This is where your finance takes place

The first week of October is behind us and we are really starting to feel the season switch to fall outside. It’s time to pick up the leaves and prepare for Halloween. My two years old son will have a blast on that day! I just can’t wait to see his face when he will receive all those candies. As he is usually not allowed to eat much sugar, this will probably come close to Christmas in term of satisfaction for him! I like Halloween, it’s a nice event where it doesn’t cost much (unless you exaggerate with the decorations) to have fun.

It is the right time to buy a new car

As I live only 2hrs away from Burlington and the Canadian Dollar keeps on crawling to the top, many newspaper and TV shows compared the price between cars on my side of the border to our southern friend. It seems that you can get very good deals if you cross the borders. Some US dealerships are well aware of this and make the transaction with the custom agency pretty smooth. Everything is prepared upfront and you just have to pick up your car at the border. Here are some great examples on how much you could save by driving a few hours down south:

Running after money

I have a gym membership since 2004. One of my colleagues works out at the same place as I do but gets a corporate rebate from our mutual employer. I then ask the gym to get the rebate as well and I was not even asking for the years before. They told me I need some document signed by my human resources. I called them; they don’t have such agreement with this gym franchise. Then, I am not only running on the treadmill but also after this stupid corporate rebate. It’s about eight bucks a month but it would help to achieve my $1,500 goal. Anyway, it seems to get a bit complicated so I don’t know if I’ll continue digging for this one… Sometimes you waste more energy than you save money!

Carnival picks

It was another busy week over financial carnivals. Carnivals have definitely helped my blog grow over the past months. This week, Ask Mr. Credit did an amazing job hosting the Carnival of personal finance Columbus day edition, My Retirement Blog presented The Festival of Frugality, Business Pundit took care of the Carnival of the Capitalist while Moolanomy did a great job with the Carnival of debt reduction. Here’s my top three for this week:

#3 How to Fight Back Against Debt Collectors Who Try to Collect Expired Debt by Finance is Personal. You are being chased by the ghost of your bad debts? Finance is Personal is offering some good tricks to get away from them.

#2 Saving Strategy: Brown Bag Your Lunch! by Million Dollar Journey. I know somebody that’s will try to buy his bmer with this strategy. Eating out downtown is really expensive!

#1 Why the Rich Get Richer: An Entirely Different Perspective by The Digerati Life. Another great article by The Digerati Life where she explains why rich people know how to grow their wallet. She also explain how to channel envy into a more positive approach.