Uh-oh. She started yelling at me “What do you mean you don’t know how to do your taxes?”
I felt like a teenager all over again.
I think of myself as being a relatively smart and reliable woman of today. I try to find “balance”. I have interests outside of my daily shuffle with the kids and hubby. I get along really well with my mother-in-law. I have great friends. I volunteer.
But I SUCK am not so good at managing my money. I’ve never had to deal with it really. I grew up with a dad who was a financial advisor and my hubby is in the investment world….always thought I was pretty fortunate to having them do my taxes and personal finances each year.
Until now.
I met Gail Vaz-Oxlade at a recent event downtown inside a bank vault. YES A VAULT! You may already have heard of Gail, the money saving expert and host of Til Debt Do Us Part and Princess.
And that’s exactly what she called me.
A PRINCESS.
But she’s not surprised. So many women admit to not really managing money well and it’s difficult these days. “I get it” she says. “There’s lots to add to our wants and needs when we go shopping.” Her advice is when you see something that is a “want” leave it for the moment and go tend to your “needs list” first. Give yourself time to think it over before making a purchase…even in the grocery store. We all know that’s a deadly place for impulse purchases.
“So, how do you manage your household time and money?”, she asks.“Do you go shopping with a list and budget?“
I’m like a doe caught in the headlights. “Well, um honestly, I don’t think I go over any budget. Um, I guess I …um, don’t have a budget when I go shopping. Um, I just buy what I need.”
“Um, um, um…ok, how about coupons?” she continues to ask.
“No. pffft…not me. I’ve tried but I’m also loyal to certain brands,” said I.
Well, actually that was OK with Gail. She explained that value for your money also means relying on brands that are trustworthy. Sometimes people purchase things on sale but may not have necessarily used the product before and turns out they don’t like it and …well, that’s money wasted.
Ok, phew!
“There are so many ways that people will say can add value to our lives but what exactly is value? Value is saving money. Yes, use coupons when you can. Use the coupons when something is on sale – that’s stretching your savings even more. But there’s no point in buying something that doesn’t do the job properly. The value of the brand is just as important.” says Gail. Heck, she even admits that there are brands that she won’t switch regardless of price because she trusts that brand.
So, why are we having this discussion in this historical Vault located at One King West (Toronto)? The event was the Church & Dwight 2012 New Product Innovation Event.
Church & Dwight is the Canadian Company that has been around for over 100 years. They have provided Canadians with extensive research and development behind trusted brands like Arm & Hammer, Gravol, OxiClean, First Response, RubA535, Nair and Trojan. All number one selling brands in their categories in Canada.
Which ties it all in. Trusted brands. Money well spent for everyday items found around our homes.
Gail Vaz-Oxlade is also the author of It’s Your Money: Becoming a Woman of Independent Means. I was given a copy at the event and it’s on my list of “MUST READS”…or she’ll kick my ass.
Hubby thinks it’s a good read too.
So, with this new empowerment let’s all work on being Queens of our households instead of Princesses, shall we?
To find out more about Gail Vaz-Oxlade please visit her website at
UrbanMoms also has a money saving blog that may be of interest to you, visit our money expert contributors at www.urbanmoms.ca
So, tell me…Are you a princess too?
How do you shop? Are you loyal to certain brands that you trust or are your everyday household purchases driven by sales and coupons?
I’m curious!
Photos from the event…see below!