because prices for petrol and food not to mention housing accommodations were astronomical compared to what we earned. I was already used to living on a tight budget and working hard to make ends meet to stay ahead of the game but I guess I expected more moving to Canada but knew I would have to work my butt off no matter what challenge I was given. No road is an easy road unless it’s all handed to you on a silver platter but even then those people still fall. Unless you haven’t heard the Liberal government is giving a $0.75 boost to the minimum wage in Ontario raising it to $11.00 an hour. They say this is in line with inflation but is it really enough to get by on? Finding a job I struggled to find work even with my University Degree from the UK because it wasn’t fully […]
Reader question: Budgeting tips for low-income families
Budgets Do Not Discriminate This low-income budget question that was sent in by a reader caught my attention as it’s not the first time I’ve been asked for tips on such an important topic for Canadians. Many people are in the same position as this reader so I hope I can shed a bit of light on the topic of budgeting and low-income families for those that are reading today. This is one of those touchy topics so please bear with me as I realize many people are struggling through tough times. Debt is debt, money is money, a budget is a budget. I know all of you have unique situations just like we do. I don’t claim to be a budget hero, just a guy who wants to listen and share what we do with our budget. Nothing is easy, we fail, we get right back up again. Dear Mr. CBB, I’ve read your blog for a while now as I was searching for some family budget information and a sample family budget so I can start to budget for our family. We come from a low-income Canadian family which we feel is at the poverty level in Ontario. […]
