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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

5 basic money lessons I wish I learned in school

May 24, 2018

Money lessons I wish I learned in school

Considering the story behind the name of this blog, it should not surprise you to learn I love cheesy jokes.  

Dad jokes, bad puns,  jokes so stupid they’re funny — I’m here for it all. In a world where crude humour is increasingly the norm, cheesy jokes are refreshing.

And admit it: they can be pretty funny — especially ones that hit deep, like this one: 

“I’m glad I learned about parallelograms instead of how to do taxes. It really comes in handy this parallelogram season.”

I could swap out parallelograms with any number of  things I learned in grade school — how to play the recorder, the difference between a limerick and a haiku, the rules of soccer baseball. These things were useless to me then and remain useless to me now.

Meanwhile, important life skills — including those related to money management –were left largely up to me to figure out on my own. 

Needless to say, the list of things I wish I had learned in school about personal finance is long.

Continue Reading

Posted by Tara Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Personal Finance Discussions Tagged: credit card, debt, debt-free journey, financial lessons, income tax, life lessons, saving money, student loan

Why we prioritize giving on the debt-free journey

May 22, 2018

Giving: why we do it even though we're in debt

I went through my first income tax audit last year.

The letter arrived months after we received our return. I assumed the review was triggered because I claimed some of my husband’s education credits for the first time.

I was half correct.

They wanted the paperwork for the credits, but they also wanted something else: our charitable giving receipts.

Canada offers a very generous tax credit to those who give money to charity. For us, this has huge implications for our taxes, often playing a key role in the end result: a return. 

But while the tax benefits are a nice bonus, that’s not why we give.

Continue Reading

Posted by Tara Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Personal Finance Discussions Tagged: charitable giving, debt, debt-free journey, giving

Why I still buy takeout coffee (+ tips to save at Starbucks)

May 17, 2018

Coffee: waste or worth it?

Paying off debt requires sacrifice.

As the saying goes, you can’t eat your cake and have it, too. It’s hard to make progress paying off debt if you’re spending money on things you can’t afford.

And let’s face it: when you’re facing down five-figures of student loan debt, you can’t afford a heck of a lot.

Of course, we need to spend some money. We still need to eat, to have a roof over our heads, to have clothes to wear. Those aren’t exactly optional expenses.

But many are. And those deserve careful analysis.

We have trimmed our budget significantly as part of our debt-free journey. At this point, most of our budget lines are essentials.

Most. Not all.

There are some things we choose to spend on for not other reason than because we enjoy them.

For me, the occasional Starbucks drink is one of those things

Continue Reading

Posted by Tara Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Personal Finance Discussions Tagged: coffee, debt, debt-free journey, starbucks, takeout coffee

How to make the most of a financial windfall

May 3, 2018

Make the most of financial windfalls with one tip

A bonus at work, an inheritance, a lottery win — a financial windfall can come in many different forms but one thing they all have in common is that they can have a huge impact on the life of the recipient.

Transparency is important at Our Bill Pickle. That’s why I used my first post to talk about the financial privileges that have allowed us to get ahead on the debt-free journey.

But privilege isn’t the only thing that has helped us.

Continue Reading

Posted by Tara Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Personal Finance Discussions Tagged: financial lessons, financial planning, managing money, personal finance, windfall

Owning our financial privilege

May 1, 2018

Financial privilege: why honesty matters if you blog about money

I remember when I realized how it’s important to own your financial privilege if you write about money on the internet.

The headline drew me in right away with its promise to explain how the writer saved a large sum of money while earning a very low wage. Who wouldn’t want to check that out?

I clicked read more.

The writing was solid and the steps the writer took to save money made sense.

Still, I felt like something was missing as I read. 

Fourteen paragraphs in, I found it.Continue Reading

Posted by Tara Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Personal Finance Discussions Tagged: debt, debt-free journey, financial freedom, financial independence, financial privilege, personal finance, student loan

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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.

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