It's about to get more expensive to live in the city of Montreal. This was the lead-in last week to a story posted on ctvmontreal.ca about the budget hikes which will be implemented across the island of Montreal in 2011. Nice. Property taxes are increasing (a substantial 4.8% in our borough), in part due to large property value assessment increases, and we will be introduced to a new vehicle registration tax. Sweet.
So what is a nice nuclear family to do? We considered marching to city hall and giving someone heck. We thought of starting a petition stating that we, the undersigned citizens, were against said tax increases and as a result, would not pay up. We contemplated moving. Although we may still follow through on our first two ideas, this nuclear family is not naive; we know that unless we wake to a state of anarchy, our taxes will increase. Taxes are going up, cost of living is going up, and yet we stay, because there really is no better city in which to live - besides, it's not like the rest of the world is basking in financial stability. So, instead of commiserating over things we cannot change, we've decided to focus on the things that we can.
And that brings us to this, the beginning of our tight lifestyle. We have spent years spending freely and thoughtlessly, secure in the knowledge that we both have job security and good, stable incomes. As a result, we often wonder: "but...where did the money go?" (Frugal Fred would like to point out that this question is easily answered by taking a peek into the shoe closet - causing Economia Nia to kick him in the shins with her designer heels). Seriously though, it is easy to say that we will spend less money by shopping less, or shopping less extravagantly, but the real challenge is to save daily, to cut costs in ways that are less obvious. Changes that can positively impact any household, regardless of income or spending patterns. We will spend this first week closely tracking our spending habits, without making any changes to our typical routine. Then we have some "experiments" that we're going to try out - and we'll both give you our perceptions of how they worked out (or didn't). So, come along and follow us...who knows, maybe cheap can be cool.
xoxo
Economia Nia and Frugal Freddie
a.k.a. The Tightwads
Ok, here I go again.
ReplyDeleteHmm, trying to remember what I was trying to say earlier, before I created ANOTHER profile for your blog. LOL
"I suck at comments, but I wanted to be the first.
You guys make me laugh! I will anxiously be waiting to hear all about your experiments. A buck saved, is....well, a buck saved!
BTW, there are excellent shopping web sites, that discount designer shoes :)"