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!

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. 

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!)

Unfortunately a financial emergency can happen to all of us, at any time. We see it all the time, people lose their job, get sick, get in an accident, or sometimes there’s an apocalypse and suddenly we can’t leave our homes. Ideally you prepare before these things happen but that’s not always the case! I’m going to walk you through what to do if you have a financial emergency and how to prepare for the next one.

Unexpected Financial Events

You know how one day everything is totally fine and then you’re hit by a truck? It happens! No one really expects these things to happen (that’s what they’re called unexpected…) but everyday people incur large expenses or income loss. Some examples:

• Car accident – need to replace or repair the car unexpectedly
• Medical emergency – hospital bills and loss of income
• Natural disaster – damage to your home & belongings
• Job loss – loss of income
• Divorce – loss of one income / lawyer fees
• Worldwide pandemic – loss of work 

See how often some of these things happen to people we know? This is how Walter White turned to making drugs… which made for great TV, but not so good if it’s your real life. 

What To Do During A Financial Emergency

There are really two types of financial emergencies: one time (large) expenses like a bill, and loss of income. Here’s what to do in each scenario. 

One Time Expense

If it’s a one time financial emergency like a car repair/replacement or a medical bill here are the steps to take:

Figure Out How Much You Owe – Add up all the bills associated with the unexpected expense

Look At Your Current Finances – How much do you have in savings that could go toward this bill? 

What Can You Do To Make Up The Difference – Can you work some overtime? Sell something that is sitting around? 

Work It Into Your Budget – If you know you need $500 by next month, then you’ll have to work on how to save $250 each paycheck (if you’re paid biweekly) Read how to biweekly budget!

If The Difference Is Substantial – If you won’t be able to make up the difference quickly, you’ll need to look into payment plan options, or in extreme cases; borrowing. 

Loss Of Income

If you’ve lost your income, or your income is reduced, here’s what to do:

Start With Your Budget

If you’ve already been budgeting then you’ll have a leg up, but if you haven’t you’ll want to start with figuring out how much your income will be in your new situation.  Read about how to make a zero based budget.

Prioritize The “4 Walls” – When starting to make your budget, make sure to prioritize the “4 Walls” first – Food, Utilities, Housing and Transportation. These are the things you absolutely need to make sure you have food on the table and a roof over your head.

Pause Sinking Funds – If you’ve been saving for Christmas, travel, etc. in a sinking fund then consider pausing to make your ends meet. Read more about sinking funds

Stop Extra Debt Payments – You may need to stop your debt snowball or debt avalanche right now in order to make ends meet. Still pay your minimum payments, or if you can’t, try the next step.

Negotiate With Lenders – Some lenders will be able to help you if you tell them your situation. You can usually defer mortgage payments (which adds them on to the end of your term), and you may be eligible for interest only payments on things like student loans.

Research Government Programs – You may be eligible for employment insurance (EI) which will pay you while you look for work. If you are off work due to a disability or sickness, there are programs for that as well. You can access local food banks to help you put food on the table. Please don’t be scared to get help if you truly need it, these programs are in place for a reason! 

Be Wary Of Loans And Credit Cards – For the love of all that is holy please do not go to a payday loan place. You will owe them forever, please please please do not go there. Also try to avoid using your credit card to make up the difference in income. You will have to pay it back eventually. 

How To Prepare For A Recession

What exactly is a recession anyway? Basically a recession is a decline in economic activity across the market for 2 or more quarters. It happens when the total value of the goods and services produced (called the Gross Domestic Product, or GDP) is in decline. Usually this comes with an increase in unemployment, a decrease in the housing market and a decrease in the stock market. 

A recession may be coming, but they are impossible to predict! If it does it may have an impact on your finances, especially if you lose your job due to cutbacks. It doesn’t have to be the end of the world, here’s what you can do to prepare yourself for a recession.

Pay Off Debt

One of the best things you can do to prepare for a recession is pay off your debt. If you can’t get it paid off, get it down as low as possible. Not having a debt payment while suffering a job loss will make life so much easier!

