General

Retirement Planning And Your Health

When it comes to retirement planning, be sure to not only consider the financial side of things.  Remember that taking care of your health is equally important.  You may be saving enough money to enjoy a long retirement, but if you aren’t exercising regularly and eating healthy foods, you may not be in prime physical shape in order to enjoy the things you plan to do upon retirement.

Although we cannot control our health entirely, the choices we make today will have a significant impact on our overall physical health.  When it comes to making healthy choices, don’t be too cheap.  Be willing to spend your money on the things that promote good health such as fresh vegetables and fruits, whole-grain pastas and breads, and multivitamins.  Don’t be too frugal when it comes to healthy choices, and despite what some may think, eating healthy doesn’t have to cost a lot.  If you compare the cost of buying fresh produce to buying prepackaged processed foods, you will discover that prepackaged foods can end up being more costly.

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July 7, 2010
Investing

Make Sure Your Money Is Working Hard For You

It is important to make sure that your money is working hard and not just sitting idle in a low interest deposit account.  With the exception of keeping a few months worth of living expenses tucked away in a savings account as an emergency fund, I would advise that you make the rest of your money work much harder.

For example, right now we have an open variable rate mortgage at an interest rate of 2.5%.  Rather than keeping all of our money in a savings account that pays less than 1%, we decided to put $5000 extra towards our mortgage principal to decrease the amount of interest we pay.   Although 2.5% is a fairly low interest rate, our mortgage is our only debt right now; otherwise we would have paid off higher interest debt.

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July 5, 2010
Travel & Entertainment

Cheap Ways To Enjoy Photography

Hobbies can be expensive.  The neat thing is that if you are creative, you can enjoy a hobby without spending an excessive amount of money.  You don’t have to buy the latest and most expensive equipment and gadgets.  Instead, you can buy them used or in some cases, make them yourself.  Some hobbies are practically free, while others can be costly, but if you’re careful, you can make your money go a lot further, still allowing you to do the things you love.

Take photography for example.  Although it may be considered a fairly expensive hobby due to the cost of cameras, lenses, developing film, and so on, there are ways you can cut down on costs.  To get some ideas, check out the article “10 Ways To Save Money On Your Photography”.

The article discusses ideas such as using borrowed equipment rather than buying your own, posting your photos online rather than paying to develop them, and taking pictures at places where it’s free as well as making use of natural light.

Even if you are on a tight budget, it is important for you to allow yourself a small amount to spend each month on your hobby.  Having a hobby is healthy as it gives you a chance to relax and enjoy yourself after a long day at work or with the kids.

As nice as it would be to get your hands on the latest and greatest equipment out there, it’s definitely not a necessity.  Feel free to pursue your hobbies, just be realistic about how much you can spend on them.

July 3, 2010
Travel & Entertainment

A Frugal Queen’s Experience At McDonald’s

Ever since I started this blog, I have been preoccupied with jotting down ideas about earning extra money or being frugal whenever I hear about them or experience them firsthand so that I can share them on this blog.  Sometimes I think of myself as the Frugal Queen and wonder if maybe I am a bit extreme, but I guess it all boils down to the fact that I work really hard for the money I earn, and as a Canadian I pay a lot of tax, so I want to make sure that the money I spend is being stretched to its limit.  I guess there’s nothing wrong with that.

To further emphasize my frugal queeniness ( I know that’s not a word!), I want to tell you about my experience eating breakfast at McDonald’s.  Once a year for some reason I crave McDonald’s.  I am not sure why, but I always do, and when I finally give in to my temptation and eat there, I end up feeling ill for a few hours, and then I regret spending my money on something that makes me sick.

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July 1, 2010
Travel & Entertainment

5 Ways To Save Money At National Parks

During our travels this summer, my husband and I stayed at various national parks throughout the U.S.  We have also stayed at many national parks in Canada over the past couple of years.  We have found that you don’t have to spend a lot of money while staying within these parks.  Here are a few ways we have saved money:

1. Some national parks provide free shuttle bus service.  We took advantage of this service whenever possible.  It was much easier to see what the park had to offer without having to drive around in our car, and it was cheaper because we didn’t have to pay for the gas.

2. If you are able to time it right, you can sometimes get into national parks for free.  During our most recent vacation, one of the parks we stayed at was promoting their park by allowing free entrance for one weekend.  We just happened to be there at the right time.  If you are thinking of taking a vacation at a nearby national park, check out the park website to see if any free entrance weekends are being offered and book your vacation around that time.  The neat thing is that entrance fees are usually very reasonable and are often valid for 7 days.  In all the U.S. national parks we visited the entrance fee was just $25.

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June 29, 2010