Soup Stock

I only started to hate buying chicken stock when I no longer had a car.  Hauling even 4 Litres of chicken or vegetable stock was a chore, and it meant I couldn't buy milk at the same time.  It also cost $10 for 4 litres of stock, which just seemed bizarre.

At some point, I decided there had to be a better way.  I turned to the internet for advice.

Chicken and vegetable stock, as it turns out, basically makes itself when you are making a chicken soup.  You boil the bones you were going to throw away, along with the parts of the vegetables you weren't going to use.  You toss it in a big pot with salt, a few spices, and boil it.  Then you strain it!

Here is a recipe for you: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_make_chicken_stock/

And another: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_make_chicken_stock/

This is generally how I do it:

• 1 roasted chicken carcass (Safeway chicken for $8.99)
• 1 large yellow onion cut up into chunks (no need to dice)
• 1 tablespoon of diced garlic (you could also just press your own)
• Leftover celery and carrot
• Salt and pepper
• Thyme (small amount)

Sometimes, I am missing carrots or celery, and I just do it up anyways.  If you aren't using the broth for chicken noodle soup, you can get away with it as the base for other soups.  I bring it to a boil and then let it simmer for a few hours before letting it cool and then straining it all out - by far the messiest part of the task.

Of course, I don't put my chicken stock in adorable little mason jars like the ones linked above.  I either make it into a soup right away, or I freeze it in Tupperware.  There are health benefits to making your own stock, and it definitely is less salty.  I can't imagine going back to the canned stuff and think of all the money you can save!

Here is a picture of the messy work!

Your Tax Return Does Not Belong to You

Isn’t it great?  You finish school and are finally making some money.  You are finally in a position where you make enough money to be taxed.  What a life.  Then you discover that you have all these education credits!  Unused!  You file your taxes at H&R Block like a champ and then greedily wait for that cheque to come in.  What are you going to do?  Take a nice vacation?  After all, you are working hard, you deserve a break!  Buy a new bedroom set? After all, you need to look like an adult at work!  Go to Hold Renfrew? I deserve this treat and I have been really eyeing these new sandals.

No.  None of the above.  THIS MONEY DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU.

“What?” you ask? “How can that be?  I worked hard.  I get the tax return cheque. The government puts no restrictions on what I do with this money, so why should you?  I hate reading this stupid blog.  You are stupid and pretentious and think you are so moral with your savings ways.  Get bent.”

A fair reaction.  I don’t blame you.  But I am telling you, the tax return doesn’t belong to you.  It belongs to the student loan.

How does one come to this conclusion?  It is actually alarmingly straight forward, but because the government likes us to make decisions for ourselves and most student loans are really private bank loans at a decent interest rate, we usually end up spending our tax return on hookers and blow, or whatever the going vice and associated drug is these days.  For the record, my friends seem to prefer Holts and wine, but its really all the same problem.

Do you remember when you took out that student loan?  What did it pay for?

Courses.  Fees.  If you were lucky, rent!

When you filed your tax returns when you were a student (if you did – otherwise, you have a lot of work to do) what did you get from the University/College to help fill in the forms?  A little T2202A that outlined what you had paid in fees that year.  You included that, as well as the credit for the months you were in school for (full time or part time) and you didn’t look at the forms ever again.  Because back then, you didn’t use your credits.

Fast forward to post-graduation when you are receiving a real paycheque.  All of a sudden Troung and H&R Block is telling you that $7,000 is coming your way.  Now for all that money you spent on post-secondary education, SOME of it is coming back to you.  I can’t emphasize this enough.  Even in the best case scenario, you are only using the credits to decrease your total income.  You don’t get the credits back dollar for dollar.  The $20,000 credits will decrease your income, and so those taxes you paid will be returned.  About 40% depending on your tax rate and salary.

So you already used this money.  You used it on COMS 201, LAWS 491, ENGG 345 – its been used.  You took out the loan for it.  Now, you got some credits for spending all that time and money back in the day.  So that money in the tax return isn’t yours.  It belongs to your student loans.  It belong to past, poor you, who if you had the money would have paid for school yourself.

Every time you get a tax return over $50 do this – treat yourself to keeping $100 for something. I am not an animal.  I am not unrealistic.  Its cruel asking for somebody to fork over all that cash when all your friends are stopping at Holts.  But take the $100 and the rest – it should all go to your loans.  The education credits were never yours in the first place.

Business Expenses = Free Points

Some companies make you sign up for a corporate credit card, and all credit card purchases must be made on that credit card.  This post will be entirely useless to you, so feel free to move on and check Facebook again!

Most of you however will work at a company that merely reimburses you for expenses.  You pile up the charges on your credit card, then submit the receipts later.  This is a fantastic thing.

The reason it is so great is because with the right card, you can rack up the points without ever spending a dime of your own money.  It important to do your research on your points card and choose what is right for you.  I am not here to re-invent the wheel, so you should really just check out these sites which compare credit cards for you so that you make sure you get the best deal for what you want, whether it is travel, gift cards, or cash back. 

http://www.moneysense.ca/debt/credit-cards/canadas-best-credit-cards-of-2015/

http://www.greedyrates.ca/blog/best-travel-credit-card-canada-2015/#.VeUr3ZVRHX4

No matter what, we can safely refer to these as "points".

Let's say you don't want to use credit cards - you always spend more than you have.  This will still work.  You get a credit card only for corporate purchases.  Keep it in your office desk drawer until you need it even.

Assuming you have that credit card, you are going to be making money off of doing your job.  For example, I had a Costco MasterCard which gives me cash back (to Costco).  It's 1% for most purchases, 2% for gas, and 3% for restaurants.  Let's say you work at a company that lets you take clients out for lunch, has a decent amount of travel, and also makes you plan (and pay for) the company family barbeque.

Restaurants - $2,400 per year
Gas - $600 per year
Groceries for BBQ - $1,500 per year

So, what's the grand total?
$72 + $12 + $15 = $99

Now, you need to make sure you are going to pay for the annual fee.  I used to have a RBC Rewards Visa card, and I took two university students to Oregon for a competition once.  This was the benefit (other than the great trip!):

Flights (3) return plus insurance - $3,000
Hotels (3 rooms for 2 nights) - $1,200
Meals - $600
Total = $3,800 = 3800 points

What can you get for 3800 points? A 25$ gift card to the Bay, which might be enough to stretch to buy gifts for a friends baby shower if you buy everything on sale.  Or you save up for a year, and have enough to buy presents for a wedding you have next year.  It all helps.