Self care is having a ~*moment*~ on social media. Especially in today’s world where we have been in various stages of lockdown for over a year, physically distancing ourselves from friends and loved ones, and trying to work + homeschool kids + clean our houses + stay in contact with friends and family.

Self care is important, but what exactly IS self care? I’ll tell you what it’s NOT: spending buckets of money on things that look good on Instagram but don’t actually make you FEEL good.

Listen, I’m all for lighting a candle and having a bath with a face mask on, but is that real self care? Probably not, or at least, not enough. 

Let’s chat about the key areas of self care, and how you can do self care without spending money…

6 Key Areas Of Self Care

Key Area 1: Physical

Take care of your physical body.

• FREE ideas:
  • Going for a walk / run
  • Dancing to music you love
  • Taking a bath 
  • Taking a nap
  • Eating healthy
• Other ideas:
  • Getting a massage/physiotherapy/acupuncture
  • Joining the gym / getting a personal trainer

Key Area 2: Emotional

Taking care of our emotional selves will help us process our feels and emotions, which fill lead to an overall happier life

• FREE ideas:
  • Journaling
  • Starting a gratitude journal
  • Using affirmations or mantras
  • Positive self-talk 
  • Expressing yourself
• Other ideas:
  • Therapy 
  • Life Coach

Key Area 3: Mental

Take care of your mind through stimulating activities that make you happy.

• FREE ideas:
  • Listen to a podcast
  • Read a book
  • Learn a new skill / hobby on Youtube
  • Do a puzzle like sudoku/ crossword
• Other ideas:
  • Go to a museum
  • Take a course on something you’re interested in

Key Area 4: Spiritual 

Spiritual doesn’t necessarily mean religious, rather something that helps you connect with your soul and feel more aligned (with yourself, or with God, The Universe, Spirit, Higher Power, whatever you want to call it!)

• FREE ideas:
  • Walk in nature
  • Volunteering
  • Attend a worship service
  • Praying
  • Practising yoga or meditation
  • Creating a vision board

Key Area 5: Workplace / Professional

Professional self care will help you feel more fulfilled by your work life and career

• FREE ideas:
  • Take your full lunch break
  • Setting your phone to “Do Not Disturb” at the end of the work day
  • Not checking emails in off hours
• Other ideas:
  • Taking continuing education courses
  • Attend conferences

Key Area 6: Social

Even introverts need social interaction.

• FREE ideas:
  • Call a friend / parent / sibling / loved one
  • Host a game night
  • Cuddle with an animal
• Other ideas:
  • Mail a card to someone
  • Go on a date night / have a friends night out

Key Area 7: Practical

This is one of my favourites because you might not necessarily think of these as self care, but they will decrease future stress, which definitely counts!

• FREE ideas:
  • Budgeting/ financial planning
  • Cleaning your house
  • Clearing out your inbox
  • Meal planning/prep
• Other ideas:
  • Hiring a cleaner
  • Meal kit service

Why Self Care Isn’t Indulgence

Self care, as it’s meant to be, is not indulging, it is taking care of all the parts of you so that you can live a happier, more fulfilled life.

It also doesn’t have to cost a lot. There’s lots of free/low cost options, and if you can afford it add in some of the other examples, add one that makes the biggest impact on your life! That’s meal kits, and travel (museums + time with loved ones) for me.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, self care isn’t all sitting in the sunshine and buying rainbow bath bombs. Taking care of all aspects of our health shouldn’t just be for an hour on a Sunday afternoon. Try picking some of the things off the list to do everyday, and some to do a couple times a week or once a month. 

For example, these are some of the ways I do self care:

• • Exercising: group fitness classes or walking/hiking 3-4 times a week
  • Writing in a gratitude journal daily
  • Listening to podcasts, reading, working on crafts like cross stitch, daily or 5-6 times a week
  • Setting boundaries on my time within my business
  • Chatting with family and friends daily, visiting with friends and family at least once a week
  • Bi-weekly budgeting
  • Meal planning healthy meals including vegetables (getting better at this one!)

Take care!

Life after debt definitely hasn’t been exactly what I thought it would be (well obviously, I didn’t see a global pandemic coming at me). After paying off $26,500 of debt about a year and half ago, I thought we’d be saving more money than ever before. In fact we made a goal to save $10,000 last year and we fell terribly short, even though our income is higher and we have no debt. So what gives? We’re less motivated to save.

It seems to be a pretty common problem, after hustling to pay off debt, we’re likely a bit burnt out, ready to spend some money on ourselves and with the goal finally achieved, a little lost.

I thought I should go over WHY we need to save, and little tricks I’m using to make sure we save money in 2021!

Why You Need To Save Money

There’s 3 basic reasons you need to save money; an emergency fund, for a purchase or for wealth building. Let’s chat about all 3

Emergency Fund

An emergency fund is usually the next step after you’ve paid off your debt. Many financial experts suggest having 3-6 months worth of expenses in your emergency fund just in case you lose your job, or are unable to work (hello, pandemic!). You should be keeping this money in an easy place to access, like a savings account so that you don’t have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get money when you need it.

