Canadian Finance BlogFrugality – Canadian Finance Blog

Save Money, Buy a Chest Freezer

Alan Schram — Wed, 23 May 2012 09:00:06 +0000

I bought an apartment sized freezer when I was in college, and it was one of the best financial decisions I ever made. I was working at Costco at the time, and every summer they put their freezer on sale. It is this model of freezer. It’s not the largest or most energy efficient freezer in the world, but so far it has lasted me 6 years with absolutely no fuss or hassle, and it has saved me it’s purchase price and more. Here’s how.

Allows Me to Buy in Bulk

When I was in college, I didn’t always have easy access to groceries. I lived within a 10 minute walk of a couple grocery stores, but carrying home large items was fairly difficult. So when I did get access to a vehicle and a grocery store at the same time, I liked to buy groceries in bulk. Most of the time, buying in bulk allowed me to save money, as the volume discount for items that I knew I was going to end up using saved me money over time. The best example of this would be purchasing bread. Once a month or so I would get a ride to a bakery, who had day old bread on sale. I would then buy as much bread as I knew I could fit into my fridge freezer and chest freezer ~ $1-2 per loaf – much cheaper than the original $5-6. Because I was planning on putting it into the freezer right away, there was no worry about the bread going mouldy or stale before I could use it. For the most part, I would then eat the bread as toast, or make the frozen bread into sandwiches for later that day. It worked brilliantly, and saved me tons of money.

Allows Me to Buy Cheap Meat

Currently, a large portion of our freezer space is saved for cheap meat. We have a couple of local grocers who put meat that is about to expire on sale. Usually this meat has a sell by date of that day or the day after – so it’s something that you’ll want to use pretty much right away – unless you freeze it. Meat can be frozen for months and month without any issue, depending on the meat, so it gives you months to take advantage of the sale, even if you don’t necessarily want chicken this week.

Poultry: 6-9 Months
Fish: 3-6 Months
Ground Meat: 3-4 Months
Cured or Processed Meat: 1-2 Months

You can check this website for more details on frozen food storage times.

Allows Me to Make Larger Meals

Not only does buying in bulk save me money, but cooking bulk does as well. Often my wife and I will make a dinner much larger than we need. We’ll then take the leftovers, repackage them, and use them as a next day meal. Or, if we made enough, or if we don’t want those leftovers the next day or two, we’ll just freeze the remainder. Not only does this mean that I am going to be saving money by using less resources creating new meals, but I’m also going to be saving time with meal planning by having ready made meals for the future. A great example of this is once a month where my wife does a Soup Day, where she’ll make a huge batch of soup using inexpensively sourced ingredients, and then split it up into meal sized containers and freeze it all. This makes for healthy, inexpensive meals that are available to be eaten on short notice.

Do you have a chest freezer? What do you use it for?

Save Money, Buy a Chest Freezer originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on May 23, 2012.

10 Cat Toys Under $10

Alan Schram — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:00:54 +0000

Like most pets, cats can cost a lot of money, but they certainly don’t have to. You can save a lot of money just by choosing where you get your cat from, and if you’re okay with getting a cat as an adult as opposed to getting them as a kitten. But, once you get your cat, how much money will it cost you to keep your cat happy? Well, besides the usual cat food and cat litter costs that will show up on a regular basis, you also have to consider the cost of cat toys. My cat, like many other cats, seems to get bored with their toys pretty quickly. So here’s 10 different cat toys that you can get for less than ten dollars.

String

Yep, it’s a classic, and for a good reason. My cat loves to play with some string. I don’t know if it is the way that it moves across the floor, or the texture once it’s been “caught”, but string is a cheap option for a cat. Ball it up or let it hang loose, either way, it’s a fun cat toy.

Cardboard

Got some extra cardboard laying around? Keep it in a “box” shape and watch your cat crawl around it, in it, or over it. Don’t buy an expensive cat fort from the pet store, just put some sturdy boxes together and put it in the corner of your cats favourite room

Scratching “Post”

Does your cat not like the cardboard fort you set up for him? Rip the cardboard into shreds, bind it into a circle following the instructions found here and then relish in not having to drop a twenty dollar bill while also keeping your cat from tearing up your new couch.

