Toronto home prices among top 3 risks threatening economy: BMO

Forget Vancouver’s high-priced and highly scrutinized housing market, Toronto is the trouble spot that could spark a housing correction, according to a new report.

Bank of Montreal (BMO) has identified soaring house prices in Toronto as one of three risks facing the North American economy, alongside the U.S. debt ceiling and the impact of political uncertainty in emerging markets.

Why is Toronto’s market being singled out? BMO economist Sal Guatieri says home prices in Canada's largest city are rising at a pace that is faster than household income, which threatens to leave more buyers on the sidelines. Rising interest rates, which are expected over the next couple of years, could make it worse. The number of new condos going up across the city adds to the threat.

“In Canada, accelerating home prices in Toronto … risk straining affordability further, causing a correction when interest rates normalize and the market is trying to absorb a record number of newly built condos,” Guatieri wrote.

He cited a 7.1 per cent year-over-year increase in house prices in January. For Canada as a whole, prices rose 4.3 per cent, which he called "in line with income growth."

The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) reported last week that house prices in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) increased by about 9 per cent in January compared to a year earlier. The average selling price for a home in the GTA was $526,528.

Toronto’s price increase was even higher than Vancouver, the most expensive market, where the average selling price was $606,800 in January, up 3 per cent year-over-year.

The BMO report follows another warning last week from TD Bank suggesting the overall Canadian housing market overall was overvalued by about 10 per cent when measured by affordability. It was written in defence of other measures used to gauge Canada’s housing market, including the home price-to-rent ratio and the price-to-income ratio. By those measurements, Canada's housing market is said to be overvalued by as much as 60 per cent.

“Both these measures fail to take into account the drop in interest rates over the last two decades,” wrote TD economist Diana Petramala. “What really matters is housing affordability.”

A Royal Bank report last week shows residential mortgage debt increased 4.8 per cent in Canada last year, although it was the slowest annual pace of growth since 2000.

The federal government has steadily tightened mortgage rules in recent years to discourage buyers from taking on more household debt than they can handle.

The biggest concern going forward is what happens when interest rates rise further, as noted in the BMO report.

It’s not seen as an imminent issue given that the Bank of Canada is struggling with low inflation. Some economists believe the bank could potentially lower rates if Canada's economy doesn't gain more momentum.

The benchmark interest rate has been at 1 per cent since September 2010.

Visit Dominion Lending Centres Mortgage Village to consult a mortgage professional.

Foreign Worker Program Works Fine, If Properly Done, Unions Say

EDMONTON - While the federal government’s temporary foreign worker program has been criticized for allowing some firms to undercut Canadian wages and lay off staff, two unions support the program in principle.

“Some trades cannot supply the manpower needed during peak periods, and for us that is spring and fall when energy firms do their turnarounds and close for several weeks,” said Joseph Maloney, an international vice-president of the Boilermakers union.

His union trains boilermakers and works closely with “quality contractors” to ensure properly trained staff are available. And when they are short, they use the TFW program.

“We bring in about 400 journeymen in the spring and fall from our pools in the U.S. and Ireland, where they are trained to the same standards as Alberta boilermakers and welders. When they come they are paid the same as Canadians and are treated the same,” he said.

“When properly used, this program is able to assist contractors and unions to get these jobs completed on time and on budget, and safely.”

The Ironworkers union, which saw 65 of its members laid off last week and replaced by Croatian TFWs, still supports the program, says Harry Tostawaryk, business manager of Local 720.

“We assist contractors, we go to trade fairs, and we work with them to ensure workers meet the criteria,” he said.

But the problem with the Pacer-Promec Joint Venture (PPJV) at Imperial’s Kearl oilsands project goes back several months when Tostawaryk said his union “told (PPJV) that the Croatians did not meet the standards, but they brought them anyways.”

The federal government has promised to investigate this incident and Tostawaryk said that will impact other companies.

“The other contractors who are doing the program correctly, the PCLs, KBRs and Horton CBIs, will have a harder time bringing people in here because the government is going to scrutinize more.”

Tostawaryk said none of the ironworkers who were laid off last week have been called back, and the Croatian workers are still on the site.

“Some of the guys want to go back to the (PPJV) project, but others have taken other jobs. I told them that if (PPJV) called we would work with them and get them back, but other contractors have also put in extra calls to pick up these (laid off) ironworkers.”

Meanwhile, Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan said Monday that the actions of PPJV are “a perfect example of how this (TFW) program is being used to drive down wages. And this situation is not unique. This is happening at work sites all over the country because this is how the TFW program is designed to operate,” he said in a statement.