I keep ½ of mine in my regular checking account, and ½ in a TFSA. I also keep $1000 in a savings account for small emergencies. 

To be honest though, we have about 2.5-3 months of expenses saved, so we should be saving more. Although we could pull from our vacation savings in the event of a true emergency. 

Purchases

This type of savings is for planned purchasing, like a house, wedding, car, vacation, Christmas, etc. We use sinking funds and save every month for these types of expenses by setting up an automatic transfer. 

We currently have sinking funds for: travel, Christmas, utilities, and a new car.

For Christmas and utilities I added up how much we normally spent in a year and divided by 26 (the number of paychecks we get a year). For travel we have a set amount that goes in every payday, and for the car we were trying to save whatever was leftover at the end of the month. This is not a good strategy and it very clearly has not been working.

Wealth Building

The last reason to save money is to build wealth, which is usually done through investments. Usually you are building wealth so that you can retire, and possibly pass some wealth down to the next generation.

Wealth building takes time, but it’s so important. Who wants to trade time for money for the rest of their lives? Not this girl!

I’m not a financial advisor, so I won’t recommend WHERE to invest, but I definitely recommend finding an advisor you trust, so that you are set up for the future.

How To Stay Motivated To Save Money

Make A Goal

Just like when you were paying off debt, making a savings goal will help you stay focused. I remember feeling so motivated by seeing our debt payoff tracker on the fridge, so perhaps I should be using a savings tracker now! Use whatever motivates you.

Give Yourself Grace

I feel like I’ve written this a hundred times but giving yourself grace to make mistakes, go over budgets, and miss goals is so important. If you go over budget one month, stop using it as an excuse to stop budgeting altogether. Accept that it happened and go the next right thing. 

How To Stay On Budget

Ultimately, we aren’t saving money because we’re too busy overspending. Trying to save what’s left over at the end of the month won’t work most of the time (trust me, I’ve tried). Here are some tips to stay on budget & save money:

List Your Irregular Expenses

Irregular expenses will sneak up on you if you don’t pay attention. I keep a running list of all my bills and when they are due, including ones that come up once a year, or every 2-3 months. Don’t forget things like annual dues, water bills, pet annual exams, sports fees, etc.

Automated Savings Are Your Friend

I will never be able to stress this point enough. Set up automatic transfers with your online banking on payday. Every payday money automatically goes into our RRSP (for retirement), our Christmas savings, and our travel savings. I don’t even miss that money because we never really see it. It’s the easiest way to save and once you set it up you don’t have to do anything ever again!

Mix Up Your Budgeting Style

When I first started budgeting, I made monthly budgets, because I didn’t really think there was another way. Then I discovered budgeting by paycheck and that made things SO much easier for me. I am self employed and my paychecks vary. My husband is on a salary, so his stays the same every time. Budgeting by paycheck allowed me to budget money that we already HAD instead of guessing what I would make. That way if I had a month without so many clients, I wasn’t over extending my budget. 

Don’t be afraid to mix up your budgeting style: monthly, bi-weekly and weekly are all perfectly acceptable, find what works for you!

Final Thoughts

I hope this has helped you come up with some ideas to start saving again! Obviously we won’t always be motivated, but if we make saving a habit, it will happen anyway. 

Thanks for reading. I’ll chat with you again soon,

We’ve officially had our Douglas by GoodMorning.com mattress for 120 nights! Which means we’ve reached the end of our “sleep trial period”. 

GoodMorning.com gives you a generous almost four months to make sure you are happy with your new mattress purchase, spoiler alert: we are keeping ours!

What Is The Douglas Mattress?

If you missed our original post, we got a mattress in a box delivered right to our door in mid August. It only took about 6 minutes to set up, and it was so fun to watch it expand; check out our video below.

Read More: Douglas By GoodMorning.com: My Honest Review

I love that Douglas mattresses are made in Canada, with environmentally conscious materials. The 3 layers of foam are less dense than traditional foam, so they are lighter and easier to ship, but don’t worry – it holds its shape!

This mattress is so reasonably priced, the queen bed comes in at just $749, and it shipped so quickly!

Highlights:

• Made in Canada
• 15 Year Warranty
• 120 Night sleep trial + FREE returns!
• No off gassing smell
• Machine washable cover
• EcoLight®️ cooling gel foam keeps you cool at night

Review After 120 Nights

I wrote in my first review that we were feeling unsure after the first few nights, but then after the first week we have been loving our mattress! My husband ended up ditching his pillow to the spare bed (lucky guests!), but I love mine. 

I was a bit worried about sagging since this mattress is made entirely of foam but there are no indents in it at all. It forms to your body at night and springs (metaphorically, there are no springs!) right back in the morning when you get up. They recommend rotating your mattress every 4-6 months, so we’ll be doing that to make sure it wears evenly! 

