Literally all posts.

Voting with your dollars is the concept that every time you buy something, you're casting a vote for that business existing. How you choose to spend your money has always mattered, but it matters even more now—both for you personally, and for the world. For you...

Some of the furniture in this post was provided by Article for review purposes. After living through a kitchen renovation last year, updating our living room was the last thing on my mind. Never mind that we were still using my husband’s old leather couch from his...

There's a big part of the personal finance world that gets really up in arms (downright Grinchy!) about one of the biggest shopping events of the year: Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Yours truly is not one of them, and while you won't catch me standing in line outside...

If you’re going to do a kitchen reno, how much does an IKEA kitchen cost? This post breaks down everything we spent on our new IKEA kitchen, and where we saved money.

If you’ve read some of my past posts about planning our wedding, you know that we had three big priorities going into the whole process. Hosting our friends and family for a meal. A stress-free planning process. Staying out of debt. I’ve talked at length about how...

When you’re learning how to manage your finances, it’s easy to look back at past behaviour, and past spending patterns, and cringe a little bit (or a lot bit, depending on the situation). I know, because earlier this year, I went through my archives as part of...

As part of preparing my session for the Canadian Financial Summit, on how to plan and finance a "medium-budget" wedding, I did a quick pie chart to break down how much we spent on each category. Similar to the One Minute Budget, and percentage-based budgets in...

Weddings are not cheap (usually). Travel is not cheap (usually, unless you’re a travel hacker extraordinaire, which I am not). When you’re planning a honeymoon, aka travel that typically happens right after a wedding, you’re likely looking at a very not-cheap few...

Have you ever completely blown your budget because of a splurge you really wanted—and then felt horribly guilty about it? I'll wait while everyone admits to themselves that yes, we've all done this, because we're human. Saying you've never done this either means...

In honour of the one-year anniversary of moving into our house (this Friday!) I wanted to share some thoughts I have about our first year in the house has been like, and on home ownership in general.  The type of house you buy will impact your lifestyle a lot. The...

You would think, for all the articles I’ve written about tracking your spending, that I wouldn’t be so surprised at the power of tracking, right? Like “Desirae, you’ve been talking about this for almost three years. You are the annoying cheerleader for tracking that...

For such a big purchase, I find that people don't talk all that much about whether or not you can actually afford a car—whether it's how much car you can afford, or affordability rules, or really anything along those lines. Like sure, judge me all you want for...

This show isn’t all about warm fuzzy feelings (even though it’s also totally about that.) There are some key things you can learn about spending money from the new season of Queer Eye.

There’s a lot of hate around Black Friday Cyber Monday in personal finance circles, but I’m not here for it. I think that there are a lot of ways to approach this shopping season that are totally A-OK.

If you have a car, you definitely fill it up—but did you know there’s a way to save money on every purchase you make at the gas station (in Canada)? Check out how you can do it, no new loyalty cards required.

Looking for a list of things you should tackle before you buy a house? Step right up pals, because I did all the heavy lifting for you. Here are the top five things you need to tackle before you buy a house.

Tracking my spending has been the most powerful thing I’ve ever done for my money, and it’s honestly not even close. Here’s how you can do it yourself—plus, you can snag the spreadsheet I use and love.

If you need to (or want to) explore your credit card options, you might think that asking friends if they like their credit card is the right question. Spoiler alert: it’s not, and isn’t how you should look for a card. Here’s why.

I learned a lot during the first year I tracked my spending – some good things, some uh… not so good. But at the end of the day, the lessons were so worth it. If you’re thinking of tracking your spending, here’s what you might get out of it.

Wondering how much – like, to the penny – I spent on my luxury dog this year? (Luxury because of his costs, not his breed, lol.) Here’s the full breakdown based on a year of tracking my spending.

Trimming your cell phone bill is a great way to save money every month – this collab with Public Mobile can help you do it.

You deserve time off to do the things you like, no matter what they are. There’s nothing inherently wrong with however you like to spend your free time.

There’s a right way and a wrong way to choose and manage your credit cards – and LOLOLOL I did it the wrong way for a heckin’ long time. Learn from my mistakes right this way.

If you’re tracking your spending this month, and you’ve been studiously avoiding your spreadsheet because you know you’re over budget already? This is exactly how to handle it productively.

A gym membership is one of those weird things when it comes to your money. It can be a totally useless expense, or it can be the best money you spend every month.

Thinking about getting a pet with your significant other? Here’s what you two need to discuss first – and they are not optional.

If you’re thinking about getting a dog, you’ve probably heard people say dogs are expensive. I heard the same thing before getting one, but holy heck, people are not joking. Here’s how much our doggo costs us each month.

Staying in a super-luxury hotel taught me a few key lessons about money, and how I want to spend it.

If you’re coming up to an expensive holiday season, DIY-ing some gifts can be a big help to stay within your budget.

The easiest way to stay within your holiday spending limit is to set one in the first place. Here’s how to do it based on your unique financial and holiday situation.

You know what will be a bigger help to your holiday budget than almost anything else? Talking openly about it with your loved ones. (You can do it, I promise.)

The day after Black Friday Cyber Monday is Giving Tuesday – and in case you hadn’t heard of it, here’s how to make the most of it.

I’ve found my share of pre-owned greatness, and this post breaks down the places and things I’ve found second-hand (that are just as good, if not better, than buying new!)

This one time, I went full Steve Jobs and decided to wear the same thing every day to work. Here’s why, what happened, and how much it cost (and yes, I’m a woman, and yes, it is possible for us to do this too).