Think Outside The Piggy Bank

spend less than you earn

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.

how do you decide what X is worth?

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!

black friday and buy nothing day AGAIN

Good grief. I was going to add a pithy post about Black Friday/Buy Nothing when I decided that I had better check and see if I had written anything last year, and lo and behold I had even come up with the same post title! (Now changed a bit of course.) But there's no point in restating what I said about Black Friday a year ago, so if interested, have a gander at last year’s post. Alternatively, take a look at why one person feels we really SHOULD shop on Buy Nothing Day. And if you are absolutely determined to drop your dollars, why, then you might as well drop in on the box below. ;)

all's well with Bell

Remember my rant about this nationally reviled* yet heavily relied upon institution? Well, Bell Canada (claiming to be Canada's largest telephone and telecommunications company), came through and gave me credit for the fifteen long-distance phone calls I DIDN'T make but got charged for on my last bill, so I'll give them a wee break (especially since there were no unauthorized calls this time), and for now, the benefit of the doubt. But it wasn't so much the money as the principle of the thing (why should I have to pay for calls I didn't make?), and the fear that if I didn't speak up now, I would have no further recourse if it happened again.

* (just Google the words Bell and hate or sucks)

seeing red

Almost any man knows how to earn money, but not one in a million knows how to spend it. --HENRY DAVID THOREAU

Hmmm, not one in a million? I'm assuming that he meant spend wisely, although I could be wrong. And most of us are not taught how to manage money well at all, unless we've been fortunate enough to learn by example. But luckily, more schools are catching on that basic financial skills would be valuable to add to their curriculum, because it's certainly not an innate skill. 

Hey, remember that lamp I bought? Not sure what Thoreau would have thought of my spending in this particular case, but here it is:

The halogen bulb for the reading lamp part (it swings around the other way too) cost about $3.50, and I decided to leave the red floodlight bulb on top, because well, it's different, so for under $10, I got myself a floor lamp! Below you can see it turned on, but this was during the day. Try instead to picture a room with a burgundy carpet bathed in red light, and you might just get the idea! Hey, I wonder what it looks like from the outside?

another reason to hate Bell Canada

Has it really been ten days since I last posted? Hmmm, whom or what can I blame? The heat? Nope. Myself? Probably. Bell Canada? Yes, why not!

And what is my latest reason for hating Bell Canada you may be asking? Well, they're making me pay for long-distance phone calls I didn't make. Yep, indeed. Here's the story. It's a longish one, so get yourself a drink.

Got my phone bill and noticed 15 long-distance phone calls that were made in the space of three days. Problem is that I didn't make any of the fifteen. In fact, I didn't make any long-distance calls for the entire billing period. So I get on my Bell Canada operated phone to enquire/complain, and of course encounter Emily. Now Emily and I don't get along too well in part because Emily isn't a person, but an automated voice recognition system. In other words, a computer and an annoying computer at that. Call me weird, but I don't really like the phone to begin with, and while I don't mind pressing numbers to indicate what I want, I resent having to speak out loud to someone who doesn't exist. Plus, when "she" keeps telling me, I'm sorry, I missed that, or I'm sorry, but I still didn't catch that, and You're trying to ____________. Is that right? I get testy real quick. When IT finally says, Let's try again. Tell me what I can help you with. You can say things like..., well, I end up saying things I'm sure she wasn't programmed to hear. Snort. 

This time I yelled CUSTOMER SERVICE REP! right away, and was put through to a real person. Who said, brpt brpt brpt brpt brpt brpt brpt brpt Angela brpt brpt brpt, to which I replied in my best Emily-like voice, I'm sorry, I can't understand your accent, could you please transfer me to someone else? Because you see, Big Corporation Bell Canada is so damn greedy, that in an effort to make itself more money, it has outsourced most of its call centre workforce to India. And while I actually feel bad for any employee Bell Canada is exploiting, when I'm agitated I don't want to have to struggle to make out what someone else is trying to say. Her response? Brpt brpt brpt not authorized to do so brpt brpt brpt. Well, I said, I guess the only thing I'm authorized to do is hang up. Which I did. 

So I called back and talked to someone I could understand a bit better, but not with better results. They tried to convince me I had somehow forgotten I'd made those calls. Kept telling me who some of the numbers belonged to as if that would prompt my memory. And parrot-like I kept repeating, I didn't make those calls, I didn't make those calls, I didn't make those calls. I finally told them to check my previous phone number and record (I had moved in June) to see how infrequently I called outside my local area. They then had the gall to tell me they already had. In other words, they could see this wasn't my usual calling pattern, but wanted me to pay anyway. Well, that pissed me off, and when I told them so, they finally agreed to give me a credit on my next bill.

