Found 22 posts tagged as "Budget"
If you find yourself busting your budget from month to month, racking up credit card debt, and depleting all your savings, then maybe it's time to talk to a money coach.
Over the past few years, money coaches have become a popular option with cash-strapped Canadians looking to get a handle on their daily finances.
While traditional financial advisors generally work with clients to invest their retirement savings, money coaches help people improve their money management skills to fill the gap between being cash-strapped and having the funds to invest.
Josie says: "My husband has made my life miserable with his miserly ways. Of course I want to pay off our debts but I don’t think it’s worth sacrificing all personal spending. I’m only looking for a little bit of money each month but he won’t budge. Advice?"
Take a bit of comfort knowing that finding that sweet spot between debt reduction and an enjoyable lifestyle is everyone’s balancing act. The key is to allocate every dollar brought home so that you can actually see the monthly impact (large or small) of each purchase, both luxury and necessity. The other thing you can do to lessen your miserly pain is to make sure your debt reduction strategy has a clear timeframe.
Ron, who wants a new bathroom, writes: “We are getting quotes to re-do the ensuite to our master bathroom. What can I expect to budget for a 7 ft. by 10 ft. area?”
Having suffered through more than a few renovations, here is what I know. Your question is like asking how much you should pay for a new car: you can buy one for $20,000 or you can buy one for $200,000.
My first suggestion is to decide on your budget and make sure you consider the big picture – specifically, your entire home. You need to first figure out if your area supports this kind of upgrade come sale time. Consult with a real estate agent and establish values on comparable properties so that you can do your math. This will serve as your target threshold.
That said, here are two items that can easily blow the bathroom budget out of the water:
Sammy asks: "My wife cleans before the cleaning woman arrives. We can save almost $200 per month by cancelling this service but the wife refuses. How do I make her see the light?"
You and your wife have to decide together if this is a luxury you can do without. Here are two things to consider.
1) Your wife is not “cleaning” for the cleaning lady. She is tidying up so that the cleaning lady can clean. There is a big difference between putting away some clothes that are laying around and sticking your hands into a filthy toilet. If you don’t see this difference, I would urge you to follow the cleaning woman around your home and then replicate her job a couple of times. If you are happy to do the job in place of your cleaning woman after your wife has “tidied” than your problem is solved.
John T. writes: "My wife and I are in our sixties and don’t want to burden our grown children with the costs of funeral arrangements (we'd like cremation). Is this something to include in our Will for the executor?"
Even though we are all going to die, few of us are prepared to discuss it - the frank details, anyway.
Your consideration and forethought will be appreciated but I’m not sure that including the specifics in your Will is going to make the actual planning easier for your children. If that is your goal, why not make arrangements today and plan the whole thing, soup to nuts?
Receptions can be booked at funeral parlours at a cost of approximately $300 per hour.
Cremation services start at approximately $1,200 and include the actual cremation, registration, licensing, and witnessing. Urns are purchased separately.
My youngest child starts college in September and wants his own credit card. I am concerned because his older sister got into trouble with hers. Should we just give him a cash allowance instead?
I view credit cards as fantastic tools that allow young people to build credit ratings and often come with loads of great perks such as travel insurance, air miles and roadside assistance. However, as with any tool, comprehensive training on how to use it is required. These steps will help him use his credit card correctly.
Start with a budget
Let your son develop his own budget for food, gas, clothes, phone bills and other miscellaneous expenses he believes he’ll be met with and discuss ways to manage his budget over the 8 months he’s in school. Establish and agree that making unaffordable purchases outside the budget will result in paying much more for them in the long run as a result of the interest accrued so these are categorically off the table.
You just got paid. Great. But after filling your cart with groceries, paying that never-ending mortgage, and pumping fuel into your tank, there just isn't anything left in the bank. If you're hitting the end of your money before month's end, chances are your budget is busted. Here are five ways to fix it:
1. Open your eyes. Count all your costs.
Underestimating, missing, or ignoring any of your weekly, monthly, or yearly expenses is a surefire way to shoot your budget before it's balanced. So before blaming the household budget for your financial failures, open your eyes and take stock of what's listed. Did you account for all your fixed expenses (groceries, housing, medical, utilities, debt repayment, insurance), your variable spends (clothing, entertainment, transportation), and your retirement savings?