Visit Dominion Lending Centres Mortgage Village to consult a mortgage professional.

9 Mistakes That Kill Your Credit

Credit can be a tricky thing — some behaviors are obviously harmful to your credit, like paying late (or not at all), or maxing out your cards. But some mistakes aren’t all that obvious, and in fact some actions that might seem beneficial can actually have a terrible impact on your credit. we’ve compiled the biggest mistakes to help you determine what might be killing your credit.

1. Closing Credit Cards Accounts

Some of you may wonder why closing credit cards is number one on this list — even above missing payments. In fact, closing credit cards is almost as bad of an idea to boost your credit scores as missing your payments, but it is also a clear number one on the list of credit myths. It is perhaps the most common piece of misguided advice that consumers are given when they ask, “How can I increase my credit score?” But here’s the reality: Closing credit card accounts will not increase your credit score, even if you don’t use the cards anymore. Here’s why:

A closed account will fall off your credit report sooner than an open one -Lenders and credit reporting agencies have to follow certain rules determining how long information can remain on the credit report. In most cases negative credit information will remain on your credit files for seven years from the date the debt first became delinquent. Positive credit information can remain indefinitely, however, closed accounts in good standing are usually removed from the credit report within ten years after closing. And while credit scores continues to benefit from the positive history associated with an account for as long as it remains on the credit report – open or closed – once that account is removed from the credit report all of that good history is gone.

Why is this a bad thing? Because a credit score favors a long credit history, as the length of your credit history counts for about 15% of a FICO score. Consumers with a younger credit history tend to be seen as more risky borrowers than consumers who have had credit for many years. So hang onto those old accounts if you can by leaving them open.

You will hurt your “utilization” measurements - In the short run this is significantly more important than your closed accounts eventually falling off your credit reports. “Revolving utilization” is the amount of your revolving credit card limits that you are currently using. For example, if you have an open credit card with a $2,000 credit limit and a $1,000 balance then you are 50% “utilized” on that account because you’re using half of the credit limit. This measurement makes up almost 30% of your score, and is almost as important to your credit scores as making your payments on time. As this percentage increases, your credit score decreases.

2. Missing Payments

Missing payments is number two on the list because it doesn’t take a credit expert to tell you that missing payments is a bad thing. It’s common sense, unlike closing a credit card account. The explanation why missing payments is a huge mistake is also fairly obvious. Credit scores look at your credit history to see how you have managed your current and past credit obligations in an effort to predict how likely you are to miss payments in the future. The most powerful “predictor” of future late payments is having missed payments in the past. There are three ways that missing payments can hurt your credit scores. They are:

• How Frequent Are Your Late Payments? – If you miss payments frequently then you may be penalized more severely than someone who misses payments infrequently.
• How Recent Are Your Late Payments? – Since scoring models are designed to predict how you are going to pay your bills in the future, the more recent the late payment, the worse it is for your score. For example, if your late payments occurred in the most recent two years, then statistically you are more likely to miss payments in the next two years than someone without any recent late payments.
• How Severe Are Your Late Payments? – The severity of your late payment also plays a big part in your credit scores. Consumers who have missed payments by only a few weeks and then bring their payments up to date are likely to score better than consumers who have payments that are 90 days past due or worse. If you have late payments, it is in your best interest to do all that you can to bring them up to date as soon as possible.

3. Settling With Your Lender on a Past Due Account

“Settling” is a term used in the consumer credit industry that means accepting less than the amount you owe on an account. For example, if you owe a credit card company $10,000 but you can’t pay them the full amount, then they will likely make you a deal for less than that full amount. They have “settled” for less than the full amount, which is likely much less than you contractually owe them. This may seem like a good idea because you are happy that you didn’t have to pay the full amount. However, the lender will report that remaining amount to the credit bureaus as a negative item. This remaining amount is called the “deficiency balance.” A deficiency balance is considered just as negatively by credit scoring models as any other severe late payments. If you can arrange a deal with your lender so that they will NOT report the deficiency balance then that will be your best course of action. If they will not agree to this, then work to find a way to pay them in full or your credit will suffer for 7 years.

4. Over-Utilization of Your Available Credit Card Limits

Having high balances on your credit cards are likely to cause your credit scores to go down (as we talked about in Mistake #1). In this situation, your best bet would be to use your cards sparingly and pay them down as much as possible each month. If paying your cards off every month is unrealistic, try your best to reduce that percentage as much as possible, and your score should slowly work its way back up. There is no magic target to shoot at, but it’s safe to say that the lower the percentage the better.

