Think Outside The Piggy Bank

it's that time of year again

2010-03-13T23:25:00-05:00

So turn your clocks ahead and I'll see you in Spring! :)

spend less than you earn

2010-02-28T12:13:03-05:00

Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery. --CHARLES DICKENS

Clearly not a new concept, a sound financial principle, and the most important rule when it comes to money, so why is it still so hard to follow? ;)

Okay, this was going to be the end of the post until I found an article that quite persuasively argues the above maxim faulty and should instead read earn more than you spend and I'm inclined to agree. It has a lot of good tips on how to increase your income in small but painless ways; read it and tell me what you think!

Of course the best approach is to be both frugal when you can (spend less) AND seek ways to increase income (earn more) to achieve whatever your financial goals may be.

curses, curses, CURSES!

2010-02-24T17:36:58-05:00

I have many many virtues. Well, a few. But patience (specifically patience with computers) is not one of them. I especially do not have patience with browsers that don't load pages quickly enough for my liking, which means that I particularly don't like IE7 (oh how I long for IE6 again!) or Firefox. What it also means is that I've been swearing like the dickens (and we're talking long strings of practically every curse word known to man), which is actually kind of surprising since I generally don't swear much at all. And it occurred to me that if I had to put money into a jar for every time I swore these days, I'd have me a whole pile of cash by now!

Moral of the story other than that I should try Google Chrome? Don't know. Also don't know why my cursing below turned so colourful (I swear I didn't do it), but it seems appropriate somehow. ;)

&*+%$%&*%^#%@#$*&^&*#$#$%

how do you decide what X is worth?

2010-02-19T12:50:27-05:00

In other words, how do you determine value? Take the pot on the left for example. I found it advertised on Kijiji, and immediately fell in love. But more than a hundred other viewers over the past month and a half did not fall in love. Or at least, not enough to want to pay the asking price of $40. That price was considered a steal by its owner, and frankly, I'm inclined to agree. The pot is huge (holds 26 cups while my biggest holds 16), and is ideal for making vast quantities of soup, which I do a lot. Of bigger value to me is the brand and colour (the Dutch BK line which no longer produces pots and pans in this lovely shade), and the idea of making savoury soups in this cheerful cauldron. I grew up on food made in pots like these, so definitely nostalgia factors in. But when I was asked by someone if I thought this pot was worth $40, I immediately replied absolutely. I don't even intend to haggle for it! And I guess that's what monetary value comes down to: whatever someone is willing to pay is what it's worth.

p.s. even though it's not Monday, I'm going to put this in the monday's $ question category because well, it's a question and it's about money ;)

update: Got the pot yesterday plus a smaller version for an additional $5, and am even more thrilled with them in person. They're clean, and you can tell that they're of really good quality. I'm gonna enjoy them for years I bet!

does anyone NOT hate Bell Canada?

2010-02-02T18:57:45-05:00

Hating Bell Canada (Canada's largest telephone and telecommunications company) is about as traditionally Canadian as liking Tim Hortons (Canada's favourite place to buy coffee and doughnuts), and I've written about this monolithic/moronic institution before, but why stop when there's always something new to complain about? This time it's about their Internet service, and I'm annoyed enough that after having been with Sympatico for a long time, I think I'm finally ready to switch.

One of the many sucky things about Bell Canada is their policy that if you want to terminate your current contract early (and they're very keen on having you sign up for two-year contracts at a time), then you have to pay a $100 cancellation fee*. What they don't feel obligated to do in turn is to inform you that your service fees are going up. Nope, at their whim they simply raise their fees without telling you. In my case, I happened to notice that my monthly Internet bill was suddenly $2 higher. Now this may not seem like a huge amount, but it's the principle of the thing that matters. No explanation given for the increase, and no advance warning. Were they hoping I simply wouldn't notice?

Fortunately for my brother though, this will likely mean that I'll be switching over to his TekSavvy group as he's been urging me to do for months. Why didn't I do so before (especially given my obvious dislike of Bell)? Well, laziness in part as I'll have to change my online email address in about 100 places. Just wait until I inform Bell Canada though. They have a habit of trying to talk you out of leaving instead of providing you with the kind of customer service that would make you not want to leave in the first place, snort.

