Congratulations, everyone. We’ve successfully bush wacked our way through the jungle of back to school basics with minimal casualties. (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘Savings’
Back To School At A Bargain: Part 1
When turtlenecks replace tank tops, you know the seasons are changing. Autumn is just around the corner (I’m sorry, I had to say it!), and that means one thing for thousands of children and adults of all ages: back to school. For many, back to school also means a fun shopping trip for some new duds and a stop at the department store for shiny new paperclips.
With the purse strings still a bit on the tight side, I thought it might be nice to share some ideas on how to prepare for school without blowing up your piggybank.
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Some Books For Your Looks
Don't just browse and blog...Read!
Bonjour!
As you all know, I’m an author. When I was 17, I started writing a book about the life of a teenager and continued writing until my first couple years in university. I honestly got to about 60 pages until I abandoned the endeavour I knew I would never complete. So I guess that doesn’t make me an author at all. (more…)
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Subway Is My Saviour
So, not only do we have a long-weekend coming up, (can I get a WOOHOO!?) we also have 60% off Via Rail tickets, some good cottaging weather in the forecast, and in Toronto, a garbage strike that is finally coming to an end! In other words it’s time to celebrate non?
With these kinds of weekends in the works, it becomes very easy to blow money. My Solution of the day: Splurge on a fun weekend, but when it comes to food on the go, just pick up some cheap and delicious Subway! Check out why…
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Very Important Stuff: Part I
I often find myself getting my paycheck and pretty much having nothing left over from it. It’s like I have already spent everything. I mean, with my subscriptions, bills, and planned activity or two, there is nothing left to save. I found this article from Cheaplee that talks about how we create a financial bubble in our life, and how we can save successfully. (more…)
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When Re-Gifting Is Not An Option
I don’t know about you guys but doesn’t it seem like there are A LOT of birthdays during the summer months!? (Okay, I’m totally just jealous because I have a September birthday and therefore always ended up with school supplies as bday gifts… boooo! thanx mom)
I totally get it though… What better way to keep warm during those harsh Canadian winter nights than to hang out under your duvet and make some summer babies right? hehe. It’s true though! Do the math… 
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Paint Yourself Thrifty
If there’s something that making art teaches us—it’s patience. With less money to go around these days, we have to be a bit more creative with how we spend. That might mean that you might not be able dish out for expensive digital-manipulation programs like Photoshop, but my art-hero for today, Stanley William Moore II, shows you that patience goes a long way with very little. He made this pic using only MS Paint! Yeah, you know that FREE program that comes with your PC? This is only a portion of the picture, check out the rest here. Scroll down to “Ultimate MS Paint”. Totally bananas, isn’t it? If you love Macs, here’s the Mac equivalent.
Ok, so now that I’ve pointed the way to some free stuff, guess what? Here’s more! This site has some great tips and links to free software, so that the next time you post pics to your Facebook profile, your friends don’t think you’re a talentless loser who should stick to ordering the rounds rather than taking the group photos. See Example below. (Red-eye enhanced for dramatic effect—thanks, Paint).
So what’s the lesson? Well, if you apply a sage’s patience to your budget the way that Stanley Moore does to his art, you can still make beautiful things happen. I know I’m going to try. Stay tuned for more of my recession-themed heroes. Can I call them Recessioneroes, or is that lame? I think it’s lame… I’m taking suggestions….
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We’ve Got Ourselves A Winner. And A Blog Army.
The results are in and Waterloo’s D.J. Demers is the official Screw You Recession! Summer Intern. After having his video hand-picked as one of Richard Branson’s Fave Five and meeting with us live and in person, Demers is ready to jump head first into the Screw You Recession! world of blogs, cash-crunching, tip-gathering, and web-combing for the best recession news and cash-saving advice.
Stay tuned as D.J. starts making magic on Screw You Recession! starting next Monday morning.
But there’s more goodness. We were so pumped to see the skills, talent, hotness, and amazing creativity from some of our Summer Intern candidates that we decided we couldn’t let them go. That’s why we decided to build the Screw You Recession! Blog Army.