5. Excessively Shopping for Credit

Every time you fill out a credit application, you are giving the lender permission to access your credit reports. When they access your credit reports they automatically post what is called an “inquiry.” The inquiry is a record of who pulled your credit report and on what date. Federal law requires that the inquiry remain on the report for 24 months, however, credit scores only look at inquiries less than one year old.

Inquiries are used by credit scoring models to determine whether or not someone is shopping for credit. It is a statistical fact that consumers who have more inquiries tend to be higher credit risks than consumers with fewer inquiries. Thus, the more inquiries you have the more points you may lose on your credit scores.

6. Thinking That All Credit Scores Are the Same

Credit scoring is already a confusing enough topic to understand. Add to the mix that there are as many different types of credit scores as there are soft drinks, and it gets really confusing. The most commonly used credit score is a credit bureau risk score. A credit bureau risk score is designed to assist lenders in predicting whether or not a consumer will pay their bills on time in the future.

There are many different places where consumers can purchase their credit reports and credit scores, however, not all of the scores being sold are the same. On the surface this might not seem like a big deal, but it certainly can be. For example, if you are in the market for a new car and you purchase an “educational” (sold to consumers, but not used by lenders) or other type of credit score ahead of time for your own information, the score you get might be different from the score the lender is looking at. Every lender has different lending standards, so the same score may earn you a good deal with one lender but not with another.

7. Thinking That All Credit Scores Predict the Same Thing

Adding to the confusion in number six above is the fact that there are models that predict other things than general credit risk. Scoring models can be built to predict almost anything including:

• Insurance Risk – That’s right. Some insurance companies use credit scoring models to predict whether or not you are likely to file an auto or homeowner’s insurance claim. A poor insurance score may mean that you will pay higher premiums.
• Response Rates – If you receive pre-approved offers of credit in the mail everyday, it’s not random. You have been selected from hundreds of millions of other consumers to receive that offer because you have a “Response Score” that indicates you are more likely to respond to that offer than someone else.
• Revenue Potential – Credit card companies also use revenue scoring models to predict whether or not you will use their credit card and, hopefully, generate revenue for them.
• Collectability – For those of you who have collections on your credit reports, collection agencies assigned to collect those past due debts may be scoring you to determine whether or not you are likely to repay your collection debt sooner than someone else.
• Bankruptcy Potential – Bankruptcy scores predict the likelihood that you will file for personal bankruptcy. A poor bankruptcy score could cause your credit applications to be declined.
• Fraud Potential – Amazingly sophisticated, these models actually can predict whether or not a purchase you are trying to make with a credit card is likely to be fraudulent or not. What’s even more amazing is that it takes about 2 minutes to complete your check-out at a store, and in this short amount of time you may have been scored to see whether or not the retailer should accept your credit card.

8. Not Understanding Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act

This act, commonly referred to as the “FCRA,” is a list of credit reporting rules and regulations that govern lenders and the credit reporting agencies. You should become familiar with your rights — including the “permissible purposes” under which your credit reports can be accessed, your rights to dispute errors on your credit reports, and your right to a free copy of your credit reports from each of the three credit reporting agencies via www.annualcreditreport.com. See the Federal Trade Commission site for more info.

9. Not Knowing That You Have 3 Credit Reports & Corresponding Credit Scores

Most consumers understand that they have a credit report. However, many do not know that they have three credit reports compiled and maintained by three separate and competing companies called “credit reporting agencies.” These companies are essentially repositories that store your credit history and sell it to lenders and consumers. The three largest of these companies are: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

Each agency maintains credit files on more than 250,000,000 consumers. They do not share credit information with each other, so you are likely to have a unique credit report at each of these agencies. In turn, each of these credit reports can be used to calculate many different credit scores. Do not assume that your credit reports and scores are all the same

Visit Dominion Lending Centres Mortgage Village to consult a mortgage professional.

How Does Your Mortgage Compare?

A new study by the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals details the state of homeownership, mortgage debt and more.

Close to four in 10 Canadians carrying a home mortgage took extra steps to pay down what they owe this year, according to new research released yesterday by the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals (CAAMP). “Our study shows that 38% of Canadians made some additional payments on their mortgages,” said Jim Murphy, president and chief executive officer of CAAMP in an interview with me yesterday. “They increased their payment, increased their frequency or made a lump-sum payment.”