The problem though is that they didn't try to figure out and fix what was going on. How can my phone line be registering calls that I don't make? And what about the next bill? What if this happens again? Their response? Oh, just call again and we'll send out a technician to troubleshoot because we can't have you calling every month. Um, no. And now that they know the situation, I certainly won't be paying for any more calls I don't make, credit or not. I have a pre-authorized payment system set up with them, but if I see any non-authorized calls, I'll cancel that so quick Emily won't know what hit her!

I'll keep you posted. Pass this on to other Bell Canada-hating Canucks! :)

I almost bought a new lamp...

...but then I saw the light. Snort. 

Wait; let me back up. As you know, I have spent the last couple of months packing, moving, and unpacking again. A somewhat tedious process whereby you can't really eliminate any of those steps, but thankfully it IS kind of fun to arrange a new space. So I got my art on the walls and my bookcases filled, and all I really needed to add that I didn't already have was a floor lamp. After diligently looking online at various retail stores and at both Kijiji and Craigslist, I finally settled for this Canadian Tire baby, figuring that the reading light would be nice for behind my futon.

Called my brother to help me pick it up and we were on the way there, when fate intervened. I had helped him with an errand that had us on a different route than planned, when I suddenly remembered we would be passing a thrift store before hitting Canadian Tire. So we stopped in, and lo and behold a lamp presented itself that I thought had real possibility. Now the bulb in the reading light part of it didn't work, so we asked for a discount and I ended up paying the princely sum of $5. Not bad eh? I'll have to spend about another $5 for the special halogen bulb that I'll need, but that's still way lower than the $70 I was prepared to shell out.

Plus it's way cooler to pick up an old second-hand lamp (but with the faded original price sticker of $149.99 it wasn't exactly cheap when new) to fit in with all my other inherited, hand-me-down or thrift store/garage sale finds. I figured a brand new lamp might actually stick out like a sore thumb, or worse, be made fun of by my pre-existing (and probably bad-mannered) furniture. The only new things I do have in my cozy home is some of my art, and some of my books, so why not continue with the shabby-chic decor I have perfected for so so long? :)

p.s. will add pic of new/old lamp when I get the bulb!

tax time

  

I tried paying my taxes with a smile. They wanted money. --MAXINE

Snort. So, done yours yet? I always do mine early (as soon as the slips come in), and received my refund back in March already. Now they say you should be sensible and reinvest what you get back instead of spending it, but I put mine towards paying last month's rent on my new apartment. Which in a way is a good investment itself!

earth day

Happy Earth Day! Did you see the cool new badge? Click on it and find out how you too can contribute to one million acts of green.

My local grocery store finally got in the act today and from now on will charge five cents for every plastic bag given out. A good idea for those who don't already use their own cloth bags and maybe it will inspire less use of plastic overall. A ban on certain pesticide products is in effect here in Ontario as of today as well, and that's another step forward. Hey, have you heard about the new Disney film called earth? I really want to go see it, but I don't think it's showing at a theatre I can get to. Pity.

So I decided to post this entry on each of my blogs, as it's relevant to all three. Being environmentally friendly can be cost effective in many ways; not only can it help your wallet in the short run, in the end, the less damage we do to this planet the less we'll have to spend to clean and fix it up. Making sure our habitat becomes safer is good for all the species our earth has to support, and veganism's emphasis on compassion for all ties in neatly with environmental concern. Again, Happy Earth Day however you decide to celebrate, and think green all the way!

black friday or buy nothing day?

Have you heard of Buy Nothing Day? Started a number of years ago, the event tries to make us more aware of our spending habits by refusing to consume on this particular day. Black Friday on the other hand (not held in Canada by the way), tries to encourage consumers to begin their Christmas shopping by offering big discounts. Hmmm, kind of hard to observe both at the same time, isn't it?

Having a huge anti-consumerism streak myself, I'd opt for Buy Nothing Day anytime, and admire what the organization is trying to accomplish. Having said that, I can see how Buy Nothing Day would be a bad joke, or even a slap in the face for those who literally can't afford to buy anything. Or for those who have to string several buy-nothing-days together and perhaps even stretch it out into Buy Nothing Week. Having been in that position myself at one point, I can tell you that simplicity isn't necessarily fun when it's involuntary. And of course for those people who have oodles of money to spend and waste, Buy Nothing Day probably doesn't mean anything either. But I still think this is a worthwhile event (even though there are those who argue that spending is best for the economy), and hopefully one that can help us to remember the difference between needs and wants.

So what did you end up doing today? Did you shop? Or drop out?