Canadian Personal Finance Blog

And I am not cleaning that mess up! This has caused the Canadian Dollar to continue it’s upward reach compared to it’s Yankee Cousin.

Total retail sales rose 2.8% to an estimated $35.0 billion in May. Gains in seven of eight retail sectors boosted sales, making May the fourth monthly increase in a row for Canadian retailers. The last time sales increased more than 2.8% was December 1997, when sales advanced 3.7%. When sales of new, used and recreational vehicles and parts dealers are excluded, retail sales jumped 2.3%, more than offsetting April’s 0.3% decline.

Wonder if this is another bubble forming? Hope not

Some of the odd areas where sales have gone up? Auto sales (from April to May) are up 4.0%, and this is at the height of the gas prices? Clothing sales are up over 4 percent as well (but I could have guessed that with my daughters spending).

With a Canadian Dollar rising to parity with it’s American Cousin, what does this mean? Nothing (YET), but stay tuned this could get very interesting, that is for sure.

That is the code phrase a friend of ours has for when she goes to the Salvation Army thrift store to buy clothes, “I’ve been shopping at the boutique”. Why do folks like me shop at the thrift stores that seem to be opening all over the place? Because we are cheap? I can’t afford to shop at the Gap every time? I think the answer is YES to all and a few other reasons too.

If you have four kids (and three of them daughters) keeping them in new clothing could easily bankrupt us (if our kids were insane clothes horses like the ones on MTV, luckily they aren’t). They are growing and active kids and a lot of times clothes are grown out of or ripped so quickly, I’d go insane if I’d bought them brand new.

My wife has made shopping at thrift stores almost a science, and her only comment to me was that you need to be very patient and know when new “deliveries” come in. My kids have not made too many complaints about wearing “used” clothes, in fact they are starting to go there themselves, which is a good thing. They also buy new clothes but mostly with gift money from their relatives.

Most of these thrift stores have a charity component to it, so that is a good thing as well. We typically dispose of our “lightly used” clothing in the Salvation Army red boxes or whoever is collecting at the time.

Somehow I got mentioned in the Festival of Under 30 Finance (given I am well over 30, I am impressed that they listen to an old codger” like me). It was my posting about using Quicktax and asking what financial tools you use.

Finally if you ever see me complaining about it isn’t cold enough in Ottawa, please feel free to leave a very rude comment. I can only say I thank my mechanic every morning this week for convincing me to put a block heater in my Honda! –C8j