• HOME
  • ABOUT
  • WORK WITH ME
  • DISCLAIMER
    • PRIVACY POLICY
  • CONTACT

Our Bill Pickle

real life with (very) real debt

Personal Finance Discussions Archive

The purpose of these posts is to encourage open discussion on personal finance topics outside budgeting and debt-repayment.

Key topics: side hustles, frugal living, life lessons, beliefs about money

Instagram isn’t the reason millennials are broke

October 24, 2019

Instagram is not the reason millennials are broke

“According to a recent survey, Canadian millennials struggle with debt largely because they’re trying to keep up an Instagram-worthy lifestyle.“

The tweet, by Global News, popped up while I was scrolling through my feed. As a personal finance blogger who also happens to be a Canadian millennial, I was curious. Against my better judgement, I clicked the link.

By the time I reached the end of the article, I was fuming.

That was August 10, 2019.

And almost three months later, I still get annoyed when I think about it.

So…let’s talk about it.

Continue Reading

Posted by Tara Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Personal Finance Discussions Tagged: instagram, millennials, post-secondary education, social media

Found a lost credit card? Here’s what to do

October 10, 2019

Found a lost credit card? Here is exactly what you should do next.

Found a lost credit card and wondering what to do with it?

This is a situation I found myself in recently. As a person who has lost a credit card before, I knew leaving it on the ground was not an option, but I was not sure what I was supposed to do.

In the same boat? Here’s the story of what I did and why.

Continue Reading

Posted by Tara Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Personal Finance Discussions Tagged: credit card, lost credit card, mastercard, VISA

How I redesigned my blog for less than $500

August 3, 2019

A budget-friendly website redesign | How I gave my website a new look for less than $500

When I started blogging in May 2018, I made a rule not spend money on upgrades for at least one year.

Why? Simple: I wanted to make sure blogging was something I actually wanted to do, not just a fleeting whim. I’ve started and abandoned many blogs in the past. Before investing any more money, I wanted to have at least a year of consistent posting under my belt.

After crossing the one year mark, I started looking into options for a website redesign.

And in true personal finance blogger fashion, here’s a look at how that process unfolded and exactly how much I spent in the end.

Continue Reading

Posted by Tara 6 Comments
Filed Under: Personal Finance Discussions Tagged: blogging, redesign, site updates

Three reasons to have accounts at multiple institutions

July 18, 2019

Three reasons to have multiple bank accounts at different financial institutions

For many years, I did all my banking at Royal Bank of Canada.

I’ve been with RBC for the better part of 20 years. I opened my first account — a savings account — when I was 10 years old. My client account looks a lot different today than it did then, with more products added and, for the most part, a bigger balance.

RBC has been good to me over the years. So why do I now have multiple bank accounts at multiple financial institutions?

There are a few reasons.

Continue Reading

Posted by Tara 2 Comments
Filed Under: Personal Finance Discussions Tagged: banking, EQ Bank, high-interest savings account, mastercard, Royal Bank of Canada, Tangerine, TFSA, WealthSimple

The purpose of money is to spend it

May 21, 2019

The purpose of money is to spend it

A news story circulated online in March.

The article was about coffee — more specifically, it was about a well-known figure in the personal finance world telling readers that spending money on coffee is like throwing away $1 million.

Here’s the link to the full piece if you’re curious. Unsurprisingly, the article got a reaction, with people coming out on both sides of the discussion.

Which is a great thing! We need to have discussions about money. We need to get over this idea that it’s a taboo subject.

So it is in that spirit I’ll say this: I respectfully disagree with the experts on this front. And I promise it’s not just because of my well-documented fondness for coffee.

They have math and numbers to support the position. That’s important. But, in my opinion, they’re missing one important point.

Yes, you can make your money work for you. To some degree, you should make your money work for you — you owe it to your future self.

But that’s not the only purpose of money.

Continue Reading

Posted by Tara 4 Comments
Filed Under: Personal Finance Discussions Tagged: managing money, personal finance, saving money, spending money

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • …
  • 6
  • Next Page »

Hi, I’m Tara!

Welcome to Our Bill Pickle, a Canadian personal finance blog. Here, we share the good, the bad and the ugly about real life with (very) real debt.

Socials

Search

Recent Posts

  • Five personal finance confessions
  • February budget forecast (+ other notes)
  • It feels like we’re moving backwards

Categories

  • Budgeting
  • Debt
  • Guest Posts
  • Lifestyle
  • Monthly Budget Updates
  • Personal Finance Discussions
  • Reviews

Archives

© 2019 Our Bill Pickle
Powered by WordPress & Genesis