This is arguably the one ‘money saving’ activity that takes the least amount of time and effort. Literally one second! that is the time it takes me to check the ‘FGPnow!’ app on my iPhone to see where gas prices are heading for the next day. If you are constantly wondering or asking questions like…
Budget Turbluences and how to Control them
Your friends or relatives are visiting from out of town, and you take them for dinner, movies and other fun places and by the end of the night, you have already blown your entire ‘personal and pleasure’ budget allocation for the entire week. To make matters worse, it is only Saturday and you still have…
Your Budget should have room for Donations
When creating our first budget, we have to realize that it is not the final version, and you will have to change and revise it as you go along. There are a lot of things that you may not remember to include right away, and will only be brought to your attention later on. One…
Don’t be Stupid and Pay the Full Price!
Inflation? what inflation? It is mind-boggling that I still see people paying the full price on things like electronics, cars, clothing, books and lots more. And in some cases, not only do people pay full price, they pay premium. These people could have easily saved lots of money if they took the effort and looked…
Minimize your Expenses, Maximize your Earnings
The eventual objective of your budget is to have leftover money, after you have accounted for everything else. That is, you need to make sure that you are maximizing your income and minimizing your expenses. How? let us find out: -Minimizing your Expenses Review your budget first: go over every item, line by line,…
How to Properly Absorb the Current High Gas Prices Shock?
The current uprisings in the Middle East, the latest and most dangerous of which is now raging in Libya, has made gas prices shoot up by some 7 cents per liter, in less than a few days. That is an extra $5 or so for every fill-up. For some, this may still not be a life…
Tax Season is here, are you ready?
You know tax filing season starts in mid February, yet you are often not prepared when it is here. As if you have never done this before. Being ready and prepared for income tax filing season could make the difference between getting a large return, or getting nothing (and even paying back to the government)…
How your loose change can pay for big purchases!
I used change money to pay the down-payment on my dental treatment. That is right, I used nickels, dimes, quarters, loonies and toonies that I had saved in a piggy bank to pay more than $800 towards the total cost of getting braces for my teeth. And it took me less than 18 month to…
Unlock the Secret to Affording Your Dream Vacation or that Big Purchase!
In your budget, a ‘savings’ category is essential for emergencies or general savings. But what if you want to purchase something pricey, like a vacation or new furniture? Instead of dipping into savings, create a new category dedicated to the specific item…
The Financial Ticking Bomb at Colleges and Universities
When reading about how some people fell in deep debt, the story is almost always the same: it often starts when they were students in college or university. There, they are offered credit card after credit card by different companies, where the offer is too good to resist for a young person. And you know…