The Fix: Take a peek at other sample budgets to get a handle on the many costs to consider -- you may be surprised by what you've missed! This Simple Budget Worksheet is a great start, and download this free Budget Spreadsheet for even more helpful ideas.
2. Stop complaining, start tracking.
Is your daily cash or credit card spend the culprit behind your busted budget? It's not hard to drop a few loonies on lunch, a toonie on parking, or a few bills on junk. If you're not recording these seemingly small spends, then it's time to stop complaining about your missing money and get real about tracking your spending.
The Fix: Become a smarter consumer by asking for receipts and making note of all your cash spends. See How to Track Your Expenses for more details.
3. Rethink your budgeting system.
Are this year's credit card bills mingled between last year's grocery receipts? When your budget is a mangled mess, it's time to get a better system.
The Fix: There are countless methods available for keen budget builders -- the trick is finding the system that works best for you. Go ahead and try a software package, customize a spreadsheet, or download a mobile phone app to count your cash with more accuracy. See 7 online budgeting tools worth a look for a few choices.
4. Hope for the best, plan for the worst.
Are you blaming that surprise car repair, recent job layoff, or minor medical emergency for your unbalanced budget? Stop pointing fingers at these random events -- hard times happen to everyone, so add some wiggle room to your budget by building an emergency fund.
The Fix: The amount to save in an emergency fund depends on your monthly costs, but many financial experts recommend saving anywhere from three to six months' worth of living expenses. Your Tax-Free Savings Account may be the perfect place to stash this cash.
5. Don't put one person in charge.
Whether you're married, living common-law, or shacking up for the short term, it's important to open the books and learn to budget together. Putting one person in charge is a recipe for disaster since the other partner may either be avoiding responsibility or living in the dark.
The Fix: Set aside 15 minutes each week to review the bills, tally the receipts, and talk about money as a couple. If he's a spender and she's a saver (or vice versa), do the math to prove the imbalance. Comparing your household spending to earned income may just be the trick to overhauling that busted budget.
Your Turn: How do you keep track of your budget?
Kerry K. Taylor writes at Squawkfox.com, a blog where frugal living is fun. Kerry is the author of 397 Ways To Save Money: Spend Smarter & Live Well on Less.
 The snow is melting, the birds are chirping, and you've just removed those salty winter tires from your car. Yes, spring is here!
Although spring is traditionally the time to clean house and start anew, you may find a fresher start this season by giving your finances a little dusting off. A year of spending and saving can leave a cluttered trail of financial paperwork in need of some fiscal organization.
Regina Leeds, co-author of One Year to an Organized Financial Life with Russell Wild, knows that cleaning up your credit and removing the cobwebs from unpaid bills can net you a tidy sum, and even increase your self esteem.
"There is an emotional peace to being in control of your finances," says Leeds. "Creating a budget and cleaning up your files can show you that money is not complicated."
One Year to an Organized Financial Life is a thorough 365-day journey that tackles everything from debt to teaching kids about money. But if you're tight on time and need a quick financial decluttering fix, Leeds offers these tips for organizing your finances in a week:
Hold on to your shopping cart, rising food prices could give your grocery budget a bumpy ride. Thanks to increasing costs of commodities worldwide -- such as sugar, wheat, and oil -- Canadians could expect to pay between five and seven per cent more for groceries this year. And if oil prices continue to spike, global food prices could soar even higher, a United Nations food agency warned earlier this month.
With the average Canadian family spending $7,440 on food annually, you could be paying $520 more this year just to put dinner on the table. Here are a three tips for saving money on a hungry food budget:
1. Learn to stretch your leftovers.
Rather than tossing out leftover food bits and bites, get creative with your weekly meals by learning how to stretch the ingredients from one meal into another. By spending your food budget on quality ingredients, it's possible to get more for your money by taking the time, putting in the effort, and creating a family meal plan every week.
Bottom Line: Don't believe me? See my budget-friendly, leftover-loving experiment 1 Organic Chicken, 22 Healthy Meals, $49 Bucks for some tasty food stretching ideas.
2. Cut back on food waste.
Wasting food is an expensive habit. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 27 per cent of the country's food gets tossed in the trash can every year. Families living in the U.K. are just as trash-happy, says a Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) study which showed 61 per cent of all food waste could have been eaten if consumers had better planned and stored their food purchases. Is your household much different?
