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Our Bill Pickle

real life with (very) real debt

Five ways I would use a stimulus cheque

May 19, 2020

Five ways I would spend a $1,200 stimulus cheque

How would I spent a stimulus cheque?

Over the last few weeks, there has been a lot of discussion about the American government’s economic stimulus package. Both in the blog world and on social media, I’ve read a lot of different accounts from individuals about how they’ve spent or plan to spend the money.

Reading these accounts made me wonder: what would I do with an extra $1,200?

After spending some time thinking about it, here’s what I can up with.

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Posted by Tara 7 Comments
Filed Under: Lifestyle Tagged: charitable giving, COVID-19, intentional spending, personal spending allowance, saving money, spending money, stimulus cheque

Exactly what we did with our tax refund this year

April 7, 2020

How we spent our tax refund this year (instead of paying back debt)

How should we spend our tax refund this year? It’s a question I find myself asking every spring as I finish keying in our slips and receipts and prepare to netfile.

It’s nerdy, but I really enjoy doing our taxes. I started doing ours three years ago and while there was a small learning curve, I’m glad I took the time to work through it. I still have to look things up sometimes, but for the most part, I feel pretty confident filing our taxes on my own.

But let’s be honest: my favourite part of doing my taxes is spending the refund.

Here’s how we spent our 2019 refund.

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Posted by Tara 10 Comments
Filed Under: Lifestyle Tagged: debt-free journey, EQ Bank, financial goals, homeownership, income tax, personal spending allowance, simple tax, tax refund, tax season

Why we include personal allowances in our budget

March 26, 2019

Why we included a personal allowance in our budget

When it comes to our budget, I run a fairly tight ship.

A lot of this has to do with my personality. I am a goal-driven person and that impacts the way I approach our finances. Most of the time, this is a good thing.

Other times, it’s can be a little problematic – especially when Jeff and I disagree on a financial matter.

This does not happen often and I am grateful for this because…well, who likes to disagree with their spouse?

That said, it’s not always a bad thing to disagree with your spouse – as long as you’re committed to seeing it through to a resolution. Disagreement can lead to discussion, and discussion can lead to stronger, better ideas.

For example, discussion over a disagreement was what led to the creation of a line that has made a huge difference in our budget: the personal allowance line.

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Posted by Tara 2 Comments
Filed Under: Budgeting Tagged: debt-free journey, personal spending allowance, saving money, self-care

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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