Blogs on More

This is an interesting stat from Visa Canada’s recent Ipsos Reid poll:

The average Canadian is planning to spend four hours shopping online for Christmas, and eight in-store.

Does that include you?

It completely includes me, I love online shopping and will spend probably double that number of hours doing so.

The always excellent Karen von Hahn makes a very compelling argument against online shopping (for garments) in In defence of in-store. Read it, it’s good.

I also do much of what Karen says: I touch, I try on clothes. I’ll stick my foot in a random display boot if it’s somewhat cute and happens to be my size. I love the smell of certain clothing stores; the high street thrills me. But when I have the option to buy online, I don’t get swept away in I must have this. I go home, I think about it, and if I still want it a few days later, I’m happy not to have to return to the store. I didn’t impulse-buy and I didn’t stand in line. And then there’s the double-gratification: I was excited buying online, and I am excited again when it arrives in the mail.

So that’s my defence of online shopping, which is weaker not for the least of which because not everyone offers it (with free shipping), but some of my fave retailers do. And that’s why I’ll be filling a bunch of online carts in December.

I did also want to mention another tip I saw on the survey from Visa: If you check out visaperks.ca, you’ll find online discount codes for cardholders.

Happy (virtual) shopping!

-Helen

At lunch three coworkers and I struggled to figure out how much we each owed on our lunch bill, two of us paying with credit cards and the other two not having exact change…when we chickened out and asked the server to separate the bill (which is usually gauche, right? But this particular restaurant often does it automatically when it seats a work crowd so it was rather more surprising that it wasn’t separate).

Paying for what you eat and drink seems equitable among coworkers, but how do you do split a restaurant tab among friends?

The Awl suggests that if you’re under 25 years of age, split it according to what you consumed. The reasoning being that you’re broke and shouldn’t have to pay for your boozer buddy’s extra beer. When you’re over 25, split it equally, the article says. Moneyville.ca blogger Krystal Yee also tackles the subject in her recent post The etiquette of splitting a restaurant bill.

I’m not sure that age has much to do with it. I think you should split meals if everything was pretty equal, but sometimes you know you ate and drank way more and you shouldn’t make your pal pay for that. I’m not talking you had two cans of soda and she had one, more along the lines of you had two courses and a martini and she ate a salad…that sort of thing. Regardless of age.

What’s your take?

-Helen

The first time I heard the term “latte factor,” I was copy-editing an interview with personal finance author David Bach for a now-defunct U.S. wedding magazine.  (Bach has written Smart Women Finish Rich, and about a dozen other books of the same ilk.)

The “latte factor” is simply those discretionary 5-or-so bucks you spend everyday on stuff you don’t really need, like lattes.

Or warm-water washes for your clothes, argues Anne Bokma, as well as extra phone services in her list of little ways to save big, featured in the October 2011 issue of More. Bokma also goes after certain groceries, and surprisingly, hardcover books (you’ll be interested to see her arithmetic for saving by purchasing e-books instead.)

My own weak spot is sushi lunches. Near the office there are a slew of inexpensive Korean-Japanese restaurants and let’s just say they get a lot of my hard-earned dough every week. I assuage my guilt by telling myself at least I’m getting a big portion of vegetables and healthy seaweed every time I eat there. But still, it’s $15 a shot, so at my current rate of three visits a week, that’s $45.

So eating out is my already documented bad money habit. What’s yours?

-Helen

Don’t so many of us fantasize about developing an amazing product and becoming a successful entrepreneur? Toronto-based Christy Cook has done just that, having created award-winning “Teach My” kits for babies, toddlers and preschoolers. (Disclosure: I know Cook through a parenting article I wrote for another publication, and because my child has one of her kits and loves it, literally, to bits.)

Yesterday I interviewed her via email for this blog, and thought I’d share her thoughts on midlife mompreneurship:

More.ca: How does being 40+ positively contribute to the experience of being a mompreneur or entrepreneur?

Cook: I have more confidence and a much thicker skin than when I was in my 30s. Almost every day, as a business owner trying to sell my products, I experience some form of rejection. Over 40, I feel I am better prepared to handle the ups and downs of running a business.

More.ca: What are the challenges related to “not being 30 anymore,” so to speak?

Cook: Tiredness! I think I would have had more energy, if I was doing all of this under 40. I started my business at age 40, so I don’t know what it is like to balance a family and business in my 30s. All I know is I feel tired a lot of the time!

More.ca: What piece of advice would you give other women at midlife?

Cook: It is a great time to reinvent yourself! My favourite quote at the moment is “Fortune favours the brave” by Publius Terence. At 40, we have the confidence to run a business and still a good 20 years ahead to put the time in to build it. By 40, we are more comfortable in our own skin to make quick business decisions and trust our own judgment, so go for it! In my 40s, I am glad I get to be the boss. I can make my own decisions and I can take an afternoon off when I really need one!

Questions for Cook? Post them here and I’ll ensure she sees them.

-Helen