Working Canadian Family

Life is full of Choices

2008-02-16T20:09:00.002-05:00

Well let's just say it's been crazy since the last time I wrote almost 4 months ago. With the new job the holidays and my personal life everything was just basically thrown against the wall to see what would stick. Current situation not much different from before, still in debt but more than happy to report I have been out of the cash advance places for almost 3 months now, it feels like I'm

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

2007-10-14T21:13:00.000-04:00

So here's the deal. We've had some bumps in the road but the statistics are not in our favor as most divorce's are caused by money issues no surprise to anyone reading this as it's common knowledge. We're trying to work through things and this week has been good for the most part until Saturday when she wanted to pull some money out of the account to find insufficent funds.Here we go again the

Personal and Money Troubles

2007-10-09T10:13:00.000-04:00

Wow it's been almost a month since my last post and alot has happened in that time. Almost left my wife and had several money woes that caused friction between us and a family member. It all started with the $1200 loan from a family member that I accumulated a $1000 of it and it quickly became $0 as I previous wrote about in Definitely not a good start to the Morning. Basically the family member

Eating out is costing us a fortune.

2007-09-14T08:54:00.000-04:00

We were doing great with eliminating fast food for quite awhile there, brown bagging it to work and cooking dinners at home. Unfortuntly this has taken a turn for the worst as it's becoming quite common that were eating out at least once per day.When working with a family of 5 that can easily throw your finances out of whack as the average meal for us at any fast food place usually averages

Mint is it refreshing?

2007-09-08T00:47:00.000-04:00

Ok let's face the fact I need a software like Mint.com! We need to get our financial and family life's back together. Is it cool and refreshing like a mint always is? I've been trying to get a hold of the early beta realease from Mint.com for awhile now with no success then I notice SavingExplained is running a contest to win one of 5 invites into the refreshing world that is Mint.com.Now my

Deadbeat Dad

2007-09-06T10:37:00.000-04:00

My step daughter's father has once again decided to quit his job, without anything else in line. This happens to us every couple of years. Which means no more child support for awhile. It's only $280 a month but it helps at least take care of some of the bills. And of course he never let's us know when he's working again so it takes time to track him down and start receiving payments once again.

I owe, I owe, so off to work I go.

2007-09-06T10:29:00.000-04:00

Grrr... I received a reminder as to my owing the Canada Revenue Agengy $1700 for last years taxes in the mail today! In all honesty I completely forgot about this debt, now to add that into my total of debts. So far my debt reduction is not going so well as it keeps increasing as opposed to decreasing. I still have full intention of reducing our debt one way or another, I'm not going to let this

More hectic times ahead.

2007-09-04T21:22:00.000-04:00

Sorry folks, between the new job and kids going back to school things have been just a little hectic, so for the next little bit you might find my postings a little more sporadic. If you haven't been a longtime reader please scroll through the archives to find more information about our financial conquest. If you have been a reader for a little bit bear with me as I'll be back on track before you

Showing love in terms of the internet.

2007-09-01T22:44:00.000-04:00

I decided to go through my blog and make some changes, some to increase the speed of the page and others for the looks of the site. The main thing I decided to change through was getting rid of the Blog Roll It, nothing against Blog Roll It personally but I decided it was time to implement a more personal list.What I decided upon was doing a manual add list which is on your left hand side listed

Definitely not a good start to the morning!

2007-09-01T07:38:00.000-04:00

I am so frustrated right now, one because I was woke up at 7 a.m. by a raving lunatic by the name of my wife yelling at me where's the money! So here's the deal I get home last night from work at about 12:30 in the morning and the house was dark everyone asleep so I decide to have a bite to eat and a beer. I hear her voice come from the bedroom all sweet sounding, clearly not asleep can I have

Making money on the internet

2007-08-31T09:54:00.000-04:00

Seeing how I'm trying to make some extra cash to help reduce our debt faster, I joined a program called CashCrate. Last night alone I earned $6.30 for about an hours worth of work.Basically how it works is they have a list of advertisers mostly surveys companies that will pay you so much for joining up anywhere from .40 cents up to some offering $35 dollars to join a trial membership. The higher

Friday's Highly Recommended.

