Delores wrote: Gail this challenge of yours has been a long standing habit with me…however…when we retired and went on a fixed income I really thought my days of saving and setting aside money for projects was over.  No so.  I have indeed done the ’skip shopping for a week’ trick and have used it for financing little projects around the house.  When my Dad passed away he left me a (very) small monthly income.  I pretend not to see it and that money goes into the RESP for the grandkids and into my TFSA as emergency money.  We love to eat out but quite often now when we get the urge we will set aside what we likely would have spent and put it in our project fund.  When our income tax rebate came in the mail last week we popped it into the RESP and TFSA.  Honestly…there is always a little money you can squirrel away if you keep your eyes and your options open.

Cheryl wrote: This week I discovered “freezer cooking”!  I just completed my first year of college, and only had $200 left for groceries for this month.  I have yet to find a summer job (ouch!- working on that!) so I’m working on the premise that this may be all the food I have for a long time.  I have two children, ages 3 and 11, so this amount is half of what I usually spend on the three of us in a month.  However, I also discovered a local co-op food program: pay $20 at the beginning of the month, get $65 worth of perishables on the second Tuesday of the month.

Yesterday I spent the day cooking for my freezer, using much of the $180 I spent at the grocery store as well as what was already in my pantry.  I carefully planned and portioned the meals out, and although I still have a few meals left to cook today, I already have 13 dinners, 4 breakfasts, and 6 packages of snacks.  The produce I do have will last until the produce box comes in.  I’m positive we will not be able to consume all of that produce before it starts to go bad, so I will cut up what can be frozen and keep it in a freezer bag for use in omelettes and salads for the second half of the month.  I know we have been bad for not freezing leftovers (as there usually isn’t enough food left for even one person’s meal) and the kids usually throw out some of what’s on their plate.  I made sure these meals contain just enough food for one serving each, and we will just have to fill the tops of our tanks with water and bread (we don’t do that that enough as it is). My savings this month will be $200!

Tasya wrote:  I really wish this challenge was posed to me in January. I borrowed your book Debt Free Forever from my local library and started watching your shows. I did everything you said to do…..every single step. I was sure I was good at managing my money, I was desperate to get out of debt but I wanted to prove to myself that I wasn’t a moron. So I got 6 months worth of my bank statements out and started a tally and holy-crap-a-molie!!!! I am embarrassed and appalled by how much money we spent on food. So in January we ate everything we had in our house first, some nights we all ate something different (family of 4) just to use up stuff and to not go to the grocery store. We are now shopping with a list, meals are pre-planned and no extras are purchased. Our fridge is empty on the day before payday. Even used up that shampoo and conditioner in the cupboard that I was saving for; if I ever ran out but hoped to hell never had to use. We’ve started a emergency fund, although my husband wanted to put it all towards debt. But I read him that chapter (perhaps read at him is more like it)……he still didn’t want to do it. I told him Gail obviously knows more than we do lets do it her way!!!!! We’ve opened an RESP for our kids and have budgeted for every little thing possible. We have not put anything on credit in 4 months, I’ve even gotten a points credit card with no annual fee just like you said but am not ready to use it until we go 6 months living on cash. I know I am not eligible for this challenge but I already know I am a winner and I have you to thank. So thank you Gail for changing my life……although there is one thing I disagree with in your book. You wrote it won’t be easy but in actual fact once you add up how much money you are wasting it is easy, you just have to want to do it! Thanks again.

PS funny thing is the one thing I miss most is gum, LOL but not a need definitely just a want.

Kara wrote: I have thought about doing this a few times but this blog made me take action. I was astounded at how much food we had in our freezer, things I’d even forgotten about. So first we used up all the leftovers I’d frozen and then we tackled the meat at the back of the freezer. I also like to buy multiples when they are on sale and found myself with multiples of things I wasn’t really eating. You would be so proud Gail. We are now only buying fresh produce, eggs and milk until the backlog is gone. This week my usual $120 grocery bill was $40 and I think we have enough to do this again for two more weeks. I’m going to put half the money in my emergency fund and the other half away for restocking staples.

Marlo wrote: I know this entry is really early – but we just did this!  I usually plan to ’shop the pantry’ about twice a year, and especially before moving so we save money and have less stuff to take. This time we were able to shop my sister-in-laws pantry since they are moving out of the country.  We usually budget $80/week for groceries and eating out for our family of 2.  By eating our food on hand (and some of theirs!) we have saved probably $150 in the last few weeks.   Our favorite meal with this method is tuna melts.  Cheesy, hot and easy!  From the money saved, we gave our family some $ for their big move, and put about half towards our emergency fund.

More tomorrow, including the winners!

(Because this was a random draw, the winners’ entries may not be on the blogs this week. I’ve only included entries here that I thought were interesting reads.)

When I write about money, my objective is to find a new way to express an idea so that someone reading it who may not have gotten it before says, “Ahhhh…. Now I get it.” You’ll notice I’m remarkably consistent in my messages. But there are always new people to speak to, and so I have to come up with a fresh and different way of saying something I believe to be very important.

