Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Finally a long weekend, it has been months since Easter (ok it feels like that), and we finally get our long weekend in, whoo hoo! It has been an interesting week (read tomorrow’s humorous story about why I am buying a new Bar B Q for more fun).

Lots of great posts across the board from my regular readings and some of my postings, let us recap:

• I resurrected one of my favorite humorous posting about The High Price of Daycare and Alternatives, which makes me laugh every time I watch it (thanks the Onion).
• On Sunday we found out that if I had to pay my wife, I’d have to get a second job, because as a Mother I cannot Afford her.
• The Canadian Capitalist wrote about The High Price of Eating Out, but more importantly how more people are eating out. I remember when my parents took us out to dinner it was a special occasion, not to my kids.
• Should I join a Credit Union just to avoid service charges, read the comments, it’s pretty entertaining.
• Michael James wrote about MER the Gift that Keeps on Giving for your mutual funds. You must read this just to understand how much you are spending to “save”.
• What does a Shredder have to do with Personal Finance? Read the article and see.
• I added Gail Vaz Oxlade to my Financial Bloggers list, this is the lady from ’til Debt Do Us Part (with the mason jar budgeting system), very interesting reads.
• I started to get up on my soapbox espousing my views in Computers: Another Great Financial Tool , and then topped it off with Security the Most Important Financial Concept where I went off the deep end talking about computer security. Sorry folks, when I get on my home turf (i.e. High Tech) I get a little wacky.
• Ellen Roseman answered a lot of questions this week, well worth a read to see what folks are asking her.
• Larry MacDonald started the warning bells about Inflation and how it may have a global impact, especially in China. Given how supercharged their economy is right now, I am not really surprised to see that possibility on the horizon.
• Our Amigo Average Joe resurfaced over at Dividends Matter and did a post on Saputo the Cheese Maker (they also sponsor soccer stadiums in Montreal I hear).
• Loonies and Sense resurfaced as well with an Apologetic Post this week as well.

All in all a good week of reading and research. Enjoy your long weekend, buy a hammock and lie out in the sunshine (with SPF 50 on).

Yes, it is Mother’s Day, a day to celebrate our Mother’s and the good works of all Mother’s that we know. My mom’s works always amazed me growing up, and now my wife’s tireless works amaze me even more (and make me appreciate the hard work all Mothers do day in and day out).

Every year usually there is a survey that says, if Mothers were actually paid for their duties they would earn $X, and this year is no exception. This year’s value says mothers should be paid $126,593.00 according to Salary.com . Given the hours Mothers work that isn’t as big a salary as you might get (working 12-14 hours a day 7 days a week), and my bigger concern is who pays that? I can’t afford to have a Mother on my payroll if I had to pay that much! Guess, I’d have to get a second job, to pay.

“But they should try cleaning their house with little kids running around and messing it up right after them.”

The salary calculation for mothers also took into account the roles they fulfill as laundry machine operators, computer operators, facilities managers, van drivers and janitors. With overtime work averaging about 54.4 hours a week, stay-at-home mothers worked a hefty 94.4 hour work week.

Points well taken and well understood by most Fathers as well.

If a Mother works in the home her entire life, she gets CPP at the end of it, but not much else either, so the job has lousy benefits too.

Another interesting point about Mother’s Day is it used to be the day when the most long distance phone calls were made (according to AT&T in the U.S.), however Father’s Day was the day the most COLLECT phone calls were made, which sums it all up nicely.

Random Thoughts

It is Friday again, and it has been yet another interesting week financially in this world.

• There is now serious talk of Gasoline going for $200 a barrel, which would mean it’s price in Ottawa would be around $2.20 a liter, which may well cause folks to seriously look at alternate transportation methods.
• I reviewed my Family’s Personal Spending for April and found some interesting spending oddities of my own.
• Ellen Roseman asked a good question about Who Speaks for Investors, and she was part of a group who tried to, and was even asked to, however, not much seems to have come out of her work.
• Stats Canada talked about how Family Incomes haven’t really changed too much in the past few years, certainly doesn’t look like it keeps up with inflation.
• The Canadian Capitalist asked us if We are Comfortable With our Portfolio, I think my answer is, it’s doing ok, but it would be nice if it doubled tomorrow.
• The Government has an Auditor General to make sure spending doesn’t get out of control, shouldn’t we all have our own Personal Auditor General?
• Any way to control your spending is by creating Artificial Scarcity in your own money supply according to Michael James.
• My mail bag does have some very interesting things in it, as well.
• The Quest for Four Pillars states boldly Zero Down Payment On a House is Just Fine, which on the surface sounds wacky to me, but the article isn’t espousing buying houses you can’t afford, simply not waiting until you have some magic number for a down payment. Interesting concept, not sure I completely buy it, but interesting.
• Finally the Globe and Mail is having a poll about picking the Top 5 Financial Bloggers in Canada , I note I am conspicuous by my absence, but I am not bitter, where did I leave my copy of the Ottawa Sun? I’d vote for the Canadian Capitalist myself (but I would have also included Michael James on Money on that list as well).

Flash: De-Crapification Set Back

Never go to a Gar(b)age sale if you are trying to get rid of your crap. Our Church is running one, and I came home with something, I have however removed something from my bedroom (which is where the new item will go), however, I am ashamed of myself. I did get a trouser press for $10 however, which I think is still kind of cool, and I could bring a lot of crap back to my Church’s gar(b)age sale tomorrow, so maybe this will work out.