2007-08-31T09:37:00.000-04:00

Here's something new. Seeing how there's such a wealth of information available on the internet, each Friday I'll post several other financial bloggers post that caught my attention during that week, with a link back to their page for your reading pleasure.Saving Explained 7 easy tips to keep your motivation for savings on trackNo Credit Needed Elimainate FeesCanadian Dream You are Poor from a

Saving money on car insurance

2007-08-30T10:48:00.000-04:00

It's always a great feeling when you save some cash. I finally received my new premium on my car insurance thanks to the job change. Now that I won't be driving 40 clicks one way to work it just saved me $30.90 a month on my insurance! My renewal comes up in November so at that point I'll look at changing my policy from monthly to an annual payment to save myself the 3% financing charge as

3 New financial goals for the future.

2007-08-29T19:34:00.000-04:00

As promised I would lay out three new financial goals for our family to replace the 3 goals completed as of this week. Here are the two financial goals that still need to be completed:4) Pay off another personal loan in the amount of $3060 by August 08'5) Pay back money that was withdrawn from children's account of $1000 by December 08'Which of course moves to #1 & #4 (reason follows later) here

Nothing better than completing your goals!

2007-08-28T20:29:00.000-04:00

So I have an exciting update to our short term goals that I listed in the post titled New goals for future. Our short term goals at that point in time was:1) Set up an emergency savings account by the end of August 07' with direct withdraw.2) Pay off a personal loan in the amount of $1200 by October 07'3) Get out of paycheck advances by October 07'4) Pay off another personal loan in the amount of

NCN Network

2007-08-27T23:54:00.000-04:00

Pre-Warning as I am starting my new job and I have quite a bit to learn my postings might be a little irregular over the next month. Just wanted to give everyone a heads up while I continue to search for help on the debt-o-meter which I hope to feature on this blog. I have joined the NCNnetwork.com one of the grandfather and premier debt blog movement sites, as you'll be able to track my progess

What does it take to be the next millionaire?

2007-08-27T21:59:00.000-04:00

I was watching the Millionaire Inside on CNBC tonight and some of the comments from the panel really got me thinking. The panel biggest thing tonight was surround yourself around successful people. I question that thinking I do know personally a couple of millionaires, many middle class. My thoughts is I have something to gain from everyone. Sure I love picking the minds of the millionaires and

What if a tree came crashing down on your finances?

2007-08-25T09:51:00.000-04:00

Last night here I am working on my blog and I notice the sky turning green, sweet it's going to be a great summer storm! Wind starts whipping, lighting, thunder and pouring buckets of rain. Boom the power goes out no problem it will be back on in a couple of minutes right. Wrong 1 hour past and still no power.At this point I thinking a transform must of blew, or a tree must have came down on a

Do you let your wife go shopping alone?

2007-08-24T15:45:00.000-04:00

What in the world was I thinking? Let my wife go back to school shopping alone in the States! You can read about our plans for Back to School Shopping and how we planned on saving money. Low and behold my wife comes home last night starts showing me everything, this was $3 or this was $7.My only concern and question to her was did you bring back any money with you? To which she replied yes, so

Savingexplained.com post on 7 Signs that your in deep debt trouble

2007-08-23T14:43:00.000-04:00

This is the second post I have decided to feature from Savingexplained.com her blog is by far becoming one of my favorites out there. You can find the first post I decided to feature from Savingexplained.com on microsavings Post that caught my attention. This one I decided to list the full article here with her permission of course. Read and enjoy.I have to give you a preemptive warning. This is

Is Middle Class Actually Better Off?

2007-08-22T13:02:00.000-04:00

We commonly have this discussion at work regarding the middle class and are we actually any better off? I remember reading a news story earlier this year where it stated that if you earned $50,000 a year take home after all payroll taxes as well as GST and PST you actual take home is more in the range of $30,000! Now how I have to ask is a family of 5 suppose to live on an income of $30,000?

Debt-O-Meter

2007-08-22T12:46:00.000-04:00

Still looking for that debt-o-meter if anyone can tell me where to find the widget or the coding for it, it would be greatly appreciated as I would love to install it so you all can keep track of my progress.

Gambling Addiction?