The dog definitely loves sleeping with us at night, and I don’t notice her moving around too much, except when she pulls the blankets off!

Final Thoughts

I couldn’t be happier with our Douglas mattress! I know we’ll be enjoying it for years to come. 

The good news? If this mattress isn’t for you, GoodMorning.com has 6 others to choose from! Make sure to check them out. They even have a quiz you can take so you find your perfect match.

I made my first vision board when I was around 16 years old. I wish I still had it, or even a photo of it but sadly I don’t. The things I remember being on there are: see a play on Broadway (CHECK!), go to Greece (ALMOST check, #duetocovid), and learn how to dance (I started adult ballet a few years ago). 

I’m sure there are things on that board that I haven’t accomplished yet but it was such a great reminder of the things I wanted to do with my life. 

While scrolling Instagram one day, I found a few personal finance bloggers sharing their money vision boards, and I thought that was such a great idea! You can see a bunch under#financialvisionboard 

Okay but WHY do I need a vision board?

Vision boards aren’t magic. Just because you put a picture on a board doesn’t mean it will come true, but focusing on your goals will help you get clear on WHAT you want, and then what you will have to DO to make it happen. 

You will have to do a bit of soul searching here. Journal what you want your life to look like, and what money moves you’ll have to make to achieve that. 

How To Make A Financial Vision Board

Sit down and start writing a list of things you’d like to accomplish financially, maybe retiring early or funding your child’s college education. 

You should also consider things that are important to you, like supporting small businesses traveling, donating to charity, buying a home, etc. 

The other things you should consider are HOW you want to make money. Do you want to work for a certain company? Only work part time? You can put all of those things on your vision board too.

There are no rules! Your vision board is yours and can be whatever you want!

What’s On My Financial Vision Board

Support local and small businesses – I have been pretty vocal about the fact that I am no longer supporting Amazon. We continue to buy locally roasted coffee, and many other items. I can’t wait to support more local businesses for Christmas gifts and more!

Work Location Independent – I have been a massage therapist for the last 10 years, which definitely ties me down a lot. My husband became location independent last year, and I am planning to make a career change soonish!

Give Back Generously – One of the great parts of being out of debt and living within our means is that we can give back to organizations that support causes we are passionate about. We currently give a little but I’d like to give a lot more in the future!

Travel Often – In an ideal world I would like to travel 4+ times a year. I’d also like to live abroad for a few months at a time (remember the working remotely thing? This is why!). We average 1-2 big trips a year (not this year of course) right now. I can’t wait to see more places.

Make Passive Income – passive income is income you can make in your sleep! Setting up streams of passive income means I won’t always have to trade time for money. 

Retire Early – I really don’t want to wait until I’m 65+ to retire! I’ve written before about FI/RE and I’m definitely more excited about that possibility! Although we’re not going to save 50% or more of our income at this point, we’re hoping to make some big money moves in 2021!

Final Thoughts

It never hurts to get clear on your goals! You can make your board online using a free service like Canva, or you can make one the old fashion way with a bulletin board and some magazine photos. 

You may be bored at home right now, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some fun & free things you can be doing! 

Some of these can be done with friends, some are creative based, and some are designed to help you relax or uplevel your life. 

Without further ado, here are 30 things you can do at home when you’re bored (and low on funds!)

Creative Things To Do At Home

I love doing crafty and creative things! Usually time passes so fast once you get into something creative.

Teach Yourself A Crafty Skill

We usually buy craft supplies with the best of intentions. Paint supplies, scrapbooking supplies, maybe yarn for knitting or crochet. Now is a great time to get creative and teach yourself whatever crafty skill you’ve been wanting to learn. Youtube is your friend in this circumstance! 

Make A Time Capsule

This one can be especially fun with kids! Make a time capsule by writing letters to yourself. Write about current news stories or your favorite song, it can be whatever you want! Challenge yourself to wait at least a few years before you open it and then you can see what’s changed – burying it is not required but it could be fun

Make Home Movies

Now that basically everyone has a phone that you can record on, make some home movies! Learn how to edit using free programs like iMovie.

Learn Magic Tricks

Ever wonder how some of the most popular magic tricks are done? Now is a great time to learn! Search “how to do magic” on YouTube and check out the videos!

Creative Writing

Writing is a great hobby that is totally free! Use a word doc, or an old fashioned pen and paper. You can write poetry, fiction or nonfiction, it’s up to you! Don’t worry if it’s not “good”, the act of writing itself is what helps you get better at it. 

Play With Lego

Have you (or your parents) saved all your lego from when you were a kid? I know we have! Lose yourself for a couple of hours and build whatever your heart desires. 