These guys are kickin ass and takin names. Joining D.J. in the crusade are some of your other favourite Summer Interns: George Panayotou, Thaddeus Bolton, Romi Levine, Lucas Meyer, Andrea Guernsey and Trevor McManus round out our gang of recession revolutionaries. They’ll be taking over the net with video blogs, recession tips, general money-saving craziness, and whatever other random goodness we fee like throwing your way.
Stay tuned. And if you’re the recession… take cover. Our first bombs drop next week.
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Shorts And Sports
A few weeks ago, I made the analogy that seeing a sporting event live is just not the same as watching it on TV and I immediately realized that it had been a while since I’d seen any sport live. I’m not alone, however, with attendance to sporting events declining by 40% during the recession. That’s a lot of un-eaten hot dogs (although, given the inputs to a hot dog, that’s probably a good thing). But therein lies part of the problem – when you factor in ticket prices, exorbitant concession prices and additional auxiliary charges like parking or foam fingers, a sporting event could run you some serious dime. It’s really a shame because there’s nothing quite like being intoxicated by the energy of an enthusiastic crowd and having a good laugh watching awkward couples kiss and dance for the cameras.
Kiss-cams aside, you’ll likely get plenty of excitement if you start looking at the minor league teams in your area. Sure it won’t be as skilled an affair but minor league players are essentially playing for their professional livelihood so there’s always a sense of urgency in their game. This always seems to overcome a lack of skill. What I also really enjoy about minor league sports is that you don’t need to spend much time lamenting about how much the players are earning. That might sound petty but seeing a guy strike out three times and get paid more than your annual salary to do it can really sting at a time like this. For the record, Alex Rodriguez makes $37,145.65 per at bat. Nuff Said.
Speaking of baseball, if you happen to be living near the Big Smoke, the Blue Jays are back and are providing a highly entertaining brand of baseball. Going to a Jays game has those expensive concession issues, but you can get tickets for as low as 12.00 and enjoy the day sitting in the sun sipping on your flask. Okay, so I’m not encouraging you to bring a flask because it’s not allowed but for the sake of painting a vision, let’s roll with that.  Addressing a more national audience, the CFL will be back soon and from what I found, it’s a good and cheap time. As I write this, it’s dawned on me that it would be really helpful is someone created a site that aggregated cheap sporting events (any takers?).
If spending money is entirely out of the question, the next best option is to do it yourself. There’ s nothing more free and probably gratifying than throwing the Frisbee or ball around with your friends at the park or making new friends by checking out sport networking sites like Sportaholik. With gym memberships on the decline, you’ll be surprised to find that many people are hungry for free opportunities to be active and social at the same time.
Speaking of hungry, I’m getting there but this toonie in my pocket isn’t going to get me very far….or will it? I think I have my idea for next week, see you all then.
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Nic Vargas’ Money Saving Tips
Nic Vargas, a columnist over at The Whitworthian, has some handy tips on how to save extra cash, or, as Vargas puts it, “several ways in which you can save money, so that you, too, are not forced to sell yourself into indentured servitude.”:
1. Illegally download all your music. If you illegally download two CDs a month that you would have normally purchased, you might save as much as $20 a month. With that saved money you can pick up a new hobby, like smoking or gambling.
2. Download the “how to save money” app on your Apple gadget of choice.
3. Recycle toilet paper. This option is often overlooked and it is upsetting something so simple could be overlooked.
4. Invest in something stable, like the stock market. This one is fairly self-explanatory.
5. Don’t buy profuse amounts of diamonds. This will end up costing quite a pretty penny in the long run.
6. Learn a trade, like neurosurgery or rocket science. A stacked resume can nearly guarantee you a job at Burger King.
7. If all else fails, never underestimate the power of a nice long trip to the Caribbean to help you meditate on how one can best save money.
8. Try to eat less food. Food is an expensive and ultimately a useless luxury. Though it might taste good, or fulfill some sort of primal desire, it will ultimately leave you hungry once again.
9. Write terrible lyrics, put them over terrible beats and represent your hometown to the point of absurdity. You will inevitably go double platinum and share a stage with Soulja Boy.
10. Make toast as much as possible. If ever a slice ends up looking something like Jesus, the Virgin Mary or Will Ferrell, sell it on eBay. Once finished selling, waste no time making more toast. Trust me. This works.
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