Laser Pointer

These can be expensive, but definitely don’t have to be. Check your local dollar store for the best deal.

Bouncy Ball

Again, check your dollar store’s toy section for a little bouncy ball. Just make sure it’s big enough that they can’t accidentally swallow it, and you should be good to go. Cats love chasing these things as they hop around so unpredictably.

Paper Bag

Why do cats like crawling into paper bags? I don’t know. Why do cats like to bat at paper bags? I don’t know. Next time you forget your reusable shopping bags at home, get some paper bags from the grocery store and lie them out and about the house.

Plastic Easter Eggs

You know those little Easter eggs that “snap” together and hold prizes inside? Instead of chucking those in the garbage this year, re-purpose them for your cat. For extra fun, throw some cat treats inside so that it makes a funny noise when it is rolled across the floor.

Fuzzy Mice

This one you might have to go into a pet store to get, but we found a couple for just a couple dollars. Some rattle, some squeak, get a few if you can afford it and rotate them in and out of your cats toy basket

Cat Dancer

Never used it myself, but I’ve read good things about this particular toy, which is very inexpensive. You can find it on Amazon here.

Crinkle Ball

Again, haven’t purchase this for our cat (yet), but I see that this particular version has good reviews on Amazon. Anything that feels different, makes funny noises, and is a ball shape should make your cat happy!

The best option you’ll have, by far, is to make friends with another person that has a cat. If they’re up for it, start a cat toy exchange program, where you rotate toys from cat to cat. Just make sure that the other cat (and yours) isn’t sick when you exchange the toys, otherwise, it can spread the sickness into each others homes. So not only will you have more toys at your disposal, you won’t have to purchase new ones when your cat gets sick of your old ones.

10 Cat Toys Under $10 originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on April 4, 2012.

The Wonderful World of Film and Finances

Alan Schram — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 09:00:24 +0000

I have had a bit of an addiction. I have always liked watching movies, and while I don’t consider myself the level of a film buff, I went through a period where I would watch films to find meaning in life and relationships. I would look for high quality movies that touched me on a fundamental level to improve my perception and experience in the world. Music rarely does that for me, and books even less frequently. It is something about the medium of film that gets to me.

Anyways, because of this desire, I found myself collecting DVDs. I would ask for them for Christmas, and I would scour farmers markets for good deals. I would go every week to a local blockbuster and Rogers video store to look through the used movies and pick up anything that I felt was worth watching. Though poor, I still have a couple hundred DVDs in my collection, and sadly, some I have never even watched.

Stop Buying Movies

One day I realized I spent too much money on movies, and stopped buying them, and now thanks to alternatives, I don’t worry about purchasing movies anymore. I have Netflix.

I can’t say enough good things about Netflix. While their selection still leaves room for desire, they have enough worth watching. And, as they add more content, you will never run out of things to watch. From TV shows like Avatar and Justified, to movies like Taken, and The Princess Bride, there is something for everyone. Unless you watch a movie or two everyday, Netflix should be enough for those days when you sit down and say, “what to watch?”

Use Netflix On Almost Anything

The cost associated with netflix are minimal. 7.99 a month for the service, and you will need something to stream the content. If you already watch things on your computer, you are set. If you would rather watch it in a portable format, most smartphones have a free app you can connect. The only tricky part will come if you want to watch it on your living room TV.

Depending on your computer and television, you might be able to set up your TV as a monitor, allowing you to simply browse to netflix.com. If you already own an Xbox 360, PS3, or Wii, then you can download the app onto your system to set it up for free. What if you have none of these? Some TVs have built in functionality, and some PVRs do as well. What is the cheapest way to get Netflix on your TV? Either the Apple TV or Nintendo Wii will get you up and running with Netflix for about $120, approximately the retail cost of 6 new DVDs.

Do you use Netflix, or any other online streaming service? How is your system setup?

The Wonderful World of Film and Finances originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on March 28, 2012.