Free Things To Do At Home With Friends

Whether you’re able to meet up together at someone’s house, or you have to meet online, all of these things are super fun to do with your friends and don’t cost a thing

Play Board Games

Who doesn’t have at least one board game lying around? We love Catan, Ticket To Ride, Yahtzee and Skip-bo. Chances are you or your friends already have games you can play. If you have to play virtually, we have successfully played Scattergories online; the person who owns the game texts the cards to each person playing, and then you play over Facetime or Google Hangouts! If someone has a JackBox game subscription that is really fun too!

Happy Hour

Virtual or in real life, have a happy hour with any drinks or concoctions you can make with what you already have! Chit chat and enjoy!

Book Club

Book clubs can be a lot of fun! You don’t even have to read a new book, I’m currently in a group where we chat about Harry Potter – we’ve all read it several times! If you do choose a new book, try to borrow it from someone or get it through your local library! Meet in person or on Zoom

Good Ole Fashioned Phone Call

Remember when you used to chat on the phone for hours? Me too! Why not dial up a friend and chit chat on the phone if you can’t meet up in real life. Call your parents, grand parents, siblings, or friends (chances are they are bored too!).

Have A Sing-a-long

Gather your friends in real life or on zoom and have a sing a long or karaoke session! Belt it out as loud as you can and have fun with it. Disney songs are perfect for this, you likely know the words already ;). 

Yummy Things To Do At Home

I find that cooking & baking are a lot more fun when you have lots of time! And who doesn’t love eating?!

Bake Something New

Try your hand at baking something you’ve never made before. Bread, cupcakes, pie, muffins, anything goes! Challenge yourself to make something with ingredients you already have.

Recreate Your Favorite Restaurant Menu Item

I know it won’t be exactly the same, but we love trying to recreate things we ate at our favorite restaurants (especially Disney food!). Look at the menu to get the menu to get an idea of the ingredients, or Google “____ copycat recipe”, chances are you’ll find something!

Have A Picnic

You don’t have to go to a park or beach to have a picnic, you can have one at home! Eat on your balcony or in your yard. Sometimes a change in perspective makes it more exciting. 

Meal Plan

I know, I said these would be fun things to do! But meal planning CAN be fun. No?Just me? When making a meal plan you can look for different recipes, and maybe you’ll choose a theme night where you’ll make food from different countries. Just try it

Fun Things To Do For Travel Lovers

You guys all know I LOVE traveling! But what about all those times you have to be at home? Here are some fun things to do at home when you’re missing travel.

Plan Your Next Vacation

Us travel lovers usually have a rolling list of places we want to visit. But you can actually start to plan them before you ever book a plane ticket! Scope out the area you want to stay in, things you want to do, great places to eat and how you’ll get around.

Make A Travel Bucket List

It can be a list of places you want to go in your life, or in the next 5 years! 3 years ago when I started this blog, my husband and I each wrote down 3 places we wanted to go in the next 5 years! We’ve gone to Disney, but haven’t made it to the other places (we almost made it to Europe, damnit covid!)

Watch Travel Documentaries

What better way to get inspired to travel than to watch other people travel? We like Rick Steves, & Departures. 

Watch YouTube Videos

Similar to documentaries, just smaller budgets There are lots of vlogs out there! Including mine We also enjoy TheTimTracker for our Disney fix!

Check Out Webcams

Did you realize you can check out webcams of other cities online? Even some aquariums and zoos have webcams where you can check in on the fish and animals.

We have some great webcams around Nova Scotia as well!

Relaxing Things To Do At Home

We all need a little RnR – rest and relaxation that is! Sometimes you just can’t have a weekend getaway or a spa day, so here’s what you can do at home for some “you time”.

Watch Classic Movies

I know watching a movie isn’t the most original suggestion, but why not check out some classic movies you haven’t seen? Maybe check out the American Film Institute’s top 100 American films!

Stargazing

Looking for something fun to do at night? Head outside (on a clear night, obviously) and check out the stars! There are free apps that will tell you what the heck you are looking at. If you live in the city, you may have to go for a little drive (don’t forget to pack snacks!).

Do Puzzles

Most people find puzzles relaxing, if not somewhat infuriating at times. I know I always get sucked in for hours! It’s nice to stare at something other than a screen for a while.

Bath & Face Mask

What’s more relaxing than a bath? I love soaking in the tub, sometimes I read a book or listen to a podcast. You can also do a face mask before or after your bath. Here is my fav DIY face mask recipe.

DIY Mani & Pedi

After that lovely bath, why not do a DIY manicure and pedicure while you’re at it? You can make an easy sugar scrub with some olive oil and sugar to get rid of dead skin, and then paint those nails! 

Meditation

This one will probably take some practice, but meditation can be so relaxing! Try finding a comfortable place to sit and focus on your breathing. The goal of meditation isn’t to have zero thoughts, it’s to become more mindful. This guide on how to meditate for beginners is super helpful! 

Free Ways To Up-Level Your Life

You don’t have to buy a course or pay for a coach to up-level your life! These options are free, and fun.

