Our Bill Pickle

real life with (very) real debt

Five things that helped me adjust to working from home

Transitioning from an office job to working from home? Here are five tips to help make the adjustment.

It’s hard to believe we are coming up on the end of our sixth week working from home.

The world has changed so much, so quickly over that period of time. I think it’s fair to say this is not something anyone saw coming when we rang in 2020 in January.

I am incredibly grateful to work in a job where working from home is possible. That said, transitioning from an office job to working from home has been an interesting experience.

Today, I wanted to share some of the things I have learned through that transition.

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Dear Grade 12 Me: what I would tell my younger self about money (and life)

Dear Grade 12 Me: Life lessons I wish I learned at 17 years old

Dear Grade 12 Me,

Hey!  It’s me, coming to you live from about 12 years into the future.

Let me start by saying this: your life looks a lot different than it does right now. Here’s a brief overview of what transpired to get you where you are today:

You accepted that scholarship and moved to a new province you now call home.

You went to an incredible university, where you wrote a lot of papers, made a lot of friends and learned a ton, inside and outside the classroom.

This includes important lessons about your standards – what you will and will not accept from those in your life.

After graduating, you immediately went to work in your field. You loved it. You work somewhere new now, in a different, but related area and you love this gig, too.

You’re still best friends with the girl you met online when you were 16 and you married the boy who kissed you on the corner of your street that night in January.

You live a good life. Truly.

But that’s not what I want to talk about today, Grade 12 Me. No, today I want to talk to you about something you worry about, even if you won’t say it out loud.

Money.

You likely think this is pointless. Why bother talking about something you don’t have, right? Sure, you have a part-time job bagging groceries and some savings but reality is you’re not exactly sure how to make the dreams you have for the future a reality when all you’ve ever known is being broke.  I get that.

But you know what they say about hindsight. So, Grade 12 Me, as you begin the last chapter of this first book of your life, I want to share with you some advice from my 20/20 vantage point.

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Life Lesson: Comparison is the thief of joy

Life Lesson: Comparison is the thief of joy

One thing I value a great deal is transparency.  In writing Our Bill Pickle, I try to provide an honest reflection of whatever it is I’m writing about, whether it’s our budget, how we planned our debt-free wedding, or how we paid off our car 14 months early.

I try to be upfront about where we’re coming from, about the privileges that let us do the things we do and the challenges that we face. I want to be authentic and relatable; this post is born out of that place.

Things are about to get a little vulnerable here, but I think this is something that might resonate.

Next month, I will turn 29. One year out from 30.

I  thought I would be further along in life at this point.

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More money won’t give you financial freedom

What is the key to financial freedom? Spoiler alert: it's not money!

I used to think more money was the key to financial freedom. 

It makes sense, right? In theory, the more money you have coming in, the more equipped you are to cover your expenses — and the more likely you are to be able to do that and still have money in the bank after the fact.

That’s what financial freedom is about, right?

That might be true for some, but the more I learn about money, the more I am coming to understand that isn’t a universal truth.

More money can help. But financial freedom is bigger than that. 

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Four important lessons my first car taught me

My first car taught me four important lessons

Recently, I shared about how we paid off our car 14 months early.

The process of buying Red the Corolla was full of firsts: first time visiting a dealership, first time taking a test drive and first time negotiating with a salesman.

But Red the Corolla is not my first car. 

That distinct honour goes to the Green Beast, a 14-year-old Subaru.

A heavy car, equipped with all-wheel drive and heated seats, the Green Beast drove like a dream, especially in the winter. Sitting behind the wheel, I felt like I could drive through anything.

I loved my first car most of the time.

The rest of the time was spent learning a lot of lessons about car ownership the hard way.

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