It was day 30 of our media fast. Daniel and I were sitting on our living room couch sharing an egg tart. In between every other nibble of egg tart, we’d our sip tea- my usual Harney and Son’s Paris Blend for me, some coconut one from Tealish for him. Daniel was working on a post for HowToSaveMoney while I flipped through the latest book I was reading- the ninth or tenth one since the start of the month. Music from Bahamas, an artist I discovered during our vacation in Prince Edward County, played in the background.

The dessert may change and sometimes we may find ourselves on the bed rather than the couch, but the most evenings during our media fast was similar in nature: quiet, relaxing, productive. Continue Reading

The first thing I do each morning is reach for Daniel’s cell phone, which we use as an alarm, and check Instagram. I don’t even bother putting on my glasses; I squint at the tiny screen to view all the new photographs posted since I last checked (which was probably no more than eight hours ago before bedtime). I’ve been obsessed with the platform since discovering it a couple months ago. I have never been huge social media user, but I LOVE Instagram; love so much, it is the first thing I want to see in the morning. Continue Reading

A couple weeks ago, we tallied up our expenses for the beginning of April to track our progress in our No-Spend challenge. We had an average spend rate of $18/day and 4 no-spend days. Not bad. We patted ourselves on the back. The last two weeks saw a shift in our spending habits and we found ourselves taking out our wallets more often. We spent an additional $925, bringing the monthly total spend on un-necessities and variable expenses (i.e. ones which we have control over on a monthly basis) to $1199 for the month with 13 no-spend days over a span of 30 days. Continue Reading

The Scenario

I signed up for a 5K run earlier this year. I’m not quite sure what possessed me to do so, but I thought it’d be fun; I even convinced friends and family to join me. Some family, namely my sister, laughed at me, repeatedly reminding me that I haven’t run since…well, playing tag in grade school? She is right; I don’t even own a pair of running shoes. In my defence, it was January at the time and I was certain that I would be in shape by the time May rolled around- five months later. Suffice it to say, I clearly haven’t started training for the 5K. Chalk it up to the delusional thinking of a grade A procrastinator.

Now I’m in panic mode. There are only 30 days left! Continue Reading

At the beginning of the month we set our sights on minimizing the amount we spend to stop and reflect on how thoughtless consumption can have a negative impact on our everyday. Denis Diderot was gifted an elegant new robe that led him to despise the rest of his belongings. He eventually replaced all his stuff with nicer items to match his robe- leaving him depressed and in debt. We don’t want to follow in his footsteps. Well, the month’s halfway through and I think we’re doing pretty well with holding off on the non-essentials. Continue Reading