Listen To Podcasts

There are literally podcasts about anything and everything! You can choose something that you’re interested in, or something you want to learn more about. I love

• Harry Potter & The Sacred Text
• The Travel Mug Podcast (psst. This podcast is mine, but it’s SO much fun!)
• Rope Drop Radio
• We Regret To Inform You
• Under The Influence

Exercise

There are plenty of ways to exercise that are free! Running or walking is basically free – you likely already have a pair of sneakers! The Couch to 5K app is great for running beginners. There are also free YouTube videos for a variety of workouts like yoga, kettlebell and HIIT.

Free Courses

I never knew how many free online courses there were until I looked! Even Harvard is offering some free courses. There is a variety and you can choose from whatever interests you! I also love Udemy – lots of great options for free courses here as well (my husband used free & paid Udemy courses to make a career change!).

Make A Vision Board

This year I made a digital vision board on a free website called Canva. I made it using their free photos and it’s the background of my laptop so I see it everyday! You can easily print it, or make a vision board with paper and old magazines. Either way, spend some time visualizing what you want.

Final Thoughts

Wow! Who knew there were so many things to do at home when you’re bored? All of these activities are perfect if you’re doing a no-spend month as well.

Let me know what free activities you’ve been up to!

If you’re just starting your budget, or maybe having trouble sticking to one, you are in the right place! Even though I have been budgeting consistently for the last almost 3 years, I have struggled with going over budget, staying consistent and motivated. 

These are the budgeting tips I come back to time and time again. They’re actually incredibly simple, and when budgeting is done right, it doesn’t take a lot of time, and (hopefully) won’t leave you in tears!

Find Your Why

Most people want to start budgeting for a reason. I wanted to pay off our debt so that we could travel more often. Although it seems like budgeting would be restrictive, it actually gives us the freedom to spend on what we love. 

I’m a big believer in value based spending, meaning you get to spend your money on things that bring you joy, while cutting back on the things that don’t matter to you. We prioritize spending our “wants” money on traveling, activities with friends, and occasional date nights. We have cut back on things like cable, clothing and shoes because that doesn’t matter to us! 

Decide On A Budget Method

I use the zero-based budgeting method, which gives every dollar we earn a job. That doesn’t mean my account ever reaches zero though! Read more about zero based budgeting, or watch this youtube video:

My way isn’t the only way however, you can also try the 50/30/20 method where you spend 50% of your income on needs, 30% on wants and 20% on savings.

Don’t be afraid to switch up methods if you try something and it doesn’t work for you!

Make A Date With Yourself (Or Your Partner)

You’ll also have to decide how often you will budget. A lot of people make a monthly budget, but that wasn’t working for us, so we started budgeting bi-weekly about a year ago. I make a new budget every payday. This method works really well if you have irregular income because you are making a budget with money you’ve already made.

No matter how often you choose, make sure that you commit to sitting down and budgeting for about an hour!

Have An Accountability Partner

If you’re married or in a committed relationship, hopefully they are on board with the new plan! If not, it’s great to have an accountability partner to encourage you.

Let your friends know you are on a budget. If you usually go out to expensive brunches with them, perhaps suggest cooking brunch together at someone’s house! You still get friend time, and it’s way cheaper to make your own pancakes and mimosas! 

Be Honest

Be honest when you’re making your budget. Don’t try to budget $20 for groceries, it’s just not realistic. The best way to determine your budget for variable spending is to look at your past spending, and then make a goal based on that.

If you’ve been spending $300 a month on groceries, and you want to cut it back, try making your budget $280, then maybe the next one is $260, until you get to your goal budget. Usually drastic budget cutting just leads to overspending.

Create A Budget Planner

Keeping everything in one place will help you stay organized, and you won’t have to go looking for things when you sit down to budget. I have created a budget planner for you, with all the worksheets you need to create a budget, make savings goals, create a debt repayment plan, and track your net worth! 

Get The Budget Binder Now!

Give Yourself Wiggle Room

This is a great way to stop yourself from spending more than you make. For example, we do zero based budgeting, meaning I assign every dollar we earn a “job” – groceries, mortgage, gas, etc. I always budget $100-$200 for surprise expenses. That way if we go over on groceries, or if we need dog food and I just forgot to put that in our budget, it doesn’t force us to spend more than we’ve earned. 

Of course if you have a truly large surprise expense, you may need to dip into your emergency fund. 

Check Your Calendar

This is one of my biggest tips from my 3 Common Budgeting Mistakes video! Always check your calendar for upcoming events when making your budget. Maybe you need to get a birthday present, or you have plans to go for dinner. 

I also put irregular expenses in my calendar, like annual dues for professional associations and yearly vet appointments. This helps me stay on track and have less budgeting surprises!

Use Sinking Funds

I love sinking funds! They are an easy way to stay organized, and you can visually see your savings goals when you sign in to your online banking. 

