January 2012 - The Outlier Model

Net worth update – 2011

money management skills, finances, handling money, Net worth update, net worth

Brian / January 31st, 2012 / 1 Comment

A year and a half ago, I started keeping track of my net worth. Since then, every month I visit all of my online banking and investment sites, collate the data and calculate my net worth using my home made excel spreadsheet. Keeping track of my net worth is extremely valuable and provides a quantifiable way to track my financial progress. As much as you can rationalise frugality, your net worth can...

Update: January 22 – 28

Brian / January 28th, 2012 / No Comments

On my way to work yesterday, I noticed the front page of the local paper – “Priced Out? Problems and Solutions for Metro Vancouver’s housing market”. This type of headline grabs my attention because I know what’s going to follow; entitled whining about how the average person can’t afford the large, multi bedroom detached house in the city that is their right by...

Posted in: General Tagged with: canadian finance carnival, festival of frugality, housing in metro vancouver, invest, pay down debt

$100 grocery budget not enough for Vancouver area politician

$100 grocery budget, grocery budget, survive on $100 grocery budget, real food

CF / January 26th, 2012 / 3 Comments

A local MLA in the local Greater Vancouver area, Jagrup Brar, has been blogging about surviving on the welfare allowance of $610 a month. It’s a publicity stunt of course – this man is a well paid public employee who unlike many welfare recipients, has no mental health issues and a loving family to return home to at the end of his adventure. While the blog is interesting for some of...

Posted in: Food and Grocery, Philosophy Tagged with: $100 grocery budget, Grocery budget, real life grocery budget, welfare budget

Real world motivation for your food budget

food budget, grocery budget, meal prep, grocery budget for 2, high cost of fresh produce, produce, cheap produce, expensive produce

CF / January 24th, 2012 / 2 Comments

We haven’t had a grocery post in a while so here’s a motivational piece for you reluctant food budgeters. For less than $25 dollars, I got enough food for over 15 meals, plus a few staples and snacks: instant noodles x5 $3.85 – cook using homemade stock, add bean sprouts and other veggies, and throw in leftover meat scraps for nutrition: 5 meals sushi roll $3.99 –...

Posted in: Food and Grocery Tagged with: Grocery budget, instant noodles, meal planning