Writing for me is like a walk in the woods. It brings a sense of calm that settles over me like a soft blanket. I like to write so much that sticking to money actually boxes me in. That’s why very often my Friday blogs are about something to really think about and why, since  January 2012, I’ve given my Wednesday blogs over to stuff that is Not Money. I wanted to be able to spread my fingers and soar to new places.

If I don’t write there’s something missing from my day. During the months when I was shooting the first 10 episodes of Money Moron I couldn’t write. Between the time it took to travel and shoot the show, and the time it took to process the next set of folks we would be working with, the show ate my life.

I didn’t write for two months. I couldn’t believe how much difference it made in my life. While I’ve always known how much I love to write because I write every day or two, regardless of days of the week, months of the year, or where I am – travelling, on vacation, whatever – I didn’t know what no writing would do to me.

With no time to think, to noodle, to observe the world, and with no time to put fingertips to keyboard and pour out what was rattling around in my brain, my tension levels rose. And rose. And ROSE. I got sick while shooting and carried the cough around for weeks. And I got very grouchy. A grouchy Gail is NOT a pretty Gail.

I won’t let that happen again. It wouldn’t have happened if life had gone according to plan, but as you well know, people and life have a way of screwing with the most beautiful of plans.

However, now that I know how bad for me it is not to have that space to think, observe and write, I won’t let it happen again.

Writing has seen me through a lot. When my son was diagnosed with autism I wrote to keep track of what was happening to me and to get my sense of frustration out. Much of my journey with Malcolm became A Mind of My Own, which I subsequently posted on the blog for all the folks who have a child with Asperger’s Syndrome or  high level autism in their lives.

My writing has come a long way with gentle guidance and constant practice. When I came under the hands of the wonderful Kim Pittaway who was my editor at Chatelaine I learned to write in a new way for magazines. When Kate Cassaday at HaperCollins came into my life on my first book, Debt-Free Forever, she held my feet to the fire on process insisting that every step be detailed even as she organized and reorganized the book so that it would work no matter who picked it up. I’m lucky to have had great writing friends too. And I love encouraging people who want to express themselves to find ways to be read so they can get some feedback on how their writing is having an impact.

For a long time I’ve wanted to turn my hand to fiction. One summer when the kids were quite little, I wrote a fiction novel. I love the opening chapter so much that maybe one day I’ll share it with you. I don’t think it’s a FABULOUS book. But I so thoroughly enjoyed getting lost in the writing that it still lives on my hard drive so I can page through from time to time and see what I created.

When I got back to the table, Joshua was just folding the pages to hand back to me. He looked thoughtful.

“So I should boot her to the curb?” he asked.

“Sweetheart, you’re already up to your armpits in this mess. The question is this: Do you think she loves you enough to change? Will she do the hard things to prove to you that she’s worthy of such a great guy? If not, if you love her so much more than she loves you, how long will this last and what will it end up costing you financially and emotionally?”

Joshua lowered his head and stared at his hands as he picked compulsively at his fingers. The thumb on his right hand had started to bleed. He brought it to his mouth, tearing a little piece of skin away with his teeth.

“I’m sorry I’ve upset you so much Josh,” I said. “But this is your reality. You are either going to help Amanda to see the light – and she’s going to cooperate – or your life is going to suck. Maybe for a short-time because of a heart-break. Maybe for a long time because you end up married to a Money Moron. Thems your choices dude. Sucks to be you.”

“So how do I help her to get out of debt?”

“You’re assuming she’ll cooperate?”

“Y’know, I think she will. Sometimes I think she just doesn’t know any better. She came from a home with a single mom who had to support four kids and never ever had any of the things her friends had. So it’s like she’s making up for lost time. But I know she loves me.”

“Well then, I have a plan for you. I’ve got some more Money Rules you can present to her to help her get to debt-free. Willing to try that?”

“Absolutely, and thanks. I really appreciate the help.”

“You’ll owe me. I don’t know what yet, but I’ll collect from you later, okay?”

“Deal.”

I dove back into my bag and came out with a pen and a piece of paper. “Write down your email address and I’ll send you the rules that are at home on my computer.”

As Joshua scribbled his email he asked, “So why is it that some people are great with their money and some people are so… so… lost?”

“That, my love, is the million dollar question, and I have the answer, but that’s a conversation for another day. I’ve got to run.”

I grabbed my tea and headed out the door. As I passed the coffee shop I looked in the glass window. Joshua was staring off into space. I didn’t know if he was debugging some program in his head or thinking about what I’d told him. He looked lost.

That night when I got back to my desktop, I emailed Joshua to ask if he wanted to do this directly with Amanda, or if he needed my help.

To: JoshuaManning @ gmail.com

From: gvo @ gailvazoxlade.com

Re: Money Rule #87: Clean Up Your Debt Mess

Josh, I’ve attached Money Rule #87 for you and Amanda. Do you want to do this with her, or do you need my help working through this? Lemme know. You’ll have to feed me if you want me to show up though, k?

The next day I got an email back from Josh.

To: gvo @ gailvazoxlade.com

From: JoshuaManning @ gmail.com

Re: Money Rule #??

