FINALLY A CLOSET THAT YOU’RE NOT AFRAID TO OPEN I’d like to introduce you to our new savings source, The Gift Closet. Just about everyone I know has a junk drawer or closet where odds and ends gets tossed in hopes it may get used again. You know what I mean right? However, last week one of my readers gave me this idea about getting organized with our junk closets and opening up a gift closet. Sounds like you’re starting your own business but in a way, you are. If you consider savings for your bank account a business then you’re in business. It’s that simple. Not everyone has gifts they need to buy for people during the course of a year but there may be those odd times you find something that is too good to be true and you buy it. You may not want or need to use it right away so instead of it getting lost in the dust pockets of your home you open your gift closet. A good example for us are dish towels. Mrs. CBB has a love for dish cloths and towels and quality products are expensive to buy. When she […]
5 Point Checklist For Hosting A Successful Moving Sale : The Saturday Weekend Review #233
NOT ALL SALES ARE EQUAL ESPECIALLY WHEN SELLING YOUR BELONGINGS. Whether you’ve lived in a house for one year or 25 years you will accumulate stuff that gets shoved away in a dark corner and collects dust. We all do it unless you’re an extreme minimalist which wouldn’t be so bad for some people who can’t stop shopping for stuff to fill up their home. It’s after you are ready to move house and de-clutter for your first moving sale that memories and things start popping up. Then you have to make decisions about these items and sometimes selling or donating memories can be the hardest thing to do. Two questions pop into my head when I find stuff I haven’t used, we haven’t used or won’t use; Did we spend our money to buy it? Should we sell it or donate it? If it wasn’t our money then we don’t have to worry about a loss because we didn’t fork out the cash for it. Do you sell the stuff or do you take it with you? This is a question you need to ask yourself or sit as a family and discuss before even beginning to think […]
Men, Women, and How They Think About Money
MONEY IS MONEY BUT ADD GENDER TO THE MIX AND THE MEANING BECOMES SOMETHING MUCH DIFFERENT. Money is central to our existence and we all know it. We need, want it and got to have it. There’s nothing new to report here about any of that. It’s the basic reason we all get up every morning, battle the elements and the traffic, and hunker down at our jobs every day. Whether you are a Canadian or an American like me, there are differences between the genders. If you’re a man, you’re more likely to be coming home from work each day, unwinding and spending your time as you see fit. If you’re a woman, not so much. For as long as there have been people working outside the home, women have born most of the burdens of taking care of the home, kids, chores, and those kinds of things. When you look at the last 30 years of changes to our society, i.e. the big addition of women to the workforce, there may have been some changes in that old school approach…but not enough. Men still fundamentally think of women as the responsible party when it comes to family, […]
Strange Things People Do At The Grocery Store To Save Money: The Grocery Game Challenge 2016 #3 Apr 17-24
SAVING MONEY CAN BECOME A CHALLENGE HIGH I’ve blogged about grocery shopping for 5 years now and have learned so much about how Canadians grocery shop. I’ve learned the good and the ugly about how far people will go to save money on one of the biggest budget expenses apart from mortgage/rent and vehicle payments- food. While at the supermarket I’m on full radar and see so many strange things people do to save money that it amazes me how they can be so easy-going about it. When cracks in the savings system are found some consumers cash in because they want more than a little, they want it all even if it’s a bit underhanded. Financial times are tough in many households as grocery prices and living expenses are steadily increasing where the tightest grocery budget will feel the strain. You may think that only people who are struggling to buy food will conquer the grocery store using crooked ways just to save a few bucks but this is far from true. Even the richest of people are frugal and will do just about anything to keep money flowing through their bank account even if it is cheating […]
7 Expensive Grocery Shopping Habits You Should Stop! : The Grocery Game Challenge #4 Nov 23-29, 2015
DON’T FALL INTO THESE MONEY TRAPS If you are spending too much money on groceries you likely display one or more of the seven grocery shopping habits I’m going to discuss today. This past weekend my wife and I were shopping at Zehrs where we always find great grocery deals up to 50% off that compliment our grocery budget. We also like the quality of food that we find compared to other grocery stores but we certainly aren’t grocery snobs by any means. We shop where the savings are. Although not everyone jumps with enthusiasm when they see 50% off reduced stickers we both questioned just how much our grocery bill would be if they weren’t reduced. Realistically these reduced deals we find could disappear altogether one day where we are left with only flyer sales and coupon deals. We’d possibly see an increase in our overall grocery spending which means we’d have to re-evaluate our grocery budget or find other ways to keep expenses low. For the most part I think we would be fine as we are savvy shoppers, but ask yourself one question- Can we afford it? The biggest concern for us is our overall savings […]
Senior shares trick to save money for retirement in three words : April Net Worth Update 2015 (+1.14%)
EMOTIONAL CONNECTION TO MONEY We all want to know money saving secrets and this past week I learned something from a witty senior that will help you save money, although it may not come as a huge surprise to you. Do you feel stress coming on when you have to dip into your savings? We do at times because we aren’t getting any younger and know that life as a senior citizen can be difficult especially if you don’t have the funds to back up the lifestyle you need or want to live. There are people who are happy living from the Canada Pension Plan which is by the way max $1065.00 (2015) a month at age 65 but will it really be enough? Jim Yih at Retire Happy says, “Don’t count on the maximum” either when he talks about how much CPP will pay us in retirement. You would think with $120,000 savings that we have in the bank that it would be easy to spend money but it’s not especially after you know it may decrease your overall net worth and set you back a bit from attaining your retirement goals. This is why we budget and […]
How to Grocery Shop 7 Days A Week and Save Money : The Grocery Game Challenge #1 May 4-10, 2015
SUPER SAVE THE MORE YOU SHOP Most of you wouldn’t dream of attempting to grocery shop 7 days a week but for some there are hidden ways to save money. I’ve previously talked about shopping more than once a week and shopping monthly but not every single day of the week. It sounds a bit outrageous to the typical consumer but believe me people do this, and for many reasons. If you are a cashier at a grocery store you can attest to seeing the daily “regulars”. These people you know by name, they know your name and they want the freshest product on their table every day of the week. For those of you that work this is not for you although some of you might still shop every day after work depending on your situation. If you are single you might just drop in after work to pick up food for the night or if you work at the grocery store you pretty much have this luxury at your finger tips. One of our CBB fans does work at the grocery store and the deals she finds will blow your mind so I wasn’t at all opposed […]
How do you save money?
THERE’S ALWAYS A WAY I want to learn more about the savings task that so many people struggle with. So tell me, How do you save money? We all tend to save money a little differently but for many reasons not necessarily for the long-term. Today I want to walk you through conversations I’ve had with a homeless person and a homeowner to understand how saving money differs depending on lifestyle. Save money…. What is that? So many people laugh when they read about saving money because they believe there is no such thing. This is a common mindset we have because we believe that if we don’t have excess every month then there is no possible way. Most people who do manage to save, find a way. There’s more to saving money than living frugal meaning you save money on sales etc. People easily overspend while simply shopping for food and other items on sale. That’s why the term “window shopping” is the best way to shop if you don’t really need to buy anything. Leave your wallet at home. Do we really know where our money is going? A homeowners struggle to save money […]