Sinking funds are just savings accounts for anything you may be saving up for. We have sinking funds for our car, vacations, and home renovations. You can set up a sinking fund for anything you want!

Track & Celebrate Your Progress

I have been making quarterly and yearly finance goals for the last 3 years! We have always tracked the progress and celebrated when we hit milestones. 

In July 2019 we finally became debt free after paying off over $26,500 in 21 months. That was a huge deal for us, we celebrated with a trip to Toronto to see Michael Buble! 

We had a progress tracker on our fridge, so that we could see our progress everyday, and that reminded us of our goals when we really wanted to spend that money on something else.

Don’t Strive For Perfection

Here’s the deal, your budget won’t ever be perfect, so stop trying! I used to give up whenever I would go over budget, but now I just adjust and keep going. 

Some months we spent more than we earned, and some months we didn’t. No one is perfect, and that’s okay!

The point is; don’t give up on it just because one month doesn’t go as planned. Adjust your budget for the next month, and keep going.

Final Thoughts

Just like many things in life, budgeting will get easier the more you do it.

I have a ton of resources for budgeting:

[mv_create type=”list” title=”Budgeting Resources” layout=”grid” key=”11″]Hope you’ve found this helpful! Good luck on your budgeting journey and let me know if you have any questions let me know

Being self employed myself, my heart is broken for all the businesses that won’t reopen after the need for social isolation is over. These small businesses are someone’s dream, and they often employ other people from the communities. These small businesses donate to sports teams and fundraisers. They are part of the fabric of our communities and without them, our neighborhoods would be very different.

Look Beyond Price

As a personal finance blogger and generally thrifty person, sometimes it’s hard to look beyond the price. I have been (and still am) guilty of shopping around before buying anything to look for the best price. Sadly, often the best price is a company like Amazon or Walmart.

Walmart and Amazon can offer super low prices because they are huge profitable corporations. Your local store has to sell the item for $5 to $10 more in order to make money at all. 

I’ve decided that I am okay with paying a bit more to support our local businesses. 

Read More: Why The Lowest Price Isn’t Always The Best Value

How You Can Support Local Businesses

Right now, if you can’t purchase from them, tell people about them! Share their stuff on Facebook, like their Instagram posts. Shout them from the rooftops if you’ve bought something from them that you love!

Referrals and word of mouth is a huge way that small businesses grow. It is so valuable for them.

Use Your Money To Vote For The Kind Of World You Want

You may have never thought of this, but the way you spend your money sends signals to companies about what’s important to you. If you always buy the item with the lowest price, then you are telling the world that you value cheaply made items, and it doesn’t matter where the item is sourced from or if the workers or makers are paid fairly.

By purchasing from companies that source materials ethically, you are voting for a world where people are paid fairly for their work, without harming the planet.

By purchasing from small local businesses you are supporting your local economy and voting for a world where billion dollar CEOs don’t get all the profits.

How To Decide What’s Important To You

I am a big advocate of value based spending, meaning spending money on things that add value to your life. To some people that’s takeout coffee and books, to some it’s eating out at restaurants, or maybe candles and bath bombs.I just want you to be conscious of your spending and how it affects the world around you.

You can still have all the things you love, but source them from different places. Get your coffee at a local shop instead of Starbucks, buy from a local bookstore, eat at local restaurants, buy local booze, and buy candles, bath bombs and art from local makers. 

Lake City Cider, Dartmouth Nova Scotia

How My Spending Is Changing

When possible I will be looking for companies that are Canadian and/or Nova Scotian, source their products ethically and don’t test on animals. I also try to buy things second hand first, in order to reduce my carbon footprint. 

I will no longer be supporting Amazon. 

So while I may have to wait a little longer for my item to ship, and I may have to pay a little more, I’ll be buying from a real person. I will support someone’s dream. 

I hope you will too.

Spring has sprung, and that always has me thinking about spring cleaning! Have you ever considered organizing your financial life part of spring cleaning? Finances can be overwhelming to most of us, papers can take over, and it makes us feel stressed and disorganized. I’m going to show you had to literally organize the mess, and how to set yourself up for future success! 

Clean Out The Papers

This step may be challenging, especially if you don’t have a filing system in place already! It is worth it to take a day and get your papers organized into a system that works for you. Once you do this, every other year’s Spring cleaning (and tax time) will be so much easier.

Shred Old Documents

Anything you don’t need, including tax returns over 8 years old, make sure you shred them! A lot of financial documents have personal information on them, and you don’t want that to fall into the wrong hands! Recycle the shreddings

Make A Filing System

We have a filing cabinet that I store all our old tax returns in, receipts for major purchases like appliances, debt repayment documents, and mortgage documents. They are all labeled in folders.

I also have a smaller file folder where I keep receipts for everything we purchase all year. At the end of the year I get rid of everything we don’t need for tax purposes etc. I keep all our receipts just in case we need to return something, or I want to cross reference with my online banking. 

