When I was freshly separated I was under terrible stress and in extreme emotional pain. My days were consumed with anger and sadness and I remember wondering if anything could be worse than going through a divorce. According to the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale, death of a spouse tops out as the most stressful known [...]
I recently went to the Economic Update that CPABC (that's Chartered Professional Accountants of BC) puts on every year. I go every year as it is free professional development (well, almost free as it consumes my time) and I always think that I might learn something. This year I learned that the Economic Update works [...]
"People turn up in your life when you need them." This was said to me by someone recently and she was essentially predicting her appearance in my life. At the time of our meeting, I was actually thinking: "I do not need this person at all in my life." She blew in the door and [...]
Empathy is an interesting thing. I've always felt like I have a bit too much of it. I could easily empathize with someone who was in pain and I would spend a good chunk of my time figuring out how to help that person. If I couldn't help them, I would feel bad. I always thought my [...]
Divorce is usually the end result of a typical progression of circumstances. It usually goes like this: You get married You begin navigating your married life with your partner You and your partner start experiencing challenging life circumstances You and your partner begin to realize you approach life's challenges differently You attempt to negotiate with [...]
When I realized my marriage was over, one of the first things I started thinking about was how my life was going to change and not only change, but change for the worse. Everything was going to be harder. I was becoming a single parent for half my waking hours and I was starting that [...]
I hate spending money. My Scottish-Dutch genetic makeup combined with my upbringing in a Depression impacted family has turned me into a person that gets anxious any time I head to the cash register. You know how some people call shopping “retail therapy”? Well, shopping has never been that for me. The act of spending [...]
Federal Children's Fitness Amount Tax Credit This is the exciting one. This credit has become a refundable credit for the 2015 and subsequent tax years. In prior years, it was non-refundable, that is, it could reduce your taxes owing, but you would not get anything back if you had zero taxes owing. By being refundable, [...]
When I was growing up, I was always told that I was responsible for paying for my own university education. My parents wanted me to go to university, but they also wanted me to start learning how to be financially independent. Actually, I’m not sure if it was a conscious decision on their part to [...]
I keep a file with half started blog posts and today I was searching around for a post to finalize and I opened this one: “Working From Home with Kids” and surprise surprise, it was blank. I think that says it all. It is challenging to work from home when your kids are home [...]