April 2012 - Page 3 of 3 - The Outlier Model

Save money: Brew Beer! (Part 1)

brew beer, brew your own beer, beer in a glass, beer, alcoholic drinks, alcoholic beverage

Brian / April 10th, 2012 / 4 Comments

British Columbia has the highest alcohol and liquor taxes in all of North America – A depressing thought, given that I work in the industry part time. On the bright side, this gives me access to a lot of great beer and wine that I wouldn’t necessarily have found otherwise. Unfortunately, good beer costs more! I’m now accustomed to drinking fine craft beer without the budget to...

Posted in: Entertainment and Leisure, Life Hacks, Minimalism and Frugality Tagged with: brewing beer, craft beer, frugal, how to make beer, u-brew

Updates: April 1 – 7

Brian / April 7th, 2012 / 4 Comments

I’m pretty impressed with myself right now. Last week, I mentioned that I was doing some do it yourself bike repairs. It took a little longer to get around to, but I’ve successfully replaced four brake pads and a chain! It really doesn’t sound impressive, but when you’re able to do something for the first time, it’s very satisfying. In the past, I would have taken my bike...

Posted in: Weekly Updates Tagged with: beans, bike repairs, budget, investing, mystery shopping

Revisiting the 2012 financial goals

2012 financial goals, financial goals, financial expectations

CF / April 5th, 2012 / 1 Comment

Earlier this year, Brian discussed our 2012 financial goals. We try to set our financial goals each year. It gives us something concrete to work towards and when you complete a goal, it feels great. At the time, I wasn’t sure where I would be employed or even IF I would be employed. Kind of hard to set goals when there is a lot of uncertainty! We did our best and I felt like I set some...

Posted in: Money Tagged with: Emergency fund, financial goals, net worth, pension, retirement, RRSP

End of season joy

new pair of boots, black boots, boots, boots shopping

CF / April 3rd, 2012 / No Comments

Back in the fall of 2011, I was looking for a new pair of boots. I’m more of a boot person than a shoe person. I had several pairs at home in various states of decay. One was a cheaper “pleather” pair in which the plastic part of the pleather was now peeling up. It was not repairable any more since the fabric itself was ripped. I had another 4 year-old pair of heeled boots...

Posted in: Money Tagged with: boots, budget, clothes, clothing fund, end of season sales, frugal, shopping