Thanks Gail, we got it and it all makes sense except for when you say, “DIY is the way to go.” How DO you DIY?

Guess this means I’m cooking. How about sweet-potato stuffed cannelloni a week this Tuesday?

I accepted Josh’s invitation and started pulling together a bunch of notes and worksheets for my visit as I thought, “He bloody well better have dessert too!”

Now comes research that shows that seeing the funny in life can not only strengthen your psyche, it can ease paid and even tighten social bonds, all things that tend to fall prey to the caca life throws at your fan.

Cheerfulness, it seems, is linked to emotional resilience. Laughter not only produces short-term changes in your heart/lung regions, it is a phenomenal relaxant, chilling you out for up to 45 minutes after your hahaha has subsided. That can make a big difference if you’re strung tight.

Your ability to look at things in a new light will also affect your bounce-back ability. As a wise man once said, “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” I think this is perhaps the biggest benefit of sharing your thoughts with other people. Whether you chose to use a therapist or confide in your best friend, other people can help you change your perspective.

Having people who are on your side is a huge benefit. Crisis after crisis, we are worn down. Having a bunch of blokes who are willing to listen, share ideas, help you come up with strategies and give you what-for when you threaten to slip into self-loathing or poor-me-land is priceless. People with really good bounce-back ability tend to have lots of folks around them they can call on for support.

Ultimately, if you don’t have a sense of control over your own destiny, you’ll be at the mercy of forces that will crush you. You need to believe you can overcome whatever has been put in your path. You need to remember – and have learned from – previous set-backs. You need to be reflective of your life to have gained insight into yourself, your strengths, your weaknesses, and how you’re going to brace your mettle to deal with the latest setback.

Set-backs are inevitable. Anyone who believes life’s journey is smooth and that potholes only happen to other people is delusional. Research shows that children who have experienced set-backs early on develop resilience. If you’ve never hit the wall, the first time you do can be devastating. Learning to bounce-back is a life skill.

1. Carrying a credit card balance: If you have one of the over 68 million credit cards in Canada and you’re carrying a balance, you’re pouring money down the drain.  While credit cards carry a variety of interest rates, depending on your credit history and how good a customer you’ve been, most come in at double digits, which is far more than you should be paying. Transfer your credit card balance to a line of credit and save a ton in interest payments so you can get that balance paid off faster and get busy building a nestegg sooner. Cut up your credit cards until the balance is completely paid off, so you don’t end up digging an even deeper debt hole.

2. Using overdraft: Once upon a time, going into overdraft was a sign that you couldn’t manage your cash flow worth a damn. Now people live in overdraft, barely making it into the black when their paycheques hit the bank. They pay a monthly fee for this service, and they pay interest on top of that fee. It’s worse if you don’t have overdraft protection because bouncing a cheque can cost you upwards of $40.  To avoid overdraft, get yourself a notebook at start keeping track of what you’re spending.  Move $1,000 of your emergency fund into your chequing account to act as overdraft protection.  Every time you use any of this money, you must make the $1000 float whole again before you can buy yourself so much as a single cup of coffee.

3. Using another bank’s ATM: There are people who use ATMs like a wallet, paying $2 in fees for a $20 withdrawal. Some people pay more: $2 to their bank and another $2 to the ATM they are using. To avoid the ATM Fee Blues, only make withdrawals twice a month and make those withdrawals last. If you run out of cash, too bad! You’ll have to shuffle through your pockets and the couch cushions until your next scheduled withdrawal. Eventually you’ll get tired of having no cash and you’ll learn to manage it more efficiently.

Another way of avoiding ATM fees is to get your cash through the cash back system at your supermarket. They’ll add the cash to you bill and hand you over the money in a single transaction when you’re paying for your groceries. Make sure you don’t play games with yourself though, hiding the “impulse purchases” you make with that cash under your “grocery costs.”

Karin Slaughter writes mystery novels about murder; go figure! And they’re pretty good. In Broken, the body of a young woman is discovered deep beneath the icy waters of Lake Grant and a note left under a rock by the shore points to suicide. But within minutes, it becomes clear that this is no suicide. Grant County medical examiner Sara Linton gets drawn into the case. This is book 7 in the Grant County series and I’m heading back to read more of the backlist.

In Daniel Suarez’s Daemon, technology controls almost everything in the modern-day world, from remote entry on our cars to access to our homes, from the flight controls of our airplanes to the movements of the entire world economy. When Matthew Sobol, a legendary computer game designer, dies, his obituary is posted online, a previously dormant daemon activates, initiating a chain of events intended to unravel the fabric of our hyper-efficient, interconnected world. New layers of his daemon are unleashed at every turn, and the race is on to decipher his intricate plans and wrest the world from the grasp of a nameless, faceless enemy.

The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian After college sophomore Laurel Estabrook is attacked while riding her bicycle through Vermont’s back roads, her life is changed forever. Formerly outgoing, Laurel withdraws into her photography and begins to work at a homeless shelter. There she meets Bobbie Crocker, a man with a history of mental illness and a box of photographs that he won’t let anyone see. When Bobbie dies suddenly, Laurel discovers that before he was homeless, he was a successful photographer. Laurel becomes convinced that some of his photographs reveal a dark family secret. This is a terrific literary thriller. It’s complex and compelling and you’ll be intrigued to the end.