You don’t have to use the same system I do, make one that makes sense for you!

Check On Retirement Contributions

Another part of your yearly spring cleaning should be going over your retirement contributions. Are you saving enough? Should you be saving more? And has your risk tolerance changed due to your circumstances? 

These are questions you should go over with your spouse and your financial professional to make sure you are on track to retire when you want to.

Update Your Budget

Or make one if you haven’t already. Budgets should be living documents, growing and changing to meet your needs. 

We have been budgeting biweekly for almost a year now, and we budgeted monthly for about 2 years before that. 

Read more about starting a budget.

If you’re looking for a personal finance organizer, check out The Budget Binder! It will help you make a budget, track your net worth, save money and be more organized. 

Get the budget binder!

Update Sinking Funds

When updating your budget, go over your sinking funds and set some up if necessary. We have sinking funds for our power bill, travel, Christmas and a new car.

Some other sinking fund ideas are: 

• Kids sports fees
• House maintenance
• Back to school shopping
• Wedding

Basically anything that will be a large cost in your budget!

Read more about sinking funds!

How To Organize Your Bills

Spending a little time organizing your bills will help budgeting go much smoother. 

1. Write Them Down

As part of your budgeting, you should have all your bills written down and their due dates. This will make budgeting so much easier, because you won’t forget them! Don’t forget irregular bills like annual dues.

2. Change Due Dates If Necessary

I have a lot of my bills come out of my bank account every 2 weeks on payday. By having them come out on my payday, I can’t accidentally spend the money on something else and then not have enough to pay my bills.

3. Automate Savings & Bills

We also have our retirement savings, and sinking funds automated to move into different accounts on payday. It is easy to set up in online-banking. By automating our bills and savings we pay ourselves first, to make sure we don’t incur interest on our bills (and/or debt) and we are saving for the future.

Make Financial Goals

I have been making financial goals either monthly or quarterly for the past 3 years. Making goals helps you stay focused, and helps by giving you a sense of accomplishment when you finally achieve your goal.

Here are some ideas for financial goals

• Pay off debt
• Make / stick to a budget
• Save for a large expense like a house downpayment or a new (to you) car
• Sell items you don’t use
• Build your emergency fund
• Have a no spend week/month

Make A Debt Repayment Plan

One of your financial goals might be to make a debt repayment plan. We paid off $26,500 in 21 months by doing the debt avalanche method. Meaning we paid off the highest balance with the highest interest rate first. 

Some people prefer the debt snowball (the lowest balance) method. Either way, make a plan that includes paying the minimum balance on each debt, and then paying extra on one debt until it is gone.

Read more about debt avalanche vs debt snowball methods.

Get the debt repayment tracker emailed to you for free!

Final Thoughts

I know this seems like a lot of work, but it doesn’t have to be done all in one day! Spread out the tasks, and you’ll be much better off in the long run! This system will help you organize and save money. Happy Spring cleaning!

Many of us are finding ourselves living on one income, or living on a low income right now. I have personally been without income for almost a month, luckily my husband is still working. This is not the only time we’ve lived on one income; I worked while my husband was in school.

Losing your income isn’t the only reason! Sometimes one parent is on maternity/paternity leave, or maybe you are trying to live on one income and saving the other. No matter what your circumstances, here are my tips for living on one income.

Tips For Living On One Income

Budget

If you’ve been around here for a while, you had to know this would be tip #1! Budget the income that you have. Start with determining your income, and then determine your fixed expenses. 

Hopefully you will have some wiggle room for the variable expenses like groceries, and entertainment. 

We are still following the zero-based budgeting method that we’ve been doing for the last 3 years.

The first thing I did when I had to stop working due to the current pandemic was make an “emergency budget”. This budget is a bare bones budget compared to our usual, we are not saving as much as we usually do, and will have to cut back on some “wants” but it will get us through until I can start working again.

Reduce Your Expenses

If you are used to living on 2 incomes, and now you are living on 1, then you’ll likely have to reduce some expenses in order to live within your means. You may have to downgrade (or cancel) your cable, gym memberships, and any other subscriptions. In some cases you may have to think about moving to a less expensive home if the situation is permanent.

We have cut back on eating out and entertainment to help make up for the difference in income.

We are also focusing on reducing our grocery budget, since that is the most expensive line in our variable expenses! 

Check out our Budget Bites Recipes!

Decide On Your Lifestyle

Personal finance is personal, so this looks different for everyone. Deciding on your lifestyle will help you (and your partner, if you’re sharing finances) figure out what is important to you. For example my husband and I will still be saving some money for future travel, because that is important to us. 

Pay Off Debt

Living on one income with debt will be challenging. If possible, pay off as much debt as you can before going down to one income. If you’re living on one income because of job loss, you might not get the chance, but still make payments on your debt. 