8 Tips: How To Save Money On Utility Bills

Guest — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 09:00:00 +0000

If you are finding that your finances a bit stretched just now, a concerted effort to save money on utility bills can really help lighten the load. While you’re not going to see an immediate or instantaneous effect from using these tips and hints, they will save money for you over the long-term.

1. Use a programmable thermostat – if you don’t already! They enable you to set temperatures to different levels depending on the time of day, meaning you only use that energy when you really need it. You can probably save a few hundred dollars per year by optimizing the settings on a programmable thermostat.

2. Ditch the dryer – I don’t mean throw the dryer in the trash, I mean DON’T use it! The dryer is one of the most energy consuming appliances in your house, so keep its use to a minimum. Dry your clothes on the washing line outside when weather permits, or use a drying rack in your spare room or an unused room in the house. You’ll see your energy bills fall rapidly if you make this change.

3. Think about the water -Make a mental note to cut down on your water usage. When brushing your teeth, keep the tap off until you need to rinse. When washing dishes, use a basin rather than rinsing all the items under the running faucet. Fill a plastic bottle with water and pop it in your toilet cistern – takes less water to flush and refill. I’ve even heard some more extreme ideas about water conservation, such as keeping a bucket under you while you shower, then using that water to top up the cistern. Extreme, eh?

4. Strategically load your dishwasher – by placing items in your dishwasher efficiently, it can hold more dishes with each load, reducing the amount of times you will use it (and therefore the cost in energy and consumables). This may sound simple, but some people REALLY don’t know how to load a dishwasher with any sort of logic or efficiency. Have a quick look at your dishwasher manual, it should show you the optimum placement of dishes. If you don’t have the manual to hand, you should be able to search for a copy online.

5. Plug with care – Many electronic devices still use power while on standby mode. While it’s good advice to unplug electronic devices when they’re not in use, it’s not always feasible. The socket for your DVD player may be lurking somewhere behind the TV, completely out of reach. Consider buying power bars that automatically switch off all connected appliances when the master device is powered down. For example, when the socket detects that you’ve turned off your TV for the evening, it will also turn off the attached DVD Player, hi-fi, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii… You can buy these types of devices from any good electrical retail store.

6. Use task lighting – if you work from home, or are doing a task where the whole room does not need to be lit up, consider using “task lighting.” This is simply lighting the area where you are carrying out the task! For example, I’ve got a bright desk lamp with an energy saver bulb, which sits above my computer and lights my desk well. The rest of the room does not need to be lit. You could use the same principles in other rooms in your house, e.g. lights under the upper cupboards to highlight the food preparation areas of your countertops in the kitchen.

7. Cut out the air conditioning – In the summer, running an air conditioner can be pretty costly. Wherever possible, just use a powerful desk, free-standing or ceiling fan to help with the movement of cool air in the room, and try to avoid using the air conditioning unit. Make sure you leave your windows open in the cooler mornings and evening to let some fresh air through the house. During the hottest period of the day, keep blinds and windows closed to reduce the need for cooling at all. If you are using an air conditioner or need to buy one, make sure you choose one with a built-in timer, so you can then optimize the usage patterns. PLUS – always keep the appliance maintained (at least once a year), keeping the running costs down over the long term.

8. Insulate, insulate, insulate – On the flip side, you can minimize heating costs in the winter by improving the insulation in your house. This is particularly important for older houses, where the insulation may not be as efficient. This method may include a bit of an outlay on insulation and fitting, but you can get a quote and consider whether it will be worth the cost. One of the main places in the home for heat loss could be the windows – you could consider coating them in “energy film” to help reduce the losses there. Good insulation will mean that your house keeps the cold air out, and the hot air in, reducing your costs over the long term.

Conclusion

There are just a few pointers of how to keep your energy bills down over the long term. Do you have any more good tips to save money on utility bills?

Author Bio: This is a guest article written by Anna, owner of Bargainmoose.ca. Bargainmoose is a Canadian website where you can find the latest shopping deals and coupon codes, helping Canadians save money every day.