Sixteen per cent reported increasing the amount they paid (over and above their minimum monthly payment), 17% made an additional lump-sum payment and 8% increased the frequency of their payments. Thirty-eight per cent said they did one or more of these.

The report is a treasure trove of data on what Canadians owe, the terms they've negotiated on their mortgages and more. Seven highlights:

1. Canadians went fixed rate this year. No less than 82% of new mortgages signed between January and October 2013 (when the study was conducted) were fixed rate. Variable and adjustable rate mortgages were issued to 9%. The same percentage went with combination mortgages. Among those who refinanced or renewed, 66% went fixed rate, 24% went variable or adjustable rate and 10% went with a combination.
2. Almost four million homeowners are mortgage-free. There are a little more than 9.5 million homeowners across the country. Almost 60% – 5.6 million – carry a mortgage and 3.9 million don’t.
3. Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOC) remain popular. Almost a quarter – 2.3 million – of Canadian homeowners have a HELOC. Among those with mortgages, 1.7 million owe money on a HELOC. Among those without mortgages, the figure is 650,000.
4. We’re taking equity out of our homes. More than one million homeowners took some amount of equity out of their home this year. Canadians added roughly $36 billion to their mortgages and $23 billion to their HELOCs.
5. On average, Canadians own about two-thirds of their homes. The average equity position is 66%, according to a CAAMP estimate.
6. Ottawa’s 25-year limit is having an effect. The maximum amortization period for an insured mortgage has been 25 years since July 2012. So it is no surprise that 81% of homeowners carry a mortgage with an original contracted period of 25 years or less. The average amortization period is 21.8 years.
7. Canadians are taking advantage of lower rates. Relative to all mortgages, Canadians who signed a new mortgage or renewed their mortgage this year have done better than the national average. The average fixed rate issued this year was 3.65% (3.18% for 2013 purchases; 3.17% for 2013 renewals). The average variable or adjustable rate was 3.05% (2.85% for purchases; 3.21% for renewals). And the average combination rate was 3.7% (4.19% for purchases; 3.54% for renewals). About 1.5 million Canadians renewed their mortgage this year.

This all comes at an extraordinary time for the residential real estate market in Canada, which continues to have an outsized impact on the broad economy. According to a study by Fitch Ratings, housing is 21% overvalued.

Policymakers face a well-publicized dilemma. Steps have been taken to discourage Canadians from taking on too much mortgage debt. At the same time, Ottawa is trying not to stifle economic growth.

“One of the reasons the Canadian economy is slowing is that housing is not contributing as much as it used to,” said Murphy. “Every new condominium is worth about 1.5 jobs. Every new low-rise property is worth about two jobs. We’ve already had a 10 to 15% drop in housing starts. And we’re going to see less activity because new sales are down. So the economic contribution of housing is going to be even less.”

Visit Dominion Lending Centres Mortgage Village to consult a mortgage professional.

How Our Financial Calculators Can Help You in Creating a Budget

The main purpose of a budget is to determine where your money is coming from and where you want it to go. For a budget to show the picture clearly, you need to gather financial statements, record your income sources, list your monthly expenses, categorize your expenditures and make necessary calculations to suit your goal. Creating a budget can be boring and tedious if you don’t enjoy collecting data and crunching numbers. Since the process requires a lot of calculations, you can make the task easier, faster and more accurate by using our financial calculators.

We have five different financial calculators to help you perform all your finance related calculations fast, easy and accurate. Each of these calculators is designed for a specific purpose. However, you can use all of them to assist you in creating a budget. Here is how each can help you create a budget.

Student Budget Calculator:

This calculator is designed to assist students to create their budget when attending a college or university. It allows you to input your income and expenses in categories such as school expenses, professional fees, food and groceries and living expenses. The budget automatically assumes the school year to be of eight months starting from September and ending in April.

How much do you owe?

When creating a budget, it is very important to take into account every penny you owe the bank or any other lender. This calculator lets you enter all your credit cards, loans, other existing installment loans (such as car loan), interest rates and payments. It helps you get a clear picture how much you owe and how long it will take to be free of debts.

Mortgage Loan Calculator:

If you have an existing mortgage or planning to take out one, then this calculator will come in very handy. Once you enter the mortgage amount, interest rate, amortization period and other relevant data, it generates an amortization schedule for your mortgage. It lets you see at a glance your principal balance and how much interest you will have to pay. If you are planning to make any prepayment, it even shows you its impact on your mortgage, including the total saving you will be able to make on the interest. It helps you state your mortgage loan clearly in your budget.