Build An Emergency Fund

If you don’t have an emergency fund, now is the time to think about building one. Never invest your emergency fund. If your emergency fund is invested 1) it’s hard to get to because you’ll have to wait a few days to withdraw, and 2) when the markets go down, so will your money. Keep your emergency fund in a high interest savings account where you can transfer the money to your main bank account quickly online. How much you’ll need is personal, and depends on your budget, but if you’re trying to save quickly, save as much as possible!

Remember your sinking funds that you may have paused? They can become emergency money too!

Read More About Emergency Funds

Live Within Your Means

Living within your means is how you’ll get through any financial tough times. As long as you do not spend more than you earn, you’ll be in a great place when the markets turn around. You may have to cut out things like travel, eating out and other non-necessities for a while in order to make ends meet. 

Read More About Living Within Your Means

Consider Upgrading Your Education

Now may be the time to upgrade your education or change fields. Consider fields that are in demand at the time.

Focus On The Big Picture

It can be scary to see the markets take a nosedive, but now is not the time to cash in your investments. Especially if you’re young and 10+ years away from retirement, think of it as “stocks are on sale”! You’ll be able to buy more shares which should be worth more in the future. Keep investing!

Final Thoughts

Financial emergencies and recessions can feel scary and impossible to recover from, but the reality is they happen to all of us and things can and do turn around eventually. 

If you plan in advance, you’ll be better able to respond when the next financial emergency hits. If you’re experiencing this right now, just know you are not alone!

The Dog

We have a sweet but kind of crazy 9 year old poodle/ spaniel mix, Ellie. 

First of all she needs grooming because of her fur type, it grows out and then we get it cut every 2 months or so. We buy food every 1.5 – 2 months, plus treats. Vet costs and flea and tick prevention are normal expenses.

From March 2019 – February 2020 

Grooming – $377 

Canned food and treats – $183.84

Regular food –  $308.13

Flea & tick prevention – $318

MISC vet appointments – $270.23

Annual vet visit and vaccines – $158.40

Dog Total: 1615.60

The Cats

We have 2 cats, one a 16 year old half maine coon and a 6 year old short hair cat. Luckily they are a lot less expensive than the dog! 

From March 2019 – February 2020 

Vet – $100.44

Food – $365.33

Cat litter – ~$108 (we buy cat litter in our grocery budget so I don’t know this exact number)

Cat Total: $573.77

Total

From March 2019 to February 2020 we spent $2189.37 on our animals! This number did surprise me when I totalled it all up, but of course they are worth it! 

Final Thoughts

I hope this helps open your eyes to the true cost of pets. Luckily in the past year we haven’t had any major expenses with the animals, but our dog will need a tooth cleaning soon which is estimated to cost us around $1000. We have also had to take the dog to the emergency vet in the past which is expensive. 

Having an emergency fund will help if you have any unexpected expenses for your animals (or for yourself!)

What is Lifestyle Creep?

Basically lifestyle creep is what happens when you make more money, and you also spend more money. It often happens when people get raises because they have more income, they start spending more and more. It can start small, like going out to dinner more often, then buying more expensive clothes or shoes, then it turns into buying a fancier vehicle and possibly even a bigger house. As you can imagine buying a more expensive car and home can have a huge negative impact on your ability to save money. 

Even worse, some people use credit cards to spend more than they make. This is definitely the worst kind of lifestyle creep since you will have to pay it off eventually. 

But I Deserve It!

This is almost always the reason behind lifestyle inflation. You get a big raise, you work really hard so you deserve that (insert thing here… house, boat, fancy car, designer bag, etc.). No doubt you do work hard, but spending it on wants isn’t always the best way to use your money. You don’t have to stop shopping altogether, but balance is key.

How To Avoid Lifestyle Creep

Luckily there are so many ways to avoid lifestyle creep from negatively impacting your finances. Most of them are pretty easy to implement too!