8 Tips: How To Save Money On Utility Bills originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on March 20, 2012.

Upgrade Instead of Replace to Save Some Money

Alan Schram — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:00:15 +0000

We live in a world of disposable goods. Plastic water bottles, paper towels, IKEA furniture. We’ve been taught to purchase things, expect a short lifespan, and then throw them in the trash when we are done with them. Even if you ignore the environmental and moral aspects, there’s a huge financial aspect to embracing disposable goods. Plastic water bottles may only cost fifty cents each, and a reusable glass container may cost 10 or more dollars. You can, however, simply wash the glass container and use it for the rest of your life. Those plastic water bottles will add up, fifty cents at a time. Paper towels, also, don’t cost much individually, but a wash cloth can be cleaned and reused. Again, a larger initial cost but resulting in a long term benefit. IKEA furniture is cheap at first, but if you move around at all, you’ll find that the durability of the good is less than ideal.

So what’s the solution? Always purchase the most expensive goods? No, probably not. Purchasing the best value you can afford is always a good ideal, but you probably have some other purchases that at the point of no return. What to do with them? In some cases, it would be good to replace the item in question, as over the long term, it will be better than trying to patch an item that’s just no longer worth it. In other cases, you can often get by with keeping the product, and perhaps just complimenting or upgrading it.

Generally speaking, if the cost of the upgrade is more than the cost of a new product, it makes sense to purchase the new product. If the cost of the upgrade is less than the cost of the new version, then it can make sense to simply upgrade or compliment your existing item, assuming that the upgrade gives the product a longer life expectancy. Let’s look at a few examples.

Tune Up and Repair Vehicles

Automobiles are an item that is very expensive, so most of the time, a simple upgrade can be all you need to keep your car on the road. For example, if you’re feeling like your car just isn’t good enough anymore, instead of looking at new models, see if there’s something you can do to make your existing car better. Not enough storage space? You can add a roof rack. Not “fast” or “peppy” enough anymore? Take it in for a tuneup! Not right for your climate? Invest in winter tires/summer slicks and you’ll feel a world of difference on the road. There’s almost always a less expensive option than purchasing a new vehicle. The tricky part with cars and trucks is when it comes to repairs. When is it worth it to repair the vehicle, and when should you just bite the bullet and get a new car? It’s always tough to say, but the general rule is that when the cost of the repairs exceeds the worth of the vehicle, there’s no point in repairing it. Save your money for an eventual new purchase.

Upgrade Computer Parts

The cost of a computer is constantly dropping. Again, you should be able to simply upgrade your computer before you have to replace it. Is it less than 3 years old? Then it’s worth repairing/replacing. A computer can feel like new again after a format of the hard drive. It requires a little work, but it costs nothing if you do it yourself and can give your computer another year or two. If it still feels sluggish, the cheapest upgrade is adding more RAM. RAM is very inexpensive these days, so it should be <$100 to upgrade your computers RAM. Hard drive prices are insanely high right now, but Solid State Drives (SSDs) haven’t risen as much in price. Consider upgrading your computer with an SSD to get a noticeable speed performance in booting and application loading times. If it’s a desktop computer, make sure that it is clean on the inside. Dust buildup can greatly reduce performance, so get some compressed air and clean it out. If, however, the computer is simply outdated, then the price of a new computer should be low enough that it will be worth replacing entirely.

House Renovations

Sometimes you simply outgrow your home. Are you living in a two bedroom basement suite with six children? It’s time to get a new home. Do you already own your home but it just feels too small? Consider seeing if there’s a renovation that you can do that would greatly improve your living situation without having to sell and purchase a new home. Have an office that’s rarely used? Convert it into another bedroom. Have some extra land next to the house? Consider the cost of building another wing onto the house. Just sick of where’s you’re living? Think about re-doing the floors, painting the bedroom, or any other small upgrade in order to make your place feel new.

When is it worth a new purchase, and when it is worth upgrading?

Upgrade Instead of Replace to Save Some Money originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on January 18, 2012.