Savings Goal Calculator:

One of the main purposes of creating a budget is to save money by prioritizing the important expenses. This calculator helps you do just that. Once you enter the number of years to save, your savings goal, the amount you have in current savings, savings per period, expected rate of return and the expected rate of inflation, it shows you graphically the current status of your saving and how far from your goal you are.

Line of Credit and Loan Payments Calculator:

Loans and repayments play a big part in every budget. This calculator lets you enter the loan amount, annual interest rate, term in months and other relevant data and gives you a clear picture of your loan or line of credit payment.

Visit Dominion Lending Centres Mortgage Village to consult a mortgage professional.

Watch Your Wallet With These Personal Finance Tips

Does facing your personal finances leave you a bit bewildered? There are others out there that feel the same way you do. A lot of people find finances to be overwhelming since they were never shown how to manage them. The piece that follows offers some tremendously useful advice on the subject of personal finance.

Steer clear of products or schemes that promise you overnight success. Many people have fallen into the get rich quick schemes located on the Internet. You should certainly learn; however, carefully watch how much time and energy you put into learning. You do not want to spend so much time learning that you are unable to work and earn a living.

Develop a better plan for the future by keeping a journal of all of your expenditures. However, if you put this into a notebook that you can just shut and put away until you deal with it later, you may find it just gets ignored. Try to put up a whiteboard in the office or bedroom that you can list your expenses on. By doing this, you’ll probably see the board much more often, which will ensure it remains on your mind all day.

It may be helpful to keep a small envelope in your purse or bag whenever you go shopping. This way, you have a place to store all receipts that you receive. Keep this information available as a record that you might need at a later date. It will be good to have them on hand, so that you can verify all the charges on your credit card statement and contest any that are incorrect.

Don’t fall for the scam that an organization can guarantee you a clean credit report. A lot of companies out there make vague statements about how they will repair your credit history. But what worked for someone else may have no bearing on your credit issues. There is no way to guarantee success in credit repair and if anyone says otherwise, they are being dishonest.

If you bought a defective item, chances are you will notice it within a few weeks only. Businesses make a lot of money off of extended warranties but they are not always useful for the end user.

Avoid large fees when investing. Most brokers have hefty fees for the services that they render. These fees can really take a chunk out of the money you make. Do not use brokers who take big commissions, and stay away from funds with high management costs.

Purchase your lean meats and other protein sources in bulk. This will provide you with both a cost and time savings. If you use everything you purchase, buying in bulk can be much cheaper. If you cook meals for the rest of the week, it can save you a lot of time.

Your car and house are very likely going to be your biggest expenses. Paying the interest on these things often eats up a lot of money each month. Try to pay them off quickly by making extra payments or applying your tax refund toward the principal.

Sometimes your score will actually drop for no good reason. This can happen without any errors on your part. If you keep up on your credit report your score will go up!

Credit Card

Use compact florescent bulbs in place of incandescent bulbs where you can. Your new CFL bulbs will significantly reduce both your carbon footprint and your energy bill. As an added bonus, your CFL bulbs will last longer than the average incandescent bulb. Buying bulbs less frequently can help you save money.

Stop buying things with your credit card if you cannot pay it off. Go over your expenses and eliminate things that are not vital to your survival. Try to find another form of payment for the things that you really cannot live without. Finish paying off your balance before using the card again, and then try to pay your credit card balance in full every month to avoid future troubles.

Make a few extra bucks by having a garage sale and clear out some space at the same time. Let all of the neighbors know about the upcoming garage sale – one might even offer to sell items for them in exchange for a small commission. Garage sales offer a lot of latitude when it comes to making money.

Do not take out more student loans than you need this will cause a huge problem down the line. Private schools can be very costly to pay off.

Student loan debt has fewer consumer protections than other kinds of debt, so make absolutely sure that you can repay any student loan debt you accrue. Getting into that private school and being unsure of your future will more than likely put you into debt for a very long time, so be very careful about this.

Flexible spending accounts can be used for a variety of expenses. Flexible spending accounts can help reduce your medical or childcare expenses. These accounts let you set aside a specific amount of pretax dollars for these expenses. There are conditions involved though, so speak to a tax professional.

Your FICO score is effected largely by credit cards. When you maintain a large balance from month to month, your score will be lower than it should. Fortunately, you can start increasing your score rapidly by paying off your cards. Always try your best to keep your balance below 20% of the credit card’s maximum credit limit.

Personal Finances

Don’t waste money on lottery tickets. Put the money in your savings account instead. This is a better option because it will grow over time versus being wasted on a gamble.

