Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Cheap or Thrifty?

After my weekend of vulturing around picking up furniture from my parents and friends and now seeing it in my living room, I wonder now, am I cheap or frugal? When I was a student my entire apartment was made up of my parents old furniture (and it actually gave me a certain amount of security seeing familiar things around me, but I digress). As I have grown older I have bought some furniture new but continue to use older furniture as well from various sources.

My opinion is it is partially a frugal thing, because what is the point of blowing $2000 on a new couch, if you have or can get a good one and pocket the money? If I am happy with the “gently used” furniture, why do I feel cheap having it? Why do I equate financial success with New things? My guess is it is a cultural thing, but again, not completely sure either.

Patience Update

Following up on my “patience pays” posting on Monday, I ended up saving about $70 at the end of it all, by being patient, but also being firm with my Car Rental agent. I think that is not bad for 1/2 an hour of my time (and not getting all twisted about things). Will this happen every time? Maybe not, but again, being patient should usually give you a sense of well being mentally if not financially.

Another Toy Recall

My son’s love of Thomas the Tank Engine is causing me to learn much more about toy recalls than I wanted to. Yet another set of toys is being recalled by RC2, and AGAIN we are owners of these toys. This is starting to get a little ridiculous.

No Interest Rate Hikes in Europe

So the English central bank is not hiking their interest rates which is a good thing to hear. I am curious to see if their Canadian Cousin looks at possibly rolling the rates back a little to keep the Might Canadian Dollar from rising too high against it’s sick cousin in the U.S.?

I’ll take D’uh for $1400 Alex

Under the “you think we didn’t notice” side of things, a Toronto Law firm is putting in a class action suit claiming that Car prices in Canada are artificially inflated. Oh, I have a call coming in and it is from “Mr. Obvious”. The sales tax alone would tilt the scales, but the prices are definitely higher here in Canada. A CBC report had the following 3 interesting examples:

• A Chrysler Grand Cherokee Laredo that was advertised for $29,215 in the U.S. and $36,215 in Canada
• A Honda Odyssey Minivan that was advertised for $25,645 in the U.S. and $33,333 in Canada
• A Range Rover Sport that was advertised for $58,500 in the U.S. and $78,300 in Canada

The lawsuit is only for purchases after August 2005 and ending in August 2007.

Of course Canadians are being gouged, it happens because we are 1/10 the size of the U.S. population, and rarely do we ever complain about things.

No Wonder my Lead Futures Have Paid Out So Well

There must be a shortage in lead (pb) about to occur, because more toys are being recalled for high lead levels. Anyone been buying Lead futures lately? Are they appreciating nicely given the high usage of it in kids’ toys? I am only half joking here folks, because I have to ask, where is all this LEAD coming from?

All joking aside my family is touched by this AGAIN, with more Thomas the Tank Engine parts being recalled as well. This is getting either ridiculous or tragic, I’ll tell you in 10 years which one it is.

Yes the beloved light bulb cooker is now a danger and is being recalled says our amigos over at Engadget . My gosh, think of the children!!!

The actual recall states:

Hazard: Young children can insert their hands into the oven’s opening and get their hands or fingers caught, posing an entrapment and burn hazard.

And they are recalling it now? That problem has been around since I was a kid, wasn’t it? Guess us losing our fingers when we were younger didn’t matter much then, now did it? I had a wood burning set and creepy crawlers both which had very hot elements, but did anyone care? Yes, they wanted to make sure I didn’t burn any furniture, if I burned myself, that was my own fault!

Look at that thing, it’s a freaking 240 Amp hot plate, with metal moulds that heated up to incredible temperatures! Those were the days!