Better With Sprinkles

The Colourful Side to Healthy Living.

WIAW: Money Rules.

47 Comments

Hello there!

Yup…it’s (What I Ate) Wednesday! Thanks as always, goes to Jenn for hosting. Today’s post is from yesterday – I was on-the-go pretty much all day, so there were some quick-but-fabulous  meals and snacks. And a lot of greens stuffed in a lunch – so yay following the theme!

Because I had so much going on yesterday, I had to hit the gym when it opened right at 8 am (yes, student gym means it opens at 8 on weekdays. Noon on weekends. lame). My ACV mix (ACV, lemon juice, water, stevia) when I woke up and a quick snack before I left:

DSCF4618

I had a few of the pumpkin protein bars I made a while back stashed in the freezer, so I heated up two of those and added some coconut Oikos on top. I stand by what I said when I made the bars – they’re tasty, but not sweet enough.

After the gym was unpictured watermelon BCAAs, followed by an “Oh-crap-I-have-to-leave-in-10-minutes” breakfast.

DSCF4622

Oatmeal, egg + egg whites and blueberry jam. Definitely nothing new there. A word to the wise – in a desperate bid to make your eggs cook faster, don’t crank up the heat. Half of those whites did not make it out of the pan. Yup…I’m impatient.

Lunch

I had a long but successful meeting with my Thesis supervisor, followed by a lunch meeting at The Piston Broke. It’s a gastropub close to the school that I’ve been multiple times – it’s good!

I was feeling something leafy, so I went with the chevre salad with chicken.

DSCF2289

Spinach, arugula, mandarin orange segments, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds tossed in a maple vinaigrette and topped with chicken and goat cheese. The chicken was on the dry side, but everything else was delicious. And it reminded me that I need more goat cheese in my life – chevre is amazing.

Followed by two of little mints that come with the cheque – I love those.

Snack

I had a 6 pm presentation last night, so I had a quick snack around 5:30 to tide me over.

DSCF4626

Baby carrots and hummus. It’s a classic.

So that presentation?

DSCF4628

Gail is a Canadian financial writer and TV personality who helps people manage their money. She has a show called “Till Debt Do Us Part”, which I’ve seen a handful of times. So when Laurier was hosting her for a free presentation, I decided to go – you can never learn too much about money, right?

I don’t think I’m bad with it – I usually do ok with savings. But I know I could probably stand to improve a little bit. The main takeaways I got from her presentation:

  • people tend to be irresponsible with credit cards. Do not put more on credit than you can afford to pay off at the end of the month.
  • Pay off your mortgage, your car, your debt, and put away money for retirement. Then you can start buying all the status symbol-y things, if that’s how you want to spend your money. (fancy cars, designer clothes, etc.)
  • start saving for retirement. Like ASAP. If you start in your 20’s, you only have to put away 6% of your earnings, versus 3 times that if you start in your 40’s.
  • Have an emergency fund – about 6 months worth of rent and groceries.
  • Don’t expect to have everything at once – buy a house, have a wedding, and have a baby. You’re going to live a long time; it’s ok to space it out a bit.
  • Keep track of your spending. Keep a notebook and keep track of everything penny you spend, and every penny you earn.

A lot of what she said was common sense, but I did learn some things. And as a presenter – she is hilarious. I have this thing where I absolutely love hearing people swear unexpectedly…whether it’s an older person, a super-polite friend, or my Russian professor. It just cracks me up so much. And she had quite the mouth on her, which kept me giggling the whole presentation.

Her presentation made me realize that I need to focus a little bit more on my ‘emergency fund’ a little bit more, and that I need to keep better track of my finances. Might have to start an Excel spreadsheet or something!

Dinner

I channeled Amanda for my late dinner:

DSCF4632
Yogurt bowl! Coconut Oikos, a sliced banana, sliced fig, Fibre 1, the last of my Dark Chocolate and Red Berries Granola, and almond butter. So good.

And of course, even brinner needs dessert.

DSCF4634

A graham cracker with Bee’s Knees peanut butter and dark chocolate. And that may have been followed by another spoonful of peanut butter out of the jar Smile with tongue out I like the Bee’s Knee’s flavour, but I have to say – Cinnamon Raisin is still the best!

Have a lovely Wednesday!

<— Do you think you’re good with money?

<— What’s the tastiest thing you’ve eaten lately?

47 thoughts on “WIAW: Money Rules.

  1. Yum your eats today looked great especially the yoghurt bowl.

    I’m much better with my money than I used to be but I still definitely go on big spending sprees or spend money on unnecessary things but it happens a lot less often than in my early 20s

  2. I love love love carrots and hummus! Actually, everything looks yummy 😀 Cinnamon raisin is definitely my favorite flavor of that brand of peanut butter. Stuff is addicting!

  3. The pumpkin protein bars and your dinner look seriously good! As for good with money…I still haven’t decided if I know what that means.

  4. Living at school stinks with the gym times. Seriously. Maybe I’m a college student that doesn’t sleep in! It always drives me crazy waiting to go work out on the weekend mornings. Not everyone sleeps until noon!