2007-08-22T11:45:00.000-04:00

Here's a dangerous game you can play, gambling and seeing how the regular season for the NFL is right around the corner I thought I would touch on the subject. Here in Canada we have this great lottery product by the name of Pro-Line I have to admit I love the game.Basically how it works is you have to make a minimum bet of anywhere between $2-$100 on a minimum of 3 games up to 6 games with your

NetWorthIQ.com Full Review

2007-08-21T15:14:00.000-04:00

As many of you are already aware of from past postings I’m a huge fan of NetworthIQ and several people have asked me to post a full review on the site. So I feel obliged to honor the request of my readers. First thing first I found out about the site due to the badge on A Canadian and Her Money you’ll see the same badge on the right hand side of my blog. I decided to click on it to find out what

Feeling Great for Once!

2007-08-19T08:16:00.000-04:00

I have to admit for the first time in a long time I feel great. I notice myself smiling more, not worrying myself to death and most of all sleeping better. I'm not sure if it's the creation of this blog or the new job on the horizon but I finally feel like everything is going to work out fine. Anyone that has been in debt knows exactly the feeling I'm talking about, where you feel like the whole

Savings Account

2007-08-18T16:24:00.000-04:00

We have begun the process of opening up an ING savings account for our emergency savings as it was the first goal to be completed of our New Goals within the timeframe of August. I just need to mail away the check now which will be done on Monday in order to finalize setting up the account.At first were going to only put away $50 a month but hey it's a start right. Will continue to monitor our

Second Job?

2007-08-17T22:18:00.000-04:00

So earlier this week I applied for a second job as a server in a local restarant in our area to help bump up our money situation as spoken about in How Were Going To Achieve Our Goals item #3 was to bring in more money.Reason being for applying for a server position was quite simple actually as I have previous experience although going back almost 10 years, cash money at the end of the day and

New Job

2007-08-16T19:11:00.000-04:00

So if you've been following my blog at all you would have read about the trials and tribulations of being interviewed for a new job. It all started when I was turned down due to my credit then follow that up with the second interview but after that I was still left wondering as the DM said he would let me know last Thursday or Friday. On Monday I still didn't recieve word so I gave him a call and

Post That Caught My Attention

2007-08-16T18:42:00.000-04:00

You want to know what's so great about blogging? You join a community and if you have read any of my post so far you'll know I'm a huge advocate for communities you can learn so much more from many than from a few. Many bloggers feel the same way we don't view other's in our niche as competitors. That's why I'm more than willing to share when I come across a great post and today I came across

Wesabe It Is!

2007-08-15T23:55:00.000-04:00

As I spoke about before I planned on joining a social money network budgeting site by either Wesabe.com or Geezeo.com to compliment my NetworthIQ.com account. Now I should note at this time I do not currently pay 2 post if your not familiar with it, it basically means I'll write post to endorse a certain company for X amount of dollars. You can check my bank account if you wish I'm broke :)!

How Were Going To Achieve Our Goals

2007-08-15T09:57:00.000-04:00

Day 3 and so far you've seen our Old Goals that were written several years ago that were forgotten about as well as our New Goals for the Future which we will follow right here on this blog. Now I know people are saying wait you have old goals which you didn't follow through on and forgot about, how do you plan on attacking your new goals and improve your personal finances. Quite simply I've come

New Goals For The Future

2007-08-13T22:17:00.000-04:00

As promised here is my new list of goals. I decided to break it down into both short term (under 5 years) and long term (5 years +) to keep myself motivated. As one goal is completed a new one will be implemented to ensure constant progress. Drum roll please:Short Term Goals:1) Set up an emergency savings account by the end of August 07' with direct withdraw.2) Pay off a personal loan in the

Old Goals

2007-08-12T22:03:00.000-04:00

It's funny today I picked up an older book I had by The Motley Fool flipping through I came across some old notes that I recorded in the pages. Including old goals I written for myself some accomplished some not. They are as follows:1) New Home by the end of 2007 (I must have picked up the book a couple of months prior to purchasing my home as I purchased my home in 2002)2) Getting Out of Debt by

Every little bit counts when it comes to managing your money

2007-08-11T11:23:00.000-04:00

Today I was going through some of the blogs I read often and came across The Simple Dollar post on Six Habits I've Given Up In Order To Save Money and it inspired me to write my own saving techniques that my family has implemented in order to save a little extra cash.Coffee: Every blog that writes about personal finance, debt, savings or investing they all seem to list this and for good merit. As

Less Energy, More Beer

2007-08-10T14:55:00.001-04:00

I love this commercial it's truly Canadian from David Suzuki to the man concerned about his beer.

