From the category archives:

Money Management

Cracking the coupon code.

October 25, 2011

Everyone seems to have a system when it comes to shopping. Some have the swift skill of negotiating.  Others look for sales with flyers and stock up. Some have a shopping blowout at the dollar store. Some grumble under their collective breath about the state of prices at the supermarket, about the fact that everything [...]

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How much is that goblin in the window?

October 20, 2011

Carvers of pumpkins, makers of costumes, givers of treats – listen up. According to the National Retail Federation in the United States, Americans will spend $6.86 billion on Halloween this year. Extrapolate that to Canada – by a reduced factor of 10 – and we here in the great yellow, orange and rust-coloured north will [...]

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Health and Wealth – Stop smoking your money!

October 4, 2011

When I was younger I remember my grandmother telling me once that my aunt was outside “smoking her money”. I didn’t quite understand what she meant at first. I mean, I knew they smoked something but how do you smoke your money? “Isn’t it toxic Grandma?” I asked. She laughed at me and said “no, [...]

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Santa never sleeps.

September 29, 2011

Sorry to bring this up but (achoo) cold, wind, sleet and snow will soon be upon us, and you know what that means – a rotund, white-bearded fellow in an outlandish red outfit will be crawling down chimneys to deliver gifts under evergreen trees in living rooms across the land. The old boy never sleeps. [...]

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Write a brief essay. Win up to $5,000. Join the fun with CEWC.

September 22, 2011

A sure way to attract eyeballs in the world of blogging is to tell folks they can win lots of green by entering a fun contest. Get right to the point, too. Put the dollar figure in your blog headline . I knew I had your rapt attention just seconds ago. Here’s the deal. This [...]

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Just making things HD Clear.

September 15, 2011

After one rainy long weekend of watching one too many episodes of TLC’s show “Hoarders” I decided it was about time my room went through a major cleansing. I got rid of most of my old stuff and I wanted something new. During my cleanup process I collected a lot of valuables that I could [...]

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Student loans: Lessons in debt.

September 13, 2011

There is the horror story about the 20-something fellow who, after receiving his post graduate degree in psychology, could only find a job as a clerk at a convenience store paying him little more than $1,000 a month. He has a wife and two small children, and the family’s household debt amounts to $80,000, most [...]

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A close look at invisible spending.

September 8, 2011

September is a time to buck up. And by that I don’t mean it’s time to start throwing bucks around. I mean exactly the opposite. It’s time to gird financially for what to most of us is the real new year. The kids are back at school. Work places are vibrating with plans and new [...]

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Financial Diary of a 20something – My Debt Story.

August 25, 2011

Four years ago, I was 25 years old, living on my own, working my first “real” career-type job and had a commercial debt of over $11,000. This included $8,000 worth of credit card debt, $3,000 of overdraft, plus a few bills that were months past due. I knew I was at a financial rock bottom [...]

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Back to school. How would you brand your teenager?

August 23, 2011

A mass migration is about to occur in Canada involving well over two million citizens. Well, teenagers, actually. Call them Millennials, Echo Boomers, or Generation Y if you like. They are 13 to19-year-olds who are preparing to leave the carefree days of summer behind and march back to school. It is a momentous occasion not only [...]

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