I’ve enjoyed maybe a dozen of Harlan Coben’s books and keep coming back for more. I started with a book called Caught about a 17-year-old good girl, the pride of her family, the hed of her lacrosse team, who doesn’t come home one night. Filled with astonishing tension and unseen machinations (and I’m a tough one to trick), the story follows Wendy Tynes, a reporter who realizes she can’t trust her own instincts about this story she’s following.

“What size would you like,” she asked, glass-green eyes shining.

“Venti,” he replied quietly. “I need all the help I can get.”

“Tough night?” she asked as she scribbled the code on the side of the cup.

“Yah,” he breathed out as he rubbed his hands up his face, over his eyes, and into his thick brown hair.

As she made the drink she looked up at him a couple of times, smiling as he seemed to wonder off in his mind. She’d seen that look before. With a brother who was bat-crazy for computers, she recognized the signs of a geek. She liked geeks. They were so steady, so reliable. A great offset to her haphazard life.

As she handed over the cup she said with an impish grin, “Now, you better make sure I got it right, so check my scribbles on the side.”

Joshua almost spilled coffee all over himself as he tilted the cup to see that she’d written her phone number up the side.

Eight months later Joshua and Amanda were living together. She’d moved in with him when she missed her rent payment too many times and had to do a midnight bolt. It was supposed to be “a temporary thing,” but Amanda didn’t seem to be getting any closer to getting out of debt than when she’d moved in three months before.

He so loved her energy and her spirit. She was impulsive, laughed out loud, wanted to have great adventures. Compared to his introspective world, she shone like the sun. But there were clouds too, and when she couldn’t come up with even the minimum payment for a credit card bill, she’d storm around and growl like thunder. The darkness passed quickly, but never the debt. It hung around. And it grew.

When Amanda whispered how much she loved him, he wanted to scream it from the tops of buildings. But the flip in his gut he’d felt the first night they’d met had turned into a wrench as he contemplated the mess she was in financially and whether he was willing to take on all her debt and her crazy spending. He’d tried to talk to her about making a budget and getting her debt paid off, but she’d just nod, agree and keep on bringing home “little bags of goodies,” as she called them. Recently she’d taken to hiding some of those bags inside other bags because she said,  “I’m tired of your disapproval every time I buy myself something. I work hard. I deserve nice things.”

Joshua deserved nice things too. He worked hard. He covered all the bills, while Amanda was supposed to do the groceries. But he found himself paying for those too. He was looking forward to their vacation in a couple of weeks. He’d fronted Amanda her share of the airfare and hotel reservation. She swore she would repay him as soon as they got back. She was expecting to pick up extra shifts at the coffee shop because one of the other girls at work was getting married and would be off for about three weeks. “I’ll pay you back, I swear” Amanda said, her huge eyes wide and earnest.

Joshua wasn’t so sure.

When I ran into Joshua three weeks after he returned from vacation and asked him how things were going, he grimaced.

“Whazzup?”

“Well, we had a pretty good time. Amanda did some shopping and when we got back I found out she’d received another credit card just before we left.”

“I thought she was missing payments, how could she get another card?” I said as he fell into step beside me. I was headed into a coffee shop to grab a cup of Earl Gray before my next meeting downtown.

Joshua looked sheepish. “I’ve actually been making the minimum payments on her credit card so she doesn’t ruin her credit history,” he said.  “We’ll want to get a place of our own one day, and if her credit is bad that’ll gum up the works.”

“So you see this as a long term relationship?”

“I’m crazy about her.”

“Or maybe you’re just crazy.”

I reached into my handbag, rooted through the huge amount of stuff that always seems to accumulate and pulled out a notebook.

“I’m working on a new book,” I said. “I’ve got something for you.” I rifled through the pages, flipping back and forth until I finally found what I was looking for. “I’ll need these back, but right now you need to read them.” I ripped the pages from my notebook and handed them to Joshua. “Here, you read, I’ll grab tea and a coffee for you. Still piling all that sweet stuff in your cup?”

“Yes,” said Joshua as he took the pages from my hands and settled into a chair by the window.

Rule #2: Don’t Marry a Money Moron

Dying without a will is called “dying intestate” and if you do this you shouldn’t be surprised that the government will get more of your money than if you’d made a plan.

Do you want your family to have to fight over how or where you’re buried? No? Make a will!  (But leave your funeral directives separately too since the will may not be read before you’re buried.) Do you want the Public Trustee involved in administering your minor kids’ money? No? Make a will! Do you want your non-traditional mate to be completely left out in the cold? No? Make a will!

Make sure you get yourself a good lawyer. Please don’t put saving money before getting the right kind of advice. And don’t use a DIY kit. This is especially true if you have an estate worth fighting over, or any complications in your family dynamics.