How Avoiding the Big Supermarkets In Canada Can Save Money

Guest — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:00:00 +0000

When I first moved to Montreal I decided out of habit that it was probably most economical to load myself up with a back pack and a few plastic bags and head to the large supermarkets for a big box bulk shop. From my very first shop I felt like something wasn’t quite right, the costs just seemed a little too high compared to my home country (UK) prices.

This went on for a while but on the way home one evening, walking from downtown to my home in Westmount along Boulevard Maissoneuve, I noticed Marche Almizan on the corner of St Mathieau. It caught my eye because had some interesting breads outside. I love bread, so I popped in expecting just to pick up some new kind of bread. I walked around the store and noticed they had a ton of cool goods and they were not expensive, in fact, as far as I could tell they were cheaper than the box supermarkets I had frequented.

After that I started to check out some other smaller stores and supermarkets, I found more and more that I could find items in them at cheaper prices. I used to find some places would have cheaper canned goods and dry goods, such as Fruits Rocky Montana near DADs Bagels in NDG, and some cheaper for vegetables, such as Fruiterie Mont Victoria in Westmount on Rue Sherbrooke. Many places from the McGill Ghetto to Cote De Neige exist and have great prices.

When you start digging under the surface of a Montreal a lot of off the path deals can be found such at the goods at the Frigo Vert organic supermarket, next to Concordia downtown, and the donation based canteen style People’s Potato of Concordia downtown campus, yes you can get a lunch meal for nothing there!

But that’s Montreal?

I can’t say for sure that every city in Canada works like this but I have found some success using similar techniques back home in London, UK and have been told that it works like this in Vancouver too and some other places in Canada too. My best friend is also finding luck with this in Auckland, New Zealand.

The point is that by stepping outside of what is considered the normal thing to do you may find yourself finding better deals, better quality goods and you will also have the added benefit of supporting smaller more locally based business. You can create a shopping route and bulk shop (where possible) once a month or so, or if it’s on a route you tread daily just pop in when you need stuff.

Food is something that is needed so when we can work out a way to cut back on its cost it’s worth pursuing. In some cases it may be more work for you but you’ll actually find you feel more a part of your city and you’ll learn about places and people you never knew about.

After all this is how people used to shop until the big box supermarket came into existence and it helped harbour a sense of community amongst everyone.

Do you have any experience with small store shopping over bog store shopping and do you find it saves you money?

Author Bio: Forest parks writes about lifestyle, frugal living, finances and more over at his blog FrugalZeitgeist.com. He writes about things such as The Cheapest Places To Live and How To Simplify Your Life.

How Avoiding the Big Supermarkets In Canada Can Save Money originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on January 10, 2012.

Save Money – Be Your Own Tech Support

Alan Schram — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:00:55 +0000

I’m lucky enough to have grown up with technology. In elementary school we had a computer lab where they taught us to type, play games, even program a little. In high school I could do the majority of my work on a computer, or using the internet for research and writing papers. I was one of the first to get a broadband internet connection, I was on Facebook as soon as they opened it up outside of universities, I’ve had multiple smart phones, game consoles, and I’ve now even built my own computer. So it isn’t surprising to me that I can do my own tech support, because I’ve grown up with the technology, and even if I don’t understand how it works or how to fix it, I know where to look to find out.

The big secret that we have, however, is not a gigantic encyclopedic knowledge of everything to do with technology. We have a basic understand of most troubleshooting steps to take when things go wrong, and we know where to look when that doesn’t work. So the next time your computer breaks or you can’t get your new HDTV working, follow these steps before you pay someone else to fix it for you.

Reboot

It’s a common joke in the tech world – the first step is to turn the device off, wait, and then turn it back on again. It sounds ridiculous, and it sounds like it shouldn’t work. But it does. 50% of the time, a simple reboot or power cycle will fix the problem. Computer acting weird? Reboot it. Can’t get onto the internet? Power cycle the modem/router. TV can’t recognize the game console/set top box/DVD player? Disconnect everything and plug it back in. Why does this work? Most devices are programmed to follow a boot up program that will place their software in the correct order. Sometimes during use that software can get confused or look in the wrong place for the device it’s supposed to be connected to. Unplugged it or rebooting it can get it to look in the correct place again. I know it sounds silly, but it works, so try it first before you do anything else.