As you know, many people are insecure with their personal finances, leading to eventual money problems. Reading this article should have shown you ways to prevent this from happening to you. Utilize the tips above to better your personal finances.

Visit Dominion Lending Centres Mortgage Village to consult a mortgage professional.

33 Proven Ways to Reduce Personal Debt

Making Cents of the Dollars
33 Proven ideas to make your budget work and get your Debt under control:
1. Re-shop auto, home and life insurance to see if you can bring down your payments.
2. Downgrade your cable package, or get rid of it entirely.
3. Disconnect your home phone if you have adequate cell service at your home. Or downgrade to a cheaper package.
4. Buy and sell clothes at your local consignment or shop at Goodwill.
5. Have a massive garage sale. (If you’d rather be out of debt than have an item, choose to sell it to help you get you there.)
6. Advertise higher quality items on Craigslist, Facebook, or your local newspaper to get better prices.
7. Focus on buying mostly sale items at grocery store or generic brands to reduce your cost.
8. Use a grocery store awards program to earn money off gas.
9. Cancel unnecessary expenses like magazine subscriptions, newspapers, manicures, pedicures etc. Anything that could be considered a “want” instead of a “need” should go until you are out of debt or greatly decrease your debt.
10. Go to the matinee movies instead of paying full price (and skip the concessions).
11. Or better yet, use the Red Box for at-home movie entertainment.
12. Get temporary work or seasonal part time work to boost your income.
13. Read books from the library or take a few trips to Barnes & Noble to complete a book.
14. Buy your most expensive groceries in bulk at Coscto: meats, breads, cheese, produce, paper products. Establish a monthly grocery budget for the additional needs at regular grocery stores.
15. When eating out, skip the soft drinks and stick with water. Skip the extras too (dessert, etc.).
16. When eating out, share a large entrée or have small appetizers instead of the costly meal.
17. Plan your errands more efficiently to conserve gas.
18. Find friends that you can trade services with…haircutting, handyman, photography, babysitting, pet-sitting.
19. Give home-made gifts, baked goods, or service IOU’s rather than expensive presents.
20. Boxed cereals are expensive; switch to oatmeal, eggs or fruit for more nutritional and financial bang.
21. Call the utility companies and get on a budget plan to give you more consistency with expenses each month.
22. Set a spending limit with family at Christmas and/or draw names.
23. Use exercise videos, walking or hiking instead of paying for the gym.
24.If your haircut is too expensive, find a less expensive stylist or see if your hairdresser will cut you a break on price temporarily – ours did.
25. Say “no” to hosting and/or attending in-home parties where you feel pressure to purchase.
26. Does your family live nearby? Once a week dinners with mom or dad saved us a meal out of our shopping budget. Additionally, it usually led to leftovers and our parents looked forward to our visit each week.
27. Make your coffee at home instead of buying it each day.
28. Pack your lunch – not once a week, but regularly.
29. Make extra dinner servings on purpose to have leftovers for lunch.
30. Our dentist advised us we could skip the fluoride treatments if we were using a daily dental rinse – which we did… and bought on sale.
31. Program your thermostat for savings on heating/cooling when you’re not at home.
32. Tempted by certain retail stores? While digging out of debt, avoid window shopping these places where you've failed to control your impulses before.
33. Give.

Many may say, “What? I need my manicure!” or “My kids will only eat box cereals!” But trust me. If you are serious about climbing out of debt and changing your life, the only thing you need is a roof over your head, clothes on your back and gas to get to work to bust your way out of this.

Plus, take comfort in knowing that you don’t need to eliminate these things forever. Personally, I look forward to hiring back our housekeeper and treating myself to a few pedicures next summer. But until we are debt free and have a fully funded emergency fund, we’ll be focusing on using the dollars we bring into our home to set us up for a lifetime of success.

Many wonder about Number 33 (Give) because it seem counter intuitive to most of us. One thing we never stopped doing – even in the worst of times – was giving. We always gave money to our church, our favorite charities, and foundations that we believe in. It’s easy to say “I can’t give. It’s not in my budget.” But if we’re looking for a lifetime of success and influence – not just the latest gadget or status symbol – how can we afford not to give? Giving reminds us that we can live for a purpose greater than this world and all the temporary treasures it offers. It helps keep everything else in perspective. So pick and choose from our list above – do one or two or everything on the list – but don’t leave out number 33. We can attest from firsthand experience, it will radically transform your life!

Visit Dominion Lending Centres Mortgage Village to consult a mortgage professional.