If you’re broke and can’t come up with any money for a lawyer, you can handwrite a Will if you keep it really simple, but it has to be in your handwriting (don’t think you can type it up and sign it) and it should NOT be witnessed.

To bypass your estate and save on probate fees, make sure the beneficiary forms on all your accounts are up to date. That includes your RRSPs, TFSAs, RRIFs, insurance policies and anything else of value. Remember that beneficiary designations trump whatever is in your Will, so if you change your mind, change your beneficiary designations, not just your Will.

If you’re worried about the amount of tax your estate will have to pay, and how little your progeny will have for their personal indulgence, you can always buy insurance to cover off the tax bill. Personally, I‘m not into spending money to insure my wealth for the benefit of my rug-rats. I’ve let ‘em all know that I’ll help them while I‘m alive, but they shouldn’t count on anything much when I croak.

The most important thing you can do for your heirs is the thing that costs the least: talk. Tell them what’s what. Explain how you’ve set up your finances and where to find everything they’ll need to wrap up your estate. If they’re not up to the task of being the executor, get them some professional help. If it’s straightforward enough that anyone can do it, leave detailed instructions and then tell them where those instructons are. If you’re worried about them knocking you off for your money, you don’t have to tell ‘em what’s in the Will, just where it (and all your other documentation) lives.

Spring brings it’s own bargains. May is a good month to check out your local thrift stores to see what’s on special. With people cleaning out their homes, some to make space and some to move in the summer, donations of used furniture and household appliances tend to spike. And spring-cleaning brings a fresh crop of clothes through which you can browse.

Want to buy your appliances new? They’re going to be on sale just about now. Retailers bring in new inventory in June, so May’s the perfect month to buy an older model for less. Ditto vacuum cleaners; if you’re in the market for a new one, this is a good time to look at the older models that have gone on sale.

Spring is also a good time to buy athletic apparel and shoes. Retailers like to help blow away the winter blahs by offering discounts to lure customers back outdoors. Since they’re likely shedding last year’s inventory to make space for the freshest of the season, this is a good time to get deep discounts.

New mattresses models arrive in the summer, so May’s the perfect month to pick up the previous year’s discounted model.

With barbeque season just around the corner watch for sales on ketchup, mustard and other condiments. And if you plan to replace your worn out pots and pans, this would be a good time to watch for a sale on the set you’ve been eyeing.

If you want to be able to take a cordless phone out with you are you’re flipping those burgers, May’s the month to go shopping. Consumer electronics often go on sale in the spring.

Speaking of phones, you might also want to take the opportunity in May to negotiate a better phone/TV deal since viewership tends to drop off dramatically during the summer. Now’s the time to negotiate a deal with your phone/cable/satellite provider.

Remember to shop around. While retailers used to be fairly consistent about when they marked stuff down, more consumer pressure means better deals all year round. Check prices online. Watch the sales flyers. Compare prices and save.

What’s your favourite online resource for comparison shopping and finding coupons or coupon codes?

I know a woman who paid $800 for a pair of Christian Louboutins. And because they were on sale – yup, $800 was the sale price – she bought herself two pairs. All this while carrying a $500,000 mortgage on her home

Funnily enough, she never wears the shoes anymore. The affair with the sexy shoes was cut short when she found out how damn uncomfortable they were.

So what if she’d taken that $1,600 and paid it against her 35-year mortgage at just 3%? Well, she would have saved herself almost $2,800 in interest. Nice. And if instead of spending that $1600 on self-indulgence every year, she’d used it to make a regular annual prepayment against her mortgage, over 20 years she’d knock almost $33,000 off her interest costs.

It doesn’t take a lot to make a big difference. Eliminate a bad habit or three, forgo an indulgence, eliminate a bill or two that are unessential, or cut an essential cost back and you’ll have some money to throw at your mortgage. Round up, accelerate, pre-pay and you’ll be able to say, “I’m mortgage free” that much sooner

Choosing to prioritize mortgage repayment over consumption of something new, sparkly or luscious can feel like settling for salad when you’re in a gourmet restaurant. But being disciplined enough to put your financial security above your need to scratch your consumption itch is what being responsible is all about.

We have a huge problem with people retiring still owing money on their mortgages. And it’s a problem that could easily be avoided if we started taking seriously the need to get to debt-free before we hang up our spurs.

Mortgage-paydown won’t be sexy unless you make it sexy. If you focus on tracking what you’re saving in interest costs and in time by getting to mortgage free faster, you can turn a mortgage-free home into a very sexy reality.

Shallots are small and onion-like and grow in clusters like garlic. Fresh, they can be stored for ages (up to six months) and are full of flavonois and phenols, both very good for you. When they caramelize, they have a slightly garlicky flavour. The best thing about shallots is that there’s no over-hang of flavour in your mouth as there often is with onions and garlic, so use them instead of onions when you plan to do some kissing later.

I don’t often cook with shallots because I find them pernickety to work with. If you choose to use onions instead, you’ll need 2 medium sized onions.

• 1 box shallots (about 12 medium to large)
• 2 tbs balsamic vinegar
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 head of garlic
• 6 medium sized red-skinned potatoes
• ½ pack goat’s cheese

Slice the shallots length-wise. Sauté in olive oil over a low temperature until shallots begin to soften.

