Canadian Personal Finance Blog

For those not in the Ottawa area, we have had a remarkable lack of snow. As I write this however, our problem is being remedied by what looks to be a good dump of snow (we shall see if it lasts). Many different businesses have been having problems due to this lack of frozen precipitation:

1. Ski hills around the Ottawa area. They have been able to make snow, but without really cold temperatures it is a challenge to do this in a good way.
2. Winterlude, the winter festival in Ottawa is very worried that the “World’s Longest Skating Rink” (aka the Rideau Canal) may not be ready in time, and this means all the vendors who sell their confections along the canal are also suffering.
3. Stores that sell ski, ski-doo and winter gear are in a bind because no one is really in the mood to buy new gear if there is no snow to be seen.
4. Snow clearance companies. Now they typically have a flat rate for the season, so they may actually profit from this, but there may be people who have not signed up for their services hoping for a mild season?

I went through the economics of having a snow clearance firm about 8 years ago, and decided to buy a snowblower instead (given how much I was in pain after clearing snow with a shovel). The snowblower has lasted long enough to cover the cost of having a snow clearance crew for those years. The most frugal option would have been me continuing to clear the snow myself (I realize that), however, if I wasn’t going to do that (and I wasn’t), the snowblower seems to have been a useful investment. Guess I get to use it again when I get home tonight.

If the snow is falling, that must mean it’s time to start thinking about your RRSPs as well. You have until the end of February to top up last year’s funds, so start thinking about whether you could cut out your coffees for two months and put them in an RRSP and then use your refund to buy a nice coffee machine?

Simple math:

Assume 8 weeks worth of coffee at $5.00/day and a 5 day work week: that’s about $200, which is not a bad little packet to drop away in your retirement funds. Depending on your tax bracket that’s got to get you back about $40.00 in taxes.

Is that a price you can pay to save some money? –C8j