I was out cutting the grass with our push mower and it got me thinking. I love my push mower, 100% muscle powered. It never needs gas, just a little maintenance once a year.
Last year the Wooly In Laws gave us their old lawn mower. The gas powered mower needs a part and it has sat in the garage for about 6 months. I appreciate the generosity but could care less if it gets fixed because I am happy without it. The got rid of the mower because Mr Wooly's Dad has had heart problems and they wanted a self-propelled mower.
Both Mr Wooly and I have very generous parents and we are very lucky. However we certainly are our parents children when it comes to money. I am back on my way to being more frugal, counting pennies, saving, buying items only when they were needed, but still making purchases which enhance life (my parents love their vacations) as long as you don't go into debt. Mr Wooly grew up in a household where "feast or famine" was common, and when it is feast time he likes to spend as a treat for making it through the harder times.
Back to the lawn mowers- I am happy using what we have, but Mr Wooly wanted the gas mower. It kind of illustrates our differences :) Except that the gas mower doesn't work!! Did that analogy work? I don't know, it made sense when I was pushing the mower
I should say that Mr Wooly and I are much more at peace lately with money, maybe because the creditors aren't breathing down our necks anymore! Financial contentment in a marriage is certainly crucial, and I don't think either of us realized this before we got married two years ago. Also, learning to talk about money helps, and we are still working on being better communicators.
Lovely to see another Canadian pf blogger, all the way on the other side of Canada!
The HSBC promotion is on until October 10. And the ING direct one is only on until August 31. After that, they both go down to 3.50% and that is when I'll be making a dash back to PC Financial at 4.00%, lol!
Actually, funny enough, I went in to CIBC to ask them about mutual funds about a year ago. The financial advisor there told me to keep my cash in my savings as is since I have school to pay for. There is no point in moving it into mutual funds at this point in my life, according to him. But of course, I'll keep looking into it anyway. I've read about mutual funds and they peaked my interest but they seem like a long term kind of thing.