Roast the head of garlic. (Oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes)

Add balsamic vinegar and continue to cook gently. Sprinkle with sugar, 1 tbs at a time, stirring regularly so the shallots don’t stick and burn.

Boil potatoes with their skins on.

Cut hot potatoes into cubes. (I put each potato into a small bowl and cut it there so I don’t burn my hand.)

Add goat’s cheese and the roasted garlic. Add shallots and stir gently (you don’t want it to turn to potato mush.)

Stick it in the oven for about 10 minutes, and stir gently once more before serving.

I had hoped to have leftovers from this dinner, but when I went back into the kitchen they’d eaten it ALL!

“Of course it does,” I smiled. “Good sense, but not too common I’m afraid. If everyone practiced for home-ownership before they actually did it, we’d have a lot fewer people whining about not knowing it was going to be ‘so expensive’.”

Lexi nodded her agreement as she reached forward and put her plate on the table.

“So do you and Matt have any student debt?”

“I don’t. Mom and Dad saw me through that. I guess I should be more grateful for that. But Matt has about $25,000 or so.”

“Is he still paying it through the student loan system?”

“Yes, as far as I know.”

“Then he’s likely paying more in interest than he has to. I have a rule for him too.” I grabbed the folder and rifled through the pages. “You should compare his student loan interest rate with the rate on a regular loan.” Clearly there was no point in putting away the folder so I rested it on the table beside me. “Here” I said, “some reading for him too.”

Rule #12: Compare Your Student Loan Interest Rate with Regular Loan Rates

“With you having a baby and his student loans, this may not be the right time to jump into home ownership,” I said. “You don’t exactly get rich on mat leave benefits.” I opened the folder, pulled out two pages, and handed them to her.

Rule #226: You Won’t Get Rich on Maternity Leave

“Geeze, just give me the whole book,” she said, sarcasm dripping from every word.

“You might need the whole book, but you’ll have to make do with pages for now,” I retorted. “We’ll see just how many rules you’re ignorant of before you go getting all snarky with me, little miss.”

Daphne returned carrying a pot of tea and a plate refilled with sandwiches and little lemon tarts.

“Girlfriend, get those away from me,” I said as I accepted a fresh cup of tea.

“I know lemon is one of your favs,” she said as she smiled. “Just have one. I made them fresh this morning.”

“Just have one,” I sighed as I lifted the sunny tart to my lips. The blend of sour and sweet was perfect. “You know, honey,” I said, turning to Lexi, “you have a long life ahead of you. You don’t have to rush. There’s plenty of time for everything. And you can have it all, you just can’t have it all at the same time.”

(Readers: if you find the rule number that relates to the bolded line above and email it to getgvo@gmail.com, with MoneyRuleContest1 in the subject line along with the last line of the rule, I’ll enter your name into a draw for a $25 gift card. I’ll do the random draw on Friday May 10. Please include your mailing address if you want to win the card.)

“Girlfriend, get those away from me,” I said as I accepted a fresh cup of tea. I turned back to Lexi. “So how long do you plan to stay home with your baby? The full year for mat leave? Less than that? More than that?”

“At least the year,” said Lexi, Daphne nodding her approval. Well at least this was one thing mother and daughter appeared to agree on.

“Will you get a top-up from work?” I asked.

“I haven’t checked into any of that yet,” she said. “I actually don’t want to say anything to anyone until I’m past my three month mark.”

“Okay,” I said, “but you can’t just assume you’ll be able to stay home. You have to actually figure out whether you can afford it. Staying home is a privilege, not a right. I know your job is safe, but you have to be in a financial position to take a year off without going madly into debt.” I reached into the folder.

“More pages,” Lexi sighed.

“One more page,” I said, handing it to her.

Rule #91: Staying Home with Baby is a Privilege

“So whether or not mom and dad give me that money, it looks like home ownership is out for now,” Lexi’s voice caught at the end.

“Could be,” I said. “And when you think you’re really ready to buy a home, make sure you come for the Money Rules that apply to that, because I have some.”

“No doubt you do, Aunty Gaily, no doubt you do.”

I turned to Daphne. “My friend,” I said in a soft voice, “I have to tell you that while the downpayment thing may be off the table for the moment, your obsession with Lexi getting married is not good.”

“I only want what’s best for her,” said Daphne coldly, turning to look out the French doors.

“I know you do, sweetie, but what’s best for her is what she wants, assuming she isn’t hurting herself or anyone else, or breaking anything,” I smiled at Lexi. “Never mind her telling you that you’re breaking her heart,” I said to her, winking. Then I looked back at Daphne. “She has the right to make her own choices. You got to make yours. And if I remember correctly, your mom was none too pleased when you married Marcus. Something about him not being good enough for you and never making anything of himself.”

Daphne smiled at me. “She dotes on him now,” she said. “I’m not good enough for him!”

“So are you prepared to back off Momma Bear?”

“Yes,” she said. “I guess I have to.”

“You raised a smart, strong young woman. Trust that you did a good job.”