Make A Budget

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, a budget is the best thing you can do for your finances. I do a bi-weekly budget and pay myself first by saving money every paycheck for retirement, travel, gifts, etc. By making a budget I know exactly how much money I am making and spending. By budgeting every paycheck I am checking in with my money often and I can make adjustments if necessary. Check out this Youtube video on exactly how I budget:

Budget In Fun

Not budgeting in any fun money is a surefire way to make sure you never stick to your budget. Every month my husband and I get some personal fun money, and we also budget in some fun activities with friends. You can make sure you budget in your coffee with friends, date nights and vacations, then you are not missing out on the fun but you are still accomplishing your money goals!

Automate Savings

Every payday we have money that automatically transfers into our savings accounts and retirement accounts. Making your transfers happen on payday means that you’ll pay yourself before you spend the money on wants. Automated means you don’t have to think about it!  Check out how I organize my money here: 

Take Advantage Of Employer Matching

If your place of employment has an RRSP matching program (Canada) or 401(k) matching program (USA) then you should be taking advantage of it! Usually your employer will match any contributions you make up to a certain percentage. If you contribute 6% of your income, that means any raise you get you’ll be automatically investing more as well! 

Keep Your Goals In Mind

Having a money goal helps you keep focused. When we were paying off debt we used this tracker on our fridge so that we knew we were making progress! Now that we are debt free, our big goal for 2020 is to save $10,000 for a new car! I love the charts from my friend over at Debt Free Charts, a lot of them are free! Start printing and watch your goals come true. 

Read More: How we paid off $26,500 in 21 months

Final Thoughts

Some lifestyle creep is generally okay, like going from living in an apartment with 3 roommates to living in your own home with a spouse, but the type of lifestyle creep where you are just buying more expensive items because you got a raise is going to significantly impact your ability to be financially independent and debt free. 

In reality,

It's not your salary that makes you rich, it's your spending habits - Charles A. Jaffe
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Here are some frugal Valentine’s Day, or just general date ideas! Many of these we have actually done ourselves.

Cook Dinner Together

Cooking doesn’t seem that exciting, but you could try to recreate your favorite takeout dish, or if you want to take it up a notch you could have a Chopped competition and see what you each make from ingredients you already have. One thing we used to do was have an “International Date Night” where we would pick a country and one of us would make the main dish, and one would make an appetizer or dessert, you didn’t know what the other was making until the day of! It was really fun and a great way to try new food.

Play A Game Together

I love games. I grew up in a family that played games all the time and it’s one of my favorite things to do with my husband or a big group of people. You could play a board game, a video game or card game together. Take it up a notch by betting that the loser has to make dinner!

Make Cards

Cards are expensive, although I admit that I love them and keep them all. To keep costs down you could make cards for each other. Try to be as creative as possible! I personally love funny ones.

Make Fondue

We’ve done this one a couple times on Valentines Day! We got a fondue pot as a gift a long time ago, but you could always melt cheese or chocolate on the stove for a delicious fondue!

Walk or Hike

I love getting outside, even in the winter! Going for a walk in a local park, or a hike on a trail is a great way to spend time together and enjoy the outdoors. If it’s snowy where you are maybe you could try snowshoeing! In Halifax where we live, you can rent snowshoes from MEC for $15 a day.

Read Also: No Spend Date Night Ideas

Skating

Even if you’ve never skated before, it can be a fun activity! Local arenas may have skates for you to borrow for cheap or free, and family skates are usually cheap or free!

Brewery or Winery Tour

If you live close to a brewery or winery you may be able to take a tour, or at least go in for a tasting flight for pretty cheap. It’s also a great way to try a new brew before you commit to a whole bottle or case!

Go For A Drive

Sometimes it’s fun just to go for a drive and see where you end up. Put on a podcast, or your favorite playlist to sing along to. Stop wherever looks interesting!

Bake Bread (Add Wine & Cheese)

Most people have the ingredients to make bread already in their kitchen, but if not, pick up some ingredients along with wine and cheese and make yourself a little cheese board. Artisan bread is easy to make, even for those less experienced with baking! Try this tried and true recipe.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, there are so many things to do together that aren’t expensive! Sometimes you just need to think outside the box a little. Are you doing something frugal on Valentine’s Day?