THERE’S NO WAITING GAME WHEN YOU WANT TO MANAGE YOUR FINANCES EFFECTIVELY Whether you are in debt or not managing money must begin today if you want to feel good about your financial future. Personal finance management starts with a positive mindset where you believe your situation will get better and not waiting for opportunity to knock. Trust me, if I didn’t get my butt out there looking for a job when I moved to Canada or put myself back into school I’m not sure where I’d be today. I’d likely be working at a job I didn’t like but I would do it for the money. That’s the way the world goes but I certainly wouldn’t have ended my job search. Perhaps some of you reading this today may feel you are stuck in the same or a similar circumstance and although it may not be your ideal situation managing money must be a part of your routine. To App or Not These days there are apps for just about anything when you want to manage your money. There’s an app for your banking, budget, spending tracker, allowance tracker and so on. Personally, I think these […]
What’s Stopping You From Managing Money? : Dec 2017 Year-End Budget Update
3 Budget Guidelines That Fuel Our Financial Success
TAKE WHAT MONEY YOU HAVE AND TURN IT INTO FINANCIAL FREEDOM If you think setting budget guidelines are financial over-kill than let me tell you how good debt freedom feels–damn good. You can do this too! The idea is to start somewhere small to get to where you want to go that’s far bigger than you have ever imagined. It may not happen as fast as it did for us, but you’ll get there. So go ahead laugh or say you don’t need to push the limits with your budget because I will shout from the highest mountains (right now that’s the snow pile at the end of our drive) that you get out of budgeting what you put in, full-stop. Creating a budget should be the least of your worries when it comes to budgeting because most people don’t even get past the first stages, “thinking about budgeting” As soon as the new year hits this blog gets power-housed from readers all over the world looking for budget tips. That’s refreshing to see but I’d like to see this happen not just in January and February, but all year-long. There are so many free budgets online including our […]
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. […]
How To Fight Credit Card Debt With A Balance Transfer Option
A BALANCE TRANSFER MIGHT BE THE OPTION THAT WORKS FOR YOU Ah, the New Year, a new perspective, a new way of looking at things in our lives. For lots of people the New Year means making resolutions or promises to themselves to stay on track with their goals. Maybe your New Years Resolution is keeping that promise to yourself about quitting smoking and saving money at the same time or just saving money, online trading, starting a budget or starting a new career or second job. Beginning your year with a monthly budget can be a great start to tackling your debt. We’ve been using a budget for a number of years now and track all of our income and spending which includes asking for receipts. Sounds a bit boring but in part this is what allowed us to become debt free before we were 40 years old. Ultimately whether we had debt or not our budget allowed us to see what’s costing us more than it should and to adjust our spending habits to compensate for it. Related: How to create a results driven budget for 2018 I’m not going to lie to you, having a second […]
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 […]
3 Foolproof Savings Tips For One-time Expenses : November 2017 Budget Update
TAKE THE STRESS AWAY FROM ONE-TIME EXPENSES THE EASY WAY Over the years I’ve had many fans email asking me how to budget for one-time expenses when using a budget. This is no surprise as we’ve made our fair share of mistakes during our newbie years of budgeting. Let me explain. If you’ve never used a financial budget before for your expenses and are contemplating ringing in the new year with a fresh look on money, you’ve come to the right place. You won’t find any hard-to-understand information here as I tend to keep it simple. The key to budgeting is to start slow and to remember that your first go at budgeting might need tweaking. You may find that using budget jars works for you or stashing money in envelopes for the month. Some readers would not dare keep cash at home for fear of dipping into the jar here and there. Everyone IS different the way they handle their money. What’s important to remember here is that it really doesn’t matter what budgeting platform you choose as long as it’s working for you and not against you. How do you know if you’ve found the right or […]
What’s Your Sign? Mine Is Debt Free Forever Through Financial Discipline : September 2017 Budget Update
YOU CAN EITHER BE A DREAMER OR A DOER BUT ONLY ONE OF THEM WILL GIVE YOU THE FINANCIAL SUCCESS YOU CRAVE How do you teach yourself financial discipline? Easy but let me tell you one thing, don’t waste your time if you aren’t ready to make this a life-long change. Have a look at the photo above. If you’re the person who always dreams from the background and wishes that could be you in the canoe then you need to ask yourself why you’re not and what you need to do so you can change that. You can’t just turn on your money-saving mode one month and turn it off the next. It doesn’t work that way. What happens is you’re not being consistent and you may just find your financial hole a bit deeper. Today’s post is to remind you about the importance of a clear-mind and solid plan when beginning your money journey whether it be to pay off debt, earn more money or invest. None of this can be possible until your mindset is in drive. Imagine for a minute that you went on a diet and you did well for the first two months […]
Should Managing Debt Come Before House Hunting for this couple? : The Saturday Weekend Review #226
FINANCIAL DECISIONS ARE TOUGH WHEN YOU’RE BACKED INTO A CORNER. A couple, two kids, two jobs, debt, minimum wage and house hunting. Sound familiar? Find out what the Ontario minimum wage hike means for them and whether they should jump into the housing market now before it becomes even more expensive. Managing debt is one of the single most boring tasks that anyone wants to do BUT we need to do. I often get emails from readers about their debt problems when it becomes a serious matter. Don’t make the mistake of waiting until it’s too late to pull yourself out from under, do it before. Worst of all don’t add more debt to the mix unless you’re confident you can make more money from it or that you can pay it off. House hunting is a big task that many people take on especially during the spring and summer months. Real estate agents are ready to go and want to start house hunting with their clients. Any time a young person messages me about managing debt the debt help they seek is about four things: School Debt Consumer Debt (credit card, bank loans etc.) Personal loans Mortgage The […]
