Financial New Year’s Resolutions for All!

How is your financial state at the end of 2021? Have you already made unreasonable resolutions to yourself to get things back under control next year? Do you have a plan? With COVID still with us in the form of the Omicron Variant, these last two years looks more and more like being ‘the norm’ for everyday life, but some of the restrictions we have become accustomed to could actually be your financial saviour and a great way to get your expenses more aligned with your expenses:

Rethinking Our Commute

How long has your car spent on the driveway this year? Have you gotten more used to commuting by Public Transit when you weren’t remote working? If there is one good thing about the Pandemic, it’s that more people are travelling by transit, when they realize they didn’t want to pay all of the Gas and Parking expenses required just to travel downtown for one or two days per week. This rise in ridership has led to a more fixed timetable and overall better service. All the buses and trains are now being disinfected often, everyone wears a mask and – as most of the ridership are parents – almost everyone can be counted on be vaccinated.

Sell the car, put those funds toward monthly transit passes, and some more weather-specific wardrobe items and you will be amazed at how much you can save. Probably enough for some evenings out – with your transportation already covered!

In 2019, Canadian households spent on average $300 a year on public transit and $11,258 a year on vehicle expenses.

Caring for ourselves

Whether it’s learning to use a foam roller instead of paying for a massage or bravely cutting our own hair, we’ve learned in the past year that a little DIY self-care goes a long way in cutting costs as well as our own hair. There are TikTok and You Tube videos and Instagram stories available on how to perform a myriad of tasks just like these to save your expenditure on local professionals. Avoiding the spa and salon and continuing these routines at home can easily help you save hundreds of dollars a year. For example, assuming that the average hair service can cost $60 to $80, and that you’d normally get one every other month, you could save at least $360 a year just by trimming your own bangs and layers.

Brewing Great Drinks

Most of us have become accustomed to buying a coffee on the way to work. If this habit was part of your morning routine in “The Before Times,” you may have spent the past year perfecting your at-home brewing skills. You can buy a Kilo of your favourite brew for approximately $10 per week and it will last more than a month. Compare that to the $5+ you are spending per cup for your favourite Latte, and your annual savings could be over $1000! Invest in a coffee maker with those funds and teach yourself (See above about online videos) how to further cut costs by coming up with your very own brand! Plus, think of all the single-use coffee cups you would be saving from the landfill!

These three areas alone will account for many if your daily or weekly ‘everyday expenses’ but may also encourage you to be more self-sufficient in other areas that you can’t enjoy as you used to: Eating out, entertainment, and new clothes, for instance. We’ve seen how small changes in regular spending during the lockdown, like making coffee at home or cutting our own hair, can add up to big savings over time.

Some people use their savings as a way to solve these problems, but if you do not have savings, and you cannot borrow money from your close friends or family, you can easily get a pay loans no credit check from established lenders like Mega Cash Bucks. This company is quickly becoming Canada’s preferred source for financial assistance and payday loan because their practices offer the speed and flexibility you need to get payday loans. In some cases, you can have your same day loan after just 1 hour of your approval. Spend some time reading up on the Mega Cash Bucks website to see how a low value loan can be a responsible lending option after the holidays or at any other time of the year.

Check if your lender follows your province’s guidelines for rates, terms, and conditions for a personal loan. It’s an easy way to make sure the repayment is something you can easily accommodate in your budget once you distance yourself from the holidays.