“I’ve missed you,” she said to me, her eyes swimming.

“If I’d remembered how good your lemon tarts were, I wouldn’t have stayed away so long,” I said, reaching for my fourth!

Lucy recently got a new job. Now she’s working with a group of people who come from money – old money, and lots of it. So Lucy is feeling some pressure to keep up. While she’s been content to brown-bag lunch for most of her working career, her new work peers eat out often. And they like expensive restaurants. Lucy is making good money, but if she tries to keep up, she’s going to have a lot less money available for saving.

Lucy tried eating out a couple of times a week, using her workload as her excuse for eating her lunch at her desk the rest of the time. But when her work mates come back from lunch having discussed a work issue, coming up with a plan into which she’s had no input, she feels at a decided disadvantage.

The dilemma isn’t very different for Caroline, although the circumstances are not at all the same. Caroline has been hanging out with the same bunch of girls ever since high school. Two of them married very well, and the third has been extremely successful in business. In fact, Caroline is working for her friend, Judith. Problem is, when the girls head off on vacation together, which they like to do a couple of times a year, Caroline has to put her portion on her credit card, which she can’t afford to pay off. The debt has been building for years and Caroline is at the point where she’s putting her family’s financial security at risk for the sake of keeping up with her posse.

Higher incomes often come with higher expectations – a nice house, a new car, myriad social events. And if you’re hanging with a crowd that’s significantly above your social status, you may always feel like the poor cousin. Or you may be “driven” to spend money you should be saving.  That’s one reason why people making solid incomes often default to using credit to keep up with what they think they should be able to afford.

You know the old saying, “It’s not how much you make, it’s how much you keep.” Income is only the issue when people make so little that they can’t keep body and soul together; then they must make more money. But for most it’s a matter of knowing what’s truly important and sticking to your guns. Income is, after all, only part of the equation. Inflated expenses can go through a big income faster than green grass through a goose.

If you build a life around keeping up, you’ll always struggle with how to save. If that’s the path you choose, just don’t whine about it. You can live your life for YOU and be healthy. Or you can struggle to keep up and flounder. It’s your choice.

Here’s a challenge for you to find some money to save this month: Other than the fresh stuff: eggs, bread, milk, fruits and veggies, could you go the whole month just using up the stuff you already have at home.

It’s a sad reality that we throw out tons of food every year.  While so much of the world in accelerating towards a food crisis, Toronto tosses out 17.5 million kilograms of food every month.  A UK study estimates that the Brits dump about ten billion pounds (sterling) of food a year. And it’s been estimated that more than a quarter of all edible food in the U.S. doesn’t get eaten.

Some people eschew leftovers completely. They’re the people with more money than imagination. You can take leftover chicken and make a chicken-Caesar, or pair it with a taco shell, some cheese and some salsa. You can take left over roast and make it into beef pies with a few veggies and a pie-shell.  Don’t treat leftovers like a red-headed step-child. Find a way to use those ingredients in something that is delicious and heartwarming and save some money.

It may mean you have to take up a new skill: meal planning. But that’s not such a bad thing. Meal planning will not only save you money, it can save you time because you don’t have to stand in front of the open fridge door musing, “Hmm, what shall we have for dinner tonight?” And it’ll save you from ordering in and driving-thru, which will keep even more money in your pocket.

This month, plan to use up your reserves. Dig through the freezer. Empty the pantry. Use up what you’ve got. Of the money you end up not spending, put 1/3 back into your budget to restock essentials you’ve used up, and use the rest to give your emergency fund a boost (or a kick-start as the case may be.)

What would a challenge be without a reward, right? Do this challenge and report back to me at getgvo@gmail.com with Challenge in the subject line. Tell me:

• How much you usually spend a week on groceries
• What you “saved” by using up your reserves
• You fav meal using your current food stocks
• How much you put into your emergency fund

Make sure you include your snail mail address with your entry, which has to be in by May 16, 2013 at midnight.  I’ll randomly choose 3 people and award them a $25 gift card that they can use at the grocery store to save even more!

Gail says: The important thing when you’re running a business is not to mix business and pleasure! Treat your business like it is an entity on to itself. If you already have an account and a credit card for the business, you have the tools. Now you just have to find the discipline. If you are going to take income from the business, you do so as a salary or as dividends and you leave a paper trail. If you are covering expenses, then you make sure you have receipts for everything.

My wife and I have a gross total annual income of $156,400, we are both university educated and at mid-life I am embarrassed that my credit score (for the first time in my life) is majorly dinged. I would like to know how to get the 407 collection removed entirely from my report.

Gail says: Unfortunately once you demonstrate bad credit behaviour there’s no way to get a specific collection removed entirely from your report no matter how much regret you feel. The credit bureau report shows “behaviour” and it is believed by lenders to be highly predictive of future behaviour It stays there until it falls off naturally, unless of course, it is wrong, in which case you can go through a process. However, it sounds like in this case it’s a legit credit history entry. So you’re going to have to keep your nose clean, do all the right things and be patient until it is overshadowed by all the “good” on your history.
I just purchased my first home and I will be receiving a $8800.00 tax refund this year and am looking to purchase new furniture. Should I purchase the furniture through financing 0 down, 0 interest, 0 payments till 2013 or should I purchase the furniture with cash? I am able to save the money needed to pay for the furniture prior to 2013 if I did financing. I would prefer to invest my tax return in RRSP’s and my TFSA instead of spending it on furniture. Any suggestions?