Bottom Line: Heading to the grocery store with a simple list, checking best before dates, and setting your fridge temperature between 1-5C (most of us set it too high) can help you cut back on food waste and save money.
3. Check the unit price.
Does buying the bigger, smaller, or brand name product make better financial sense? Before grabbing that economy-sized package be sure to first check the unit price and compare it to the generic version -- you could save money by buying two smaller-sized items on sale.
Bottom Line: A product's unit price shows the real cost per litre, kilogram, etc., not just the package price. In many stores, unit price information is found on the price sticker where the product is shelved. Comparing unit prices will help you choose the better valued product for your food dollar.
For more quick grocery cutting tips, see 5 Tasty ways to cut your food bill.
Your Turn: How are you dealing with rising food prices?
Kerry K. Taylor writes at Squawkfox.com, a blog where frugal living is fun. Kerry is the author of 397 Ways To Save Money: Spend Smarter & Live Well on Less.
With just a few short weeks until the big holiday, it's easy to become caught up in the marketing merriment at the mall and outspend your budget.
A recent Environics Research poll commissioned by MasterCard shows nearly half (48 per cent) of Canadians admit to going over their budget before the holidays have arrived, and another seven per cent admit to preparing a budget only when the shopping is done.
Whether you've covered everyone on your gift list or you're just starting your search, taking heed of these five simple rules could lead to a less costly Christmas with fewer big bills to pay in the New Year.
Rule 1: Be like Santa, make a list.
You won't feel like Scrooge if you make a gift list and check it twice! Knowing who to gift and how much to spend not only keeps you from missing a special person, but also keeps your eye on the budget. Having a list on hand may also save you valuable time since you won't be running around the mall looking for last minute gifts.
Bottom Line: Sticking to a shopping list and avoiding the temptation of eye-catching displays can save you hundreds of dollars this holiday season.
Rule 2: Track your holiday spending.
Presents and wrapping paper are just two costs associated with the holidays. Don't forget about entertaining, clothing, food, alcohol, travel, and décor. On their own, these expenses may seem insignificant, but add them up and you have one big fat expensive holiday.
Bottom Line: Download this Holiday Expense Tracking Spreadsheet to tally all your spends, and check your budget regularly to make sure you’re on track.
Rule 3: Comparison shop.
Knowing what you need to buy frees your time to look for a better deal. Comparison shopping online or in-store is free, and could save you an easy 15 per cent by not settling for a regular-priced item. Many stores even offer to beat a competitor's price by up to ten per cent if you can prove the deal, so be sure to keep all your price research before agreeing to a sale.
Bottom Line: Look to these 5 Websites that save you money when comparison shopping online, and become a better haggler with 5 ways to get a discount on anything.
Rule 4: Skip those credit card special offers.
Those plastic peddlers are after your holiday spending money and may offer special deals and perks to get at your wallet. Offers allowing you to skip a payment, discounts for opening a new store credit card, and bonus reward points are just a few teasers credit card companies employ to get you spending more.
If you currently collect rewards with your credit card, save yourself some money by reviewing your points and cashing them in this season. Points generally don't earn interest and some can expire, so use them to decrease your holiday budget this year.
Bottom Line: Cash in your credit card reward points for food, gifts, and travel to save anywhere from ten bucks to hundreds of dollars. See 5 Credit Card Tricks to Avoid before signing up for that new teaser rate credit card at checkout.
Rule 5: Re-use last year's decorations.
Do you really need new glitter and glitz this year? Buying stuff you already own adds clutter and costs money that could have been used to pay down debt, contributed to an RRSP, or saved in a Tax-Free Savings Account.
Bottom Line: Take a look around your home and open those boxes in the basement before spending money on decorations you probably don't need. Skipping the plastic inflatable snowman for your front lawn and resisting the latest lighting fad could save you hundreds of dollars. Reusing last year's festive lights, wreaths, and décor is free and keeps the plastic Christmas kitsch out of the landfill.
Your Turn: What's your tip for saving money over the holidays?
Kerry K. Taylor writes at Squawkfox.com, a blog where frugal living is fun. Kerry is the author of 397 Ways To Save Money: Spend Smarter & Live Well on Less.
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