Update

If you have a software issue, before you call up Apple or Samsung and scream at them for issuing a broken device, make sure that it is updated. Almost every electronic device has some sort of software on it. Your iPhone has an iOS that would need to be updated, your Android phone can too. Your computer software may have a bug fix update that resolves the problem you’re looking at as well. Even your TV or internet router will have built in software called “firmware” that may need to be updated in order to work properly. So make sure that the device that your having difficulty with is up to date, as outdated equipment or software is often unsupported anyways.

Website

If you’ve rebooted the device, ensured that it is up to date, and your still having problems, check out the website of the company that you’re having difficulty with. Sometimes it’s a temporary known issue, like Twitter’s servers being down, which would result in your phone’s SMS tweets not working. Here’s where you can find all sorts of information your problem as well. Look up your specific model number and see if there’s any new/better software out for it, or find support forums filled with people ready to answer your questions.

Google

If the basic troubleshooting steps failed, then it’s time to search Google. The thing about Google is that you have to know how to search for your problem. Putting in “computer doesn’t work” won’t yield any relevant search results. First, determine as specific of the problem that you are having. “Email won’t send” is okay, and may give you some results that can give you a general idea of what to look for. “Email won’t send on Win 7 using Outlook 2010″ is better, and including the specific error code that your given (ie. 08XFH4800) is best. Look through the top three or four results to see if there’s any known issues or solutions for your particular problem. If there’s any potential steps that might fix it, try those.

Ask a Friend

If you can’t find out the solution to your problem yourself, before you shell out your cash for Geek Squad to format your hard drive without your permission, ask someone to help you. Everyone should have a friend, neighbour, or relative that is “good with this sort of thing”. Give them a call and see if they have any suggestions, or invite them over for a coffee/beer and a quick look at your ailment. Don’t expect or demand anything from them, just let them know what sort of issue you’re having and if they’d mind taking a look. As one of those people, I definitely don’t mind helping out friends and family, but it is nice to feel appreciated when I do.

All in all, most technology is surprisingly hard to break these days. Don’t worry that by checking the wrong box or clicking on the wrong link you’ll completely destroy your computer or TV. Almost everything that you could possible do can be undone in one way or another. Just make sure that you backup your most valuable information first (as you should already be doing) so that if it does get lost, it can be restored quickly and easily.

Save Money – Be Your Own Tech Support originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on January 4, 2012.

Saving Money On Video Games: Steam Sales Edition

Alan Schram — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 10:00:41 +0000

Steam is your best friend when it comes to saving money on video games. Steam is an online digital game distributor run by the gaming publisher Valve. Every Holiday, they hold what are affectionately known as “Steam Sales”. These sales are when they start to heavily discount the video games they distribute for the purpose of getting more games into the hands of gamers right when those gamers have the most extra cash floating around. There’s a few things to know about the Steam Sales before you dive in, so read on to make sure that you take proper advantage of the discounted merchandise.

Format

The Steam Sale is broken up into a variety of segments. The first and foremost is called “Daily Deals”. These are one day deals that are available for 24 hours. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. So, if you see a game on sale on a Daily Deal, and you want that game, you ought to buy it. There is little to no chance that you’ll be able to get that game at that same low price later on in the sale. You must take advantage of it while you can. At the same time, if you see a game that you want that is not a Daily Deal, do not purchase it. It may become tomorrow’s Daily Deal. Even if you see the game is already on sale, don’t buy it unless it’s a Daily Deal. Wait until the end of the sale. If, on the last day of the sale, the game has not been a Daily Deal, then you can feel confident that you are purchasing it at the lowest price it will be available at for this sale.

If you missed a Daily Deal and see that the game is still discounted (just not as much), still do not purchase it until the last day. The very last day of the Steam Sales are usually all the best deals from the previous Daily Deals. So if you missed the sale you wanted, wait and hope it comes back at the end.