And in case you think I'm exaggerating the national hate affair with Bell Canada, check out the 617 responses to Ellen Roseman's Bell Blues column! Also, check out Bell Blues: one year later for more happy reading. ;)

*to my knowledge I'm NOT on a contract at the moment

Monday's money question 7

2010-01-18T20:47:00-05:00

What is your very first memory of money?

I'll let you think about that while I dig deep into my own memory bank.

My first memory? Well, I must have been about six, and I've never admitted this to anyone before, but I climbed onto a kitchen counter, stole a coin from a jar in the cupboard (nickel or dime probably), and bought some candy at the store down the block. Isn't that terrible? My first memory of money involves criminal activity! Makes you wonder how (or if) that affected my relationship with money at all, snort. How about you?

charity and pets

2010-01-06T20:49:37-05:00

The problem with after Christmas sales is the lack of after Christmas money. --MAXINE

Don't know about you, but Christmas seems like a loooong time ago already. And while it's a tad late to talk about Christmas gift-giving, I came across an article that I had clipped that I still want to share. The holiday season is a time when we are more likely to donate to charity and here in my hometown this past December a few local organizations got together and came up with the idea of including pets when asking for donations. A veterinary clinic hosted a 'Fill My Tummy' drive and collected pet food, leashes, collars, treats, toys and litter for clients of two area food banks. Given that there has been a 15% increase in surrendered pets here over the past year and that people shouldn't have to choose between feeding themselves or their companion animals, this venture was a good idea, and I hope, a great success!

and so a new year begins

2010-01-01T23:00:53-05:00

May you have a prosperous New Year! I may need to borrow some money. --MAXINE

Ha ha, I'm sure she's only kidding. But can you believe 2010 is here? Hope you've all had a joyful holiday season with no need to borrow, then or now. Sorry I haven't been around much. Will explain later. Or not. ;)

reward points

2009-12-10T20:53:50-05:00

Are they worth it? I'm thinking more about store reward programs than the reward points earned with credit cards. Let's take the Shoppers Drug Mart (Canada's largest pharmacy chain) Shoppers Optimum Reward program as an example. When you rack up 7,000 points, you can save $10 on your next purchase. Sounds great, but in reality that means (if you don't end up earning extra bonus points along the way) that you've spent $700 to get the measly ten bucks. If you make it to the highest level of 75,000 points, you get rewarded with $150. But of course you've spent (again, without extra bonus points thrown in to help) a whopping $7,500! Now, it's true that if you would have spent that amount in that particular store anyway, then the reward is kinda nice (although still paltry), but I think the reward system entices you to spend more than you normally would. At least, it did with me a number of years ago. When I found myself deliberately buying things I didn't necessarily need (yes me, the frugal one!) just to get more points more quickly, I stopped using the Shoppers Optimum card and am glad I did.

Ha! Here's someone with a different take. Kathryn uses the reward system to much greater advantage, so perhaps I need to rethink my strategy.

Canadian Tire 'Money' coin

2009-12-04T21:45:36-05:00

I've written about Canadian Tire 'money' before, but now they've come out with a $1 coin (featuring the same weird guy as on the paper bills), which depending on your point of view, is either kind of cool or just plain stupid. Now I personally wouldn't mind getting this coin, but the problem is that you have to spend $25 first to get it. And it's only available this Saturday and Sunday. Touted as the first ever Limited Edition Canadian Tire 'Money' coin, I wonder how many people will go for it. Like I said, I wouldn't mind having it, but there isn't anything worth $25 at the store that I actually need. I even scoured the weekly flyer hoping that something, anything, would catch my eye, but nothing did. Well, except for the Sesame Street sandwich maker (yes, it's a sandwich maker that toasts two sandwiches with an impression of Elmo & Cookie Monster), which also is kinda cool OR stupid depending on your point of view. In my case it first caught my eye, but then made it roll, snort. And another problem with the coin (like the bills) is that you can only use it in Canadian Tire stores. It can't be used in general circulation, although I'll bet you someone will try!