Gail says: It’s six of one and half a dozen of another if you’re serious about getting the financed furniture paid off before the interest kicks in. However, here’s how I’d do it:

I’m a 31-year-old woman making about $41K a year. I have paid about half of my student loan off. The remaining balance is about 18K. I’ve never really been a saver until just recently and I regret all the money I’ve wasted over the years. Luckily, I woke up.  Over the past 18 months I’ve managed to save 20K. I want to buy a condo because I feel like I’ve been wasting money on rent. Should I use my $20K to pay off my student loan and start my condo saving all over again or continue saving for my dream home? I was planning on saving for another 2 years to double my savings to $40K. My parents have also offered to put in $10K for my condo, which brings my potential down payment to 50K. I’m thinking because of my low income, I should erase all debt before I purchase a condo. What do you think?

Gail says: I don’t know how you managed to save $20K in 18 months, but more power to you honey. I agree that you should have your student loan paid off before you take on a mortgage. Once you’ve got that debt gone, the interest clock goes off and you can put all your hard-earned money towards saving for a home. Please do your homework on carrying costs before you decide to buy. And don’t over-extend yourself. Owning a home can be wonderful. But it can also be a nightmare if you strap yourself too tightly and end up having no life at all.

Could you provide me with a definition of “disposable income.” My boyfriend and I have had some serious discussion about this topic.

Gail says: Your disposable income is the money you have left after you have paid your taxes and for all the things that you have made a commitment to pay, or that keep body and soul together.  So rent or a mortgage payment, food and things like car payments, insurance, and the like must come off your income. Whatever remains is your “disposable” income. You can have more disposable income — money you can spend on clothes, to travel or to have fun with friends — if you spend less on meeting your day-to-day needs. But if you’ve filled your life full of expensive whatevers like car payments, fancy cable packages or expensive cell phone bills, your disposable income will be considerably less. Some people want to take “savings” out of disposable income, which is why so many people don’t save. I say that “savings” comes off the top — it’s a commitment you should make to your future — so it, too, gets subtracted off the top, like your rent/mortgage payment, to calculate your disposable income.
My husband signed up with a credit monitoring agency for one free month of service. They are reluctant to let him now cancel this free trial offer and want him to sign up for continued credit monitoring at app $20 a month. The salesman on the phone suggested that someone could open up a cell phone service in my husband’s name and we would not know about it until the collection agency came after us.  We do have a relatively high credit score and this man tried to put the fear of losing that high credit score into us, and thereby having my husband buy into his package.

What are your thoughts on this? Should my husband be scared into buying “Credit Alert’ through BMO Mastercard or am I right, this is just another way for people to make money?

Gail says: No one should ever buy a product out of fear. And shame on that company for using such tactics. Unfortunately in today’s very unpredictable world, fear seems to reign supreme. But it would piss me off enough to not give my business to the company or salesperson that tried to manipulate me.

If you are concerned about having your credit history monitored, you can sign up with Equifax directly. And I will tell you that id theft is becoming more of a problem, with some pretty nasty repercussions. This is particularly true in the U.S. where there is no national banking system and id thieves have learned how to take advantage of a very ragged financial system. In Canada, id theft is a problem, but not to the same extent.

According to a 2008 survey, 6.5% of Canadians, or about 1.7 million people, were the victim of some kind of identity fraud in the previous year. However, more than half of these frauds involved unauthorized purchases made with credit cards and consumers didn’t have to cough up any money to cover these purchases. That leaves about 700,000 poor sods dealing with what can take a lot of time (estimated at 12 million hours) and money (estimated at more than $110 million) to fix these problems.

Only you and your husband can decide if spending $20 a month is worth the money for the peace of mind. If you decide to take advantage of a fraud protection service, here are some questions to ask:

Do you offer protection against theft of my Social Insurance Number?  You may think it’s a given that a body’s credit information is anchored to their SIN so that your credit file won’t be mixed up with a like-named body elsewhere, but that ain’t necessarily so. Credit bureaus sometimes create “temporary fragmented files” using your SIN but with a different name and address (think about when a woman marries and changes her name, or when you buy a house or move) and this weakness in the system is just the window fraudsters are waiting to climb through. The credit monitoring service will never pick up the overlap as long as the credit bureau keeps your credit file separate from that of the ID thief so you’ll never know what’s happening UNTIL a collection agency tries to collect from you for thief’s bad accounts.

How many different information services will you monitor on my behalf?  Your credit monitoring service needs to cover as many information sources as possible since creditors do not always report to all credit bureaus.

What will you alert me of, and how often? You want a service that alerts you to any activity on a dormant account, increases in credit balances, changes to existing accounts, and the appearance of a negative on your record. And you want those notifications within 48 hours of the change.