Find Cheap / Free Hobbies

Living on a lower income doesn’t mean you have to give up fun completely! Finding hobbies and activities that don’t cost a lot will help you stay sane. Things like:

• Reading
• Gardening
• playing board games
• Running
• Baking
• Writing
• Yoga
• Painting

You get the idea! Maybe you bought some craft stuff a while ago and never got around to doing it, or maybe you have a bicycle in the garage! There are always things to do!

Check out these ideas for free date nights!

Barter

Everyone is skilled at something, and you may be able to barter with someone else! See if you can barter with your friends to save money on things you would usually pay for. This will help you (and your friends) save money.

Final Thoughts

Living on one income can be scary, especially if you are used to two. I won’t lie, it has been stressful for me too. I hope these tips will help you prepare for living on one income!

PS. Now that you’re living on one income, when you’re back up to two incomes maybe you can save the other one! That’s a great way to start your journey towards FI/RE (financial independence,retire early!)

Here’s the deal; everyone has to eat! When you’re making your monthly or biweekly budget you might be wondering how much you should budget for food or groceries. The actual number is individual, but here’s how to make a grocery budget, so that the rest of your money is free to buy other things (I’m looking at you, plane tickets!)

How Much Should We Spend On Food?

It depends… I know, not helpful! Obviously what we spend as a family of 2 adults will be different from you if you are single, or if you have children. It also depends heavily on where you live. Here in Canada, food tends to be a bit more expensive than the USA, and it is different all around the world. 

In 2017 Statistics Canada released that the average Canadian household spends about $495 on groceries a month, and about $216 a month on restaurant food. 

Most financial experts recommend spending about 10%-15% of your income on food for your family. 

We personally average $168 every 2 weeks for groceries, and $38 every 2 weeks for eating out for 2 adults. This represents about 9% of our overall budget.

Some budget periods are higher and some are lower depending on the time of year and what we have planned!

How To Make A Food Budget

Step 1 – Determine Your Variable Expenses Budget

The first part of any budget is to add up your income and subtract fixed expenses like your mortgage or rent, insurance premiums and utilities. This will give you the amount you have to divide up between your variable expenses like groceries, eating out, clothing, gifts, and pets.

Read More: How To Make A Zero Based Budget

Step 2 – Review Old Purchases

Reviewing what you’ve been spending on food may be painful. Add up everything food related (groceries and takeout) that you’ve spent in the last few months to get a realistic picture. Decide if that amount is reasonable, or if you need to reduce the amount you are spending.

I recommend adjusting your budget slowly (unless you are spending more than you earn). If you try to go from spending $600 a month to $200 a month you likely won’t be successful and get discouraged. Try going from $600 to $500 and decreasing over time as you get better at budgeting and estimating costs.

Step 3 – Meal Plan

Meal planning will help you with your budget because it will help you make a list of what you need to buy! You can meal plan based on sales to save money on meat, etc. I have a master list of all our regular and fav meals, so that if I’m having trouble meal planning I can refer back to the list for some inspiration! You might want to plan meals that cost relatively little per person, in order to stay on budget!

Meal planning may include eating out – and that’s totally okay as long as it’s within your budget! 

Step 4 – Estimate Costs Based On Facts

When making your budget, it’s not helpful to just write down a random number without looking at the facts. Estimate your budget based on your meal plan, and what you’ve spent in the past. 

Don’t forget to look at your calendar to see if you have any plans like dinner out, or hosting a family dinner, this will impact your budget.

Step 5 – Test And Adjust

A budget is a fluid thing, changing based on what is going on in your life. Test your budget for a few weeks or months and see if it is working. If you are always going over budget, try to see where and why, then adjust your budget (or your behavior) accordingly.

We personally follow a value-based spending philosophy, so we sometimes spend more on something like local meat, which isn’t the most cost effective, but it is based on our values. It’s okay not to buy the cheapest item available! 

Read More: How To Save Money On Groceries Without Coupons

How To Stick To Your Grocery Budget

Use Cash For A While

We used to take cash out of the bank every month when we first started budgeting. Psychologically it is harder for most people to spend cash vs swiping your debit card. It’s also easier to see how much you have remaining in your budget when you look at the cash in your envelope.

You may want to try using cash if you are consistently going over budget. 

Track Your Spending Weekly

Your budget might not be the same every month or week and that’s okay! Budgets aren’t meant to be the same every month! Tracking your spending at the end of every week will help you see how much you’ve spent and how much you have left to spend for the remaining period (month or biweekly). 

Remember Why You Are Doing It

With any budget, it’s important to remember why you are doing this in the first place. Staying within your grocery budget means that the rest of your money can be used somewhere else: to become debt free, to pay for that vacation you’ve always wanted to take, or to retire early to spend more time with your family. 

Read More: My Why – A Personal Post

Final Thoughts

I know it can be a frustrating experience to budget, especially if you go over budget, but it’s worth it! Do you have any tips for creating a grocery or food budget?