your-money

A few years ago, my sister and her family sold their house in Toronto and moved to a small town about two and a half hours away. They traded city life for a cheaper house, a laid-back lifestyle and more open spaces for their kids to play in. Since my sister and I are really close, she wants us to move out there too.

This morning I actually set out to write a blog post on how our new debt diet is making my husband and I a bit thinner (eating all that expensive takeout really packed on the pounds!). But then a friend of mine posted a link to this article on Facebook. A new research paper published in the Journal of Applied Psychology finds that skinny women earn way more in the workplace their “average weight” counterparts. Women who are very thin earn nearly $22,000 more. Skinny figure = fatter paycheque.

Today people seem to spend hundreds of dollars to fete their offspring with bouncy castles, elaborate themed cakes and live entertainment. There are cheaper alternatives and you can hold a traditional kids’ birthday party for under $50 with a little planning and know-how.

I wrote this post about how we’re managing our expectations about our retirement lifestyle based on what we can afford to save (no, I won’t be the lady on the sailboat!) - now, we’re managing our expectations about what our house can and should do for us.

According to the 2011 Global Customer Service Barometer put out by American Express, 61% of us have lost our temper with customer service representatives – and most of us would prefer to go on holiday with our in-laws than spend time dealing with customer service departments.