  5. I am bad with money. When it’s there I spend it. I am already 34 and still did not lear how to spend it in a reasonable way. Maybe one day…..
    YUMM! The salad, brinner and dessert after brinner I would want to have now – looks SO good!!!

  6. You can never go wrong with brinner…plus it’s fun to say ;)! I am thinking of going down that route tonight as the only thing that sounds yum right now is peanut butter toast- it might just happen!

    Thanks for sharing those money-saving tips. Especially as I’m pretty pathetic at tracking my expenses (working on it), I definitely appreciated them!

  7. That salad sounds great! My family all makes fun of my spending because I hate spending money.

  8. That graham cracker is actually the thing I want most from your post. Haha, I guess I’m craving it! That talk sounds AWESOME and I definitely would have come with you. I think I’m decent with my money, but there’s always room for improvement!

  9. Carrots and hummus is one of my favorite snacks, but I always forget about it.
    Brinner is always a winner. I think I’ve been eating that like 4 times per week. Oopsy.
    I think I’m pretty good with money, only because my parents force me to be haha. They would never ever ever allow me to go into debt. Which is definitely a good thing, since I can get a little careless sometimes.

  10. Lol oh girl we’re like the same person – breakfast for dinner last night AND the realization that even brinner needs dessert. Love it! I think we’d get along juuuust fine 😉

    I like to think I’m pretty decent with money, but there’s definitely always room to improve. I don’t do a lot of specific budgeting or rigidly keep track of my spending, but I don’t use plastic or make too many impulse buys, and I have most of my finances prioritized. The one thing I could do better at is start putting away more for retirement, though. Eep! I really didn’t think to start this young…

  11. dude I want that goat cheese. I can’t even explain how delicious goat cheese is but everyone in my family hates it so it is never bought when I am home. now I am too cheap to buy it for myself.

  12. Love the dessert idea. It’s like a peanut butter smore!

  13. Carrots and hummus IS a classic! And a GREAT one, at that! I eat them as a snack every single night :).

    Your dessert sounds delicious! I need to go out and buy some graham crackers and dark chocolate ASAP!

  14. Coconut oikos…wow that sounds delicious!!! Hope they bring that flavour over here soon!
    ive done that with eggs loads as well; its so upsetting when they get burnt to the pan 😥

  15. I completely agree–Cinnamon Raisin Swirl is where it’s at! I especially love it drizzled over sweet potato with flakes of coconut–it’s like a dessert that can also pass as a healthy meal!

    The salad from The Piston Broke looks incredibly good, and has me missing goat cheese BIG time. Im also loving all the graham crackers and chocolate that have been popping up here lately. Note to self: buy graham crackers!

    While I don’t consider myself horrible with money, I could definitely benefit from following a few of Wilfrid Laurier’s tips! I haven’t started saving for retirement, and I most definitely don’t have an emergency fund! Ooof. I am good at paying off my credit card, though. I always pay in full when it arrives, so that interest doesn’t accrue. 😀

    Happy Wednesday, Sam! ❤ xoxo

  16. Mmm it’s a tie between my oats made with chocolate almond milk and joe’s chicken parm. Oh or my soda bread muffins…they make tasty snacks 🙂 i think i’m ok with money but i want to save more…my savings will be very low after we finish buying everything we need for the new place so i need to save more starting now to build it back up faster

  17. Loving the brinner and nighttime snack! I haven’t seen the Bee’s Knees flavor around..but I definitely love the Cinnamon Raisin swirl, so unique and delicious!

  18. I think I’m good with money 🙂 I work in home loans at a bank. LOL.

  19. Ughh so not good with money, I definitely could have benefited from that presentation! And that’s fun that she was a great presenter, makes the information so much more interesting to learn! I will say though, I am MUCH better with my own money now that I pay for more and more things these days… conclusion here, I am at least improving 🙂
    Your dinner has been basically the same as mine the last few nights. I can’t seem to get enough of yogurt/oatmeal/cottage cheese/whatever combinations and I am so not sick of them!

  20. I like that show! That’s so cool that she did a presentation at your school. I’m actually pretty good with money – I don’t really spend that much of what I earn (except on dinners out and sushi lol).

    Mmm yes to goat cheese! I love when restaurants give you a big portion of it like that!

    The tastiest thing I’ve eaten lately was banana egg white oatmeal this morning with heated fresh figs and soy nut butter. Heavenly!

  21. baby carrots are hands down the best go-to snack! we are trying to do a better job of keeping track of our money-do a better job with budget as we are not the best at it. so we have to work at it.

  22. Your lunch looks lovely!! I used to be terrible with money but since me and my fiance started saving for a house I have become much better…I have now paid off all my debts and managed to save a fair chunk…I could cut back on my shopping trips but still we can’t all be perfect!

  23. I’ve been taking advantage of the upcoming season and eating as many fresh berries as I can get my hands on!

  24. Pingback: MIMM: Date Night & An Honourary Fur Baby. | Better With Sprinkles

Leave a reply to betterwithsprinklesblog Cancel reply