Back to School Shopping

2007-08-10T13:58:00.000-04:00

It's that time again, time for back to school shopping get ready to pull out those wallets and purses and watch your money go bye bye. They say that the average back to school shopping cost approx. $300 per child in my case that's $900! That's just a little less then my family spends at Christmas time there is no way I'm spending $900 on back to school. Here's how I plan to save on those expenses

Update to Sticky Keys

2007-08-10T10:44:00.001-04:00

So apparently it is not a wise idea to disassamble your keyboard! Had it all apart cleaned up everything put it all back together just as it was before, turned back on the computer and voila doesn't work! Tried a couple of different things still no luck, at that point no other choice but to head to Wal-Mart to purchase another one. They had two wireless keyboards and mouse combos with a ticket

Sticky Keys

2007-08-09T12:01:00.000-04:00

Any tips out there to save money on buying a new keyboard for your computer when your 4 year old decides to pour pop into it? I truly do have sticky keys now which makes typing this posts exteremely differcult! I'll gonna give a try to taking apart the keyboard later today and see if maybe I can clean it out hopefully.

Car Debate

2007-08-08T11:37:00.000-04:00

Here's a question I've asked the community at NetworthIQ.com that I've received some pretty good feedback on and was wondering if anyone here had anymore insight into it.QuestionHere's the situation I'm currently dealing with a truck that I still owe $7700 at 24% interest. It's killing me in gas consumption, do I look at something more efficient considering my commute to work is 80 clicks round

Update to Credit Score Post

2007-08-07T12:29:00.000-04:00

I'm glad to report apparently qualifications still do matter when searching for a job. I received a call from the company DM that he would like to have a second interview today at 2. When I told him that the other manager said they wouldn't be proceeding due to my credit he responded that would not be the case and that he still wanted to meet with me. I'll let you all know how it goes, wish me

Talking Money over the Net

2007-08-05T20:57:00.000-04:00

What are you thoughts on releasing financial information over the Internet? When I first started this blog I have to admit I didn’t read blogs prior to it, so I thought I was writing something new, to my surprise there’s quite a few blogs out there that talk about families in debt. And now I have to admit I’m a blog addict, it’s like reality TV but online. Some of my favorite blogs are listed

2007-07-29T21:58:00.000-04:00

Sorry folks for not writing as of recent, unfortunately we suffered a loss of a family member we will be finalizing everything tomorrow. At times like these it's difficultly to focus on writing as well as money issues as neither are as important as family and friends.

Social Lending in Canada

2007-07-25T20:31:00.000-04:00

There’s something new on the financial horizons for Canadians you’ve might have already heard, it goes under several different names Peer 2 Peer Lending, Micro Lending and Social Lending. In the U.K. they have Zopa the U.S. has Prosper and in Canada will have Community Lend by the fall of 07. Brought to you by Michael Garrity, a former vice-president of marketing at Canada Post's online

Credit checks

2007-07-25T13:56:00.000-04:00

So here’s the deal I applied for another job closer to home and they required a background and credit check. Guess what my credit check caused me to lose the job! What’s scary about this is more and more companies are starting to implement this process in their hiring decisions. At that point I went over to the Equifax website and pulled my credit report, nothing was unfortunately out of whack I

Victory against Payday Advance

2007-07-24T09:59:00.000-04:00

One down and one to go. Pulled my CSB's out approx. 2 weeks ago and received the check yesterday for $900 and took care of my largest payday advance of $895 what a feeling, when she asked if I wanted to reborrow and finally getting the chance to say no thank you. One to go for $375 but I feel much more confident that I will take care of it now that I rid myself of the $895 one. Fastest way to

Money School

2007-07-23T22:43:00.000-04:00

What is it with schools both elementary and high school, that they don’t yet have a class about money management? It’s been a issue spoken about many times over the years but at which point will the schools decide to implement a course dealing with personal finance? The reason I’m bring up this subject is we had a yard sale and told our 11 year old daughter that whatever she earned from her items

Suggestions

2007-07-21T23:49:00.000-04:00

Hey folks, just thinking if there's anything out there that you would like to see more info on just write me either through commments or my email is listed at the bottom of the blog. There alot of subject that I want to write upon but if you find that something is important in your life right now that you can't find info on let me I'll try to help out best I can.

