Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Yes it is a holiday finally, and I get to enjoy the first long weekend since Easter (which seems a long way away). No stores are open around me, but Ottawa has some benefits that other Ontario cities don’t have because we have the Rideau Center, which is deemed a “Tourist Area” so all of it’s stores will be open and we are across the river from Gatineau/Hull and there all stores are open today. Will I go shopping? I might run to Tim Horton’s to have a Pro-Monarchist Coffee and Donut, but that is about it.

Happy Victoria Day

Why do we celebrate this holiday still? We need a holiday in May as simple a reason as that.

Oil is over $125.00 a barrel, and gas in Ottawa is about $1.25 a liter, so if you are driving, do it in a very calm fashion and try to save that valuable gasoline. Inflate your tires, don’t stomp on the accelerator or brake and don’t idle too long in those traffic jams trying to get home tonight!

Enjoy your day of vacation folks, I’ll be back tomorrow.

Michael James talked about found money yesterday and the joy of paying off bills with found money, and how we should not squander this found wealth, and really use it to create happiness in the future by paying off debt now. I think this is a sensible approach to found money, but it made me think about another post I did a while ago, which was how couples deal with money.

Many times found money can cause a great deal of consternation between spouses because each have their own idea of what the best thing is to do with found money.

I think this is natural, as with most every subject possible spouses are going to have their own ideas, but the problem arises when the two ideas are contradictory or even orthogonal to each other.

Say Mary and Bob get $10,000.00 in found money from an inheritance. Mary thinks she’d like to go on a nice vacation with the family because the family has never really been on a vacation, however, Bob thinks that putting that money on their Mortgage (thus shortening it’s term by 5 years), is the right answer.

Reading this, it sounds like an easy enough “problem” to deal with, both folks want to do what they think is best with the money, but the problem now is you have is a simple difference of opinion. The problem I have seen in my life and from other folks I know is that this is not a simple problem, because:

• There is no wrong answer (or right answer)
• Both spouses have voiced their opinion, and thus feel they have the right answer.
• Money and money management is a divisive factor in many relationships

Is there a Solution?

Only if both parties are willing to compromise, or one is willing to lose (i.e. typical Prisoner’s Dilemma issue). Wikipedia’s explanation of the Prisoner’s Dilemma is:

Two prisoners (the players) during the interrogation each have a choice: whether to betray the other one, and thus to decrease his own jail time by, for example, 1 month (as a compensation for the cooperation), while increasing the jail time for the other by, for example, 10 years, or to stay silent. Each of the prisoners is only interested in receiving the least possible sentence. It shall be assumed that the prisoners make their choices (to betray or to stay silent) simultaneously, and they know for sure that their choice cannot affect the choice of the other one.

All right I am stretching this (feel free to leave a comment), but the need to compromise and find the best solution for the couple is not always obvious to either spouse, and sometimes they feel it is not in their best interest (they got their way the last time, so I want my way this time). Sound familiar to any of my readers? Never happened to you?

Resolution?

I have no canned simple answer for this one, because as I keep saying, Money is a strange and divisive thing in a relationship, especially if the spouses do not agree in terms of money and how to use it.

What needs to be done is have clear lines of communication and rational discussions between the spouses about what they want to do, and a decision made that doesn’t cause either to feel that they have “lost” in this decision. Sounds easy doesn’t it ?

Think this is a simple thing to resolve? You and your spouse never have these issues? Then you are either very lucky (or very naive).

Yes, I have taken an extra day for the long weekend to make it an extra long weekend, which is just fine by me. Luckily I got lots done as well? Is that really a vacation day? Guess not.

Christmas is Next

It used to be when I worked in downtown Ottawa I knew Christmas was coming because the men’s apparel section in Eatons disappeared and the Toy section expanded into that space. Now that I don’t work downtown I don’t have as obvious a sign, but I await the first “holiday” flyer with great anticipation. What will be this year’s BIG SPLURGE item? How about your Mortgage, or Credit Card Debt? Yes, just call me Uncle Scrooge McDuck!

Last Quarter of the Year

How go your financial plans for the year? This is the closing quarter so keep up the good work, or see if you can save a few that you thought were lost (goals I mean). Maybe start your plan for 2008 now, or at least plan it now.

Back to work for me tomorrow, and maybe a more in depth posting, but for now, I am enjoying my last few hours of vacation!

A holiday here in most provinces in Canada, so let’s ask an important question, just how cheap are you? What is the cheapest thing that you do or have done (and are proud of it too)?

I have a cell phone for work that I have had charging at work for a while, and never thought twice about it. Then one day, I realized, “Why am I charging only my work cell phone here?”, so now I charge my personal cell phone at work as well. Is this fraudulent use of company resources? Don’t think so, but it is being darn cheap!

Why is cheapness frowned upon? Isn’t it our money, so trying to keep it, shouldn’t be a bad thing, but holy cow, the funny looks you get when you tell someone just how cheap you are, and the “I’d never do that” looks you get? Lighten up folks!

The other thing that I still do, that I learned from my mother that I have spoken about before is the emptying of old ketchup bottles into the new one. Yup, I sit there and decant the remaining dregs of the old ketchup bottle into the new one. How much ketchup am I saving? I don’t know, but it makes me happy. Now my mother also used to mix old cereals together into the new ones as well, so you’d end up with Cheerio/Shreddies/Puffed Rice in your cereal in the morning as well, but you get used to it, and you save a little money too.

So what cheap things do you do?

Carnivals

• Debt Consolidation Lowdown is hosting Carnival of Debt Management #19 has my posting Bill Surfing The Next Generation

Relevant Postings

• New Pay Day Loan Regulations in Ontario
• I have become my Mother