Publisher Packs

Publisher Packs are a fantastic choice for the budding gamer. They are filled with a ton of games, all from the same publisher, all discounted for one low great price. They are a fantastic choice for someone who doesn’t have a lot of computer games yet, but they’re probably not such a great choice for someone who might already have one or two of the better games from that pack. However, don’t forget that the games within the pack can be on a Daily Deal as well. So the same rule applies here, where you should wait until the end of the sale, and then determine if you need/want the publisher pack. Otherwise you might find that the game that you bought the pack for just went on sale for 75% off and the rest of the games you never really wanted anyways.

Gifting

You can gift Steam purchases. If you don’t have an account, simply create one. Then when you go to purchase a game, it’ll ask you if you want to purchase it as a gift or for yourself. If you choose as a gift, all you need is the recipients email address. Steam will send them an email for you saying that you bought them a game. They will then be able to add that game to their account, download it, and play it. If you don’t want to send it to them yet (perhaps you want to wait until Christmas), then purchase it as a gift, but put your own email address down. When you get the email from steam, simply hold onto it, and forward it along on Christmas morning. Steam doesn’t really care what email address you put in the box, the important part is clicking on the link and activating it within the email. That way if gamers have multiple email addresses, they don’t have to have multiple Steam accounts if a friend or relative sends them a game, but to the wrong email address.

Strategy

There’s a couple popular strategies for making the most of Steam Sales. If you’re a game that already follows the scene and knows what games they want to get, it’s best to just ride it out, check out the Daily Deals, and wait for the games you want to go on sale. You’ll get exactly what you want, at the best price, and you won’t spend a ton of money on games you may or may not want. But what if you don’t follow the scene? What if you’re a new gamer and are unsure what games to get? Here’s where you’ll want to spend a few minutes doing some research. On the main Steam page there’s a “most popular” tab. If you wait 12-18 hours after the sale has started, that Most Popular list will accurately reflect the best deal of the day. Purchase that game. Wait for the next day of Steam Sales, and repeat. Gamers are very diverse, and as the Daily Deals are also diverse, if you purchase the best game or two from each Daily Deal, you’ll end up with a massive collection of amazing games that you can play and check out for a fairly low price. Most Steam Sales bring games down to <$10, so even a week or two of doing this won’t completely break the bank.

Do you take advantage of Steam Sales to saving money on video games? What are you purchasing this Holiday season?

Saving Money On Video Games: Steam Sales Edition originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on December 21, 2011.

Don’t Be Perfect

Alan Schram — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:00:13 +0000

I’m a bit of a perfectionist. If I’m going to do something, I want to do it well. I would rather not do anything instead of trying and failing. So when I started getting involved in personal finance, I wanted to do it so well that I would stand out above the crowd. I wanted to take my money and utilize it the absolute max. What I’ve come to learn, however, is that by attempting to be perfect, I’ve lost something even more valuable along the way – time. Being financially perfect is difficult. There’s so many different ways that you can use your money, using it as “perfectly” as possible is a difficult task. It’s not far from impossible. It is, however, really close to time consuming.

Think about it. If you want to make sure that you’re using your money effectively, you need to know what options you have. If you’re investing, for example, you need to know what type of investments are available. You need to know which investments are more likely to get a greater return, and which ones are more likely to fail. You need to know a lot about investing in order to make the best investing decision. Even grocery shopping can be difficult. Should you purchase ketchup now or wait until next week? How long can you go without buying bread? Is milk cheaper here or at the grocery store down the road – and are the savings worth the extra cost in gas money? Are there coupons? When do they expire? What meals will most effectively use the ingredients that are already on sale and already in my cupboard? As you can see, it can quickly become a difficult task ensuring you’re getting the most for your money.

