This Was (Almost) An Expensive Mistake 😅

Good morning, and welcome to the first day of a new month (we literally had to double check the calendar to confirm that it’s already March 1st?!).

We’re back with another issue of Money Convos with Steph & Den, and we have some fun updates - and of course useful money tips and news - for you.

Here’s what’s up in this copy 🤑🗞

• We’re both officially paying $0/month for our chequing accounts 

• Has Steph stuck to her $0 UberEats goal for the second month in a row? 👀

• New money trend alert 🚨

• We want to speak to you IRL 

• How to negotiate your recurring bills (script included!)

Money Convo Of The Month

Why We Switched To A No Fee Chequing Account

Do you pay a fee for your chequing account? 👀 (FYI - if you’re from the US, chequing = checking) 

Steph and I have been talking about this for a long time (seriously - I switched banks back in 2018 after realizing that mine was charging me $15/month just to keep a few hundred dollars in my chequing account, which to me was just ridiculous). Noticing that fee was a huge eye opener, and up until that point, I had no idea there were other options (and for someone who, at the time, barely had any money, it just didn’t make sense that any of it would have to go to the bank in the form of a fee).

Steph’s been meaning to make the switch for years now, and guess what… last month, she finally did it! She’s now a part of the no fee banking club (yay!) 🎉👏🏿

Before I get into the details on her switch, I want to mention that a chequing account is probably the first account that you ever opened up, and for a lot of us, you either didn't have a say (because you were a kid), or you didn’t know that there were other options (like me pre-2018). 

See, when most people hear the word ‘bank’ - no matter where you live - there’s a symbol, logo or colour that pops into your mind, and it’s usually a marker for one of the big banks. These companies literally spend billions of dollars a year on marketing in order to make that happen, so for the most part, we can’t solely blame ourselves for our ridiculous levels of brand loyalty. I literally remember that when I was growing up, my dad would be so frustrated with his monthly fees at the bank, but when anyone asked him which bank was best, he would instinctively say [insert bank name here], they’re the largest in the country (seriously, that’s a true story)!  

Now, Steph has also been with one of the big banks for as long as she can remember, and after getting past the typical concerns about switching (see below), she was still stalling due to laziness and just putting it off (I just asked her why it took so long and that’s literally what she said). Now, her chequing account was pretty basic and was only charging her $3.95/month whenever she would dip below the $4,000 minimum balance, so it didn’t feel like a lot - but it still added up. 

List of concerns about switching banks (as mentioned above) + the reality: 

• Will it be an easy / seamless process? Yes!

• Is my money going to be safe? Yes - if you pick a federally insured option (there’s many)!

• What happens if I want a mortgage with a big bank? Banks love new customers!

Anyways, the reason she decided to finally press the sign up button ultimately came down to timing and a good deal. 

So, now we both officially use the Simplii Financial No-Fee Chequing Account - it covers everything we’re looking for, including: 

• No monthly fee

• No minimum balance

• Unlimited transactions and e-Transfers

• Access to CIBC ATMs

• A physical debit Mastercard  

If you’re interested in opening a chequing account with Simplii Financial, they have a promotion running until October 31st, 2024 where you can earn $400 for opening an account and setting up a direct deposit. You can find all of the details here. 

$0 UberEats Challenge - Steph’s Monthly Update

I’ve officially managed to not order any takeout for two months in a row (round of applause, please!). I did the calculations to see how much money I’ve saved so far this year, and here are the results.

Last year I spent an average of $392/month on eating out (at least half of that figure was put towards ordering from delivery apps), and an average of $757/month on food in general (eating out, groceries, and coffee). Too high for me!

In January, I spent a total of $436.83 on food, and in February I spent a total of $565.24 on food. That means I’ve saved over $500 in two months by eliminating takeout. 

I have noticed that my total grocery bill has gone up slightly (I went over budget both months, spending about $375/month in January and February), but I think that largely has to do with the fact that we haven’t done a Costco bulk run in a number of months. We plan on doing that soon, so we can compare how much that decreases our total grocery cost in the coming months!

New Trend Alert - Loud Budgeting Is Here

Speaking of bringing down expenses - have you heard of ‘loud budgeting’? 📢

Loud Budgeting = Being open and honest about your finances with the people around you, to help keep you accountable with your money goals.

We posted this video in February sharing our tips for using loud budgeting, specifically when trying to balance sticking to your budget while still seeing your friends and family.  

Here are our key tips - 

• Opt for a coffee date - it’s fun, easy to spend hours doing, but still costs less than $10! 

• Hang out at someone’s house - I’m in a monthly book club, which is low-cost and still really fun

• Spend intentionally, and fit more expensive activities into your budget in advance - and remember that you might have to be the one who suggests lower cost options!

We Want To Speak To You!

Interested in hearing us talk about money IRL? We’d love to speak at your next event! 🗣

One of our goals for 2024 is to speak to our audience in person more often. If you, your company, or anyone you know is hosting an event and looking for speakers to talk about all things money, please reach out to us via email.

How To Decrease Your Internet Bill By 50%

Did you know that you can negotiate your internet bill? 🤔

Last month, we promised to share exactly how we brought our internet bill down from $120/month to $60/month. 

Typically, when you first sign up with an internet provider (or phone provider - this isn’t exclusive to internet bills!), you get a ‘new customer promotion’ - aka for your first year of service, you pay a competitive price. Then, when the one year promotion is up, you’re automatically transitioned to the ‘standard price’, which can be as high as double your current monthly cost. 

When this first happened to us, we called our internet provider to see if they could reduce the cost - and the call went something like this (we run through a rough ‘script’ in that video!). 

Now we call every year when our one year promotion is up.