Favorite Websites for Savings

2007-07-21T23:11:00.000-04:00

Sorry folks for not writting the last two days things are getting kinda hectic at work and I'm stuck working from open to close as a result. It should ease up shortly. I decided due to time constraints I would just submit a short quick post listing one of my favorite websites out there for Canadians redflagdeals.com if your not already familiar with this site I highly suggest it as you'll find

RRSP or Pay down your Mortgage

2007-07-18T10:27:00.000-04:00

I've noticed several articles written lately one by MoneySense I believe it was the Jan/Feb issue and the other being Canadian Business August issue debating whether it make more sense to pay down your mortgage, when your a younger couple or contribute to your RSP's. Both publications offer excellent points MoneySense to sum it up says pay off your mortgage as it's your largest debt if you can

Working Canuck to Working Canadian Family

2007-07-18T10:18:00.000-04:00

Changes so soon, but that's the way the world goes you either change with it or get pushed to the side. Apparently Canuck isn't a much searched after term and seeing how we want others families who are in the same position as us not to feel like their alone in their struggles we had to opt for a better way for other families to find us. As that's what this blog is all about there's enough written

Rent to Own

2007-07-15T14:56:00.000-04:00

So I go into one of those rent to own places by the name of Easyhome looking to purchase a laptop. Now I knew before walking in the door I would be paying a premium for dealing with a high risk lender but the results were shocking. Figuring I would be looking at approx. $50 a month over the course of 3 years in all $1800 spent on a

Gas Prices

2007-07-13T19:50:00.000-04:00

Pre warning major rant here! Gas prices keep going up I remember just 5 years ago when it jumped to 70 cents a liter and I was complaining to put it nicely but now, come on over a $1.05 a liter! I was watching the Calgary channel last night and they were up to $1.15 per liter and were warned that it’s probably going to be the lowest you’ll see in that area this summer. At what point will our

Mortgage Brokers

2007-07-12T19:55:00.000-04:00

As a homeowner I personally found the easiest way to access financing was through use of a mortgage broker as opposed to dealing with the banks. Here’s the simply reason why you walk into your bank to qualify for a mortgage that bank will either approve you or deny you based on their own qualifications. Your allowed when shopping for a

Payday Advances

2007-07-11T20:42:00.000-04:00

Want to hear one of the worst things you can get yourself involved in financially! Payday advances and yes I’m speaking from experience to the tune of approx. $600 a month in interest alone! Did I fall for their great commercials of everyone needs some help sometimes or easy way to get money before payday, no absolutely not. Unfortunately we all fall behind every

$2000 Tax Credit

2007-07-10T10:42:00.000-04:00

As of July 1st 2007 there is a new tax credit available on your TD1, you know the tax form that you fill out when you start a new job. Although maybe you did or didn't know this, you should fill out a new one each year and submit it to your employer in order to ensure your receiving the proper credits and try to avoid getting dinged at the end of the year for not submitting enough taxes.This year

Budget

2007-07-10T10:04:00.000-04:00

Let’s start with the basics, the nasty B word Budgeting. Even if you just tally your expenses for a month you might be shocked to find out how much extra your spending on non-essentials. Of course it’s important to keep a log of every penny spent regardless of how trivial you think it is, for example that 50 cent Nevada ticket. As stated before even if you just tally one month of expenses you’ll

Welcome

2007-07-09T00:46:00.000-04:00

Welcome to my first blog the Working Canuck. I hope you'll find my blog enjoyable as well as informative. I'm hoping to carry information here consisting of new financial products to hit the Canadian market as well as general information that affects the average Working Canuck and their families. As my disclaimer states please seek professional advise when making a