So what’s the solution? Stop trying to be perfect. I’m serious, just plain stop trying. Don’t stop trying to do well with your money, of course, but stop trying to be perfect. Don’t worry about where the milk or the gas is the cheapest – it’s not worth the gas money, and even if it is, it won’t be worth the extra time it takes to drive from one place to other. Unless your closest grocery store is consistently and vastly overpriced, don’t worry about making sure you have the best deals all the time. Just do your best, make smart decisions, and let the rest go. Unless your full time job is making sure that the money that you already have is spent correctly, don’t pursue perfection. Pursue “good enough”. If there’s a deal or a bargain or a sale going on, don’t wilfully ignore it, but don’t spend your limited time on the earth making sure you are saving thirty seven cents here or there. Money can come and go, but you only have so many hours on this earth. Don’t waste them pursuing financial perfection so that you can afford a better TV or another meal out. Spend your time with family and friends watching your crappy TV and eating leftovers.

Do you pursue financial perfection? Where do you “let things slide”

Need A Reminder? Using Alarms to Save Money

Don’t Be Perfect originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on December 14, 2011.

6 Tiny Tips to Help with the Holiday Season

Alan Schram — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 10:00:59 +0000

Everyone could use some help with the holiday season. Whether it is a few more bucks in the banking account, or having family over to help manage the kids while you wrap presents, everyone would appreciate having an extra boost for the upcoming Winter. With that in mind, here are a few quick things you can do to help launch yourself into the Christmas festivities with a few more dollars in your pocket.

1. Use a rewards credit card for all of your Christmas purchases

Obviously, be sure to not overspend by using a credit card (you did set a budget, didn’t you?). If you can resist that temptation, then in January you can cash in your rewards to pay off your bill or get started on your new year’s resolution. Make sure that you have the best rewards credit card for you – it depends a lot on where you make most of your purchases. I personally use a Capital One cash back credit card. I don’t spend a lot in any one place, so getting a consistent 1% back on everything that I put on the credit card really helps.

2. Skip the annual Christmas party

Spoiler, someone gets drunk. So often Christmas parties require such time and energy that they’re simply not worth it. Unless you really want to go, or unless you feel like keeping your job is dependent on it – skip it. You save the hassle of getting ready, and the money on gifts, clothing, and liquor.

3. Get all your Christmas shopping done now

Every day you wait just means that the stores will be that much busier. Not to mention, the frantic mindset you’ll have come Dec 24 will mean less chance to comparison shop, get the best bargain, and save yourself some money. Even worse, you could end up purchasing something that the gift recipient doesn’t even like and they end up returning the gift after Christmas!

4. Skip Black Friday/Pre-Christmas/Boxing Day sales

Recent studies have shown that prices for some items tend to fall well after Black Friday. If holiday sales didn’t work for retailers, they wouldn’t be having them. Come January when sales have slowed down, prices start to drop as new models come out and old stock needs to be moved off the floor. Give yourself a late Christmas gift and purchase your big ticket items after the crazy November/December “sales” are over.

5. Clarify gift giving etiquette with friends and family

Are you still going to give a gift to Uncle Johnny? Are you expecting a gift from your neighbours? Take a few minutes and phone the people you’re not sure you’re going to give or get a gift from. If you’d like, agree to not give each other a gift, and instead promise to send an update email or grab a coffee sometime. Obviously, that won’t work for everyone. In some cases, try suggesting that instead of an awkward gift exchange, you each donate to a Charity of the other’s choosing. Exchange the gift receipts. It will probably cost less than purchasing a gift, the receiver gets exactly what they want, and the charity gets a donation. Win, win, win. If that doesn’t work, consider taking a day off to craft a plethora of gift exchange presents. Do one thing really well (like your famous cookies, flavoured oils, hand paintings), and use those for each different gift/exchange you go to.

6. Automatic withdrawal to your savings account for Christmas

Seriously, create an automatic withdrawal to a savings account for next year’s Christmas. Set it up to take $50 a month and put it into a separate bank account, and by next year you’ll have over $600 towards gifts, travel, whatever you need. This is the first year that we did it, and I’ll tell you, it’s a huge relief to have that money tucked away. There’s no stress in trying to fit Christmas budgets into regular budgets – the money is just there.

All of these things are simply, one step actions that will reduce a huge amount of financial stress for the next few weeks. What are your tiny tips?

6 Tiny Tips to Help with the Holiday Season originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on November 23, 2011.