How often have you wanted something but did not have the money to purchase it? If you are receiving a disability pension or are employed in a low wage job, this probably happens quite often. After paying for the basics – rent, food, transportation, personal needs and clothing, there is usually not much left over.

Here are some strategies that could help you save money for that trip or the new TV that you have always wanted.

• Keep a savings jar or a Piggy Bank available for your savings. You can even take a picture of an item that you are saving up for and tape it to the outside of the piggy bank to remind you why you are dropping money into the bank instead of spending it.
• Open a savings account and deposit a set amount each month or whenever you have extra money. Some banks offer a savings account that requires you to transfer the money to a chequing account in order to take it out. This makes it more difficult for you to spend it on short notice.
• Link your saving to the goals you have set out for yourself in your Person Directed Plan. This will help you achieve your goals as well as making sure that YOUR money is working for YOU.
• Pay yourself first. Make it a habit to always put away a little of your income whenever you get it. Add this item to your weekly budget. This could be a percentage of your income or a flat amount – say $2.00. Put the money in a jar or a piggy bank for a rainy day. If you put away $2.00 each week, you will have $104 in one year.

  Simple savings calculator

  Tip for Staff/ Caregiver: It is never too early to start using this strategy. Over time, this becomes a habit that will serve the person well all their life.

• Save with coupons. When you redeem coupons or purchase items on sale, don’t spend what you save – save it. Put the amount you saved into your savings jar or piggy bank.
• If you get $20 for your birthday, save $10 and spend $10. If you have two extra loonies, save one loonie and spend the other.
• Every evening when you come home, put any coins or change you have in the savings jar.
• Take a look at your daily expenses. That coffee at Tim Horton’s cost you $1.50. Decide how important that coffee is to you. Would you rather have that new flat screen TV? If you put that $1.50 into your savings jar each day you would have $540 in just 1 year.

Check out this Spend-o-meter to see how much these habits cost you

How to be watchful and save money

1. Instead of buying your lunch each day, bring your lunch to school, work or day activity. Put the money you save into your savings jar.
2. It is much cheaper to make your own coffee or tea at home and use that money for something else.
3. Take a look at your regular monthly expenses for cable or phone. Do you watch all the channels you are paying for or could a lower cost cable package be okay?
4. Instead of buying newspapers and magazines, you can read them on the internet or if you don’t have a computer, you can go to the library and read them for free. At the library, you can also take out C.D.’s, D.V.D.’s and videos to watch and listen to.
5. Going out to a movie can be expensive. Plan your own movie night at home with friends by getting a video from the library or renting one. If you have cable television, you can record movies shown early in the week to watch on the weekends. Make some popcorn and enjoy!
6. Board games and card games are an inexpensive form of entertainment.
7. Garage sales and thrift stores are good places to find bargains like board games, clothes, household items, etc. Make sure you check out the items very carefully to ensure that they are not broken or just junk.
8. In the summer, local parks often have free entertainment like concerts and festivals.
9. Check with your local community swimming pools and skating rinks and find out if they have free swimming or free skating at special times of the year like Christmas and March Break. Community centres may also offer free activities.
10. Libraries, museums and galleries sometimes have exhibits that are free. Even if you have to pay for a special exhibit, there are often tickets offered at a cheaper price. Always look for discounts. For example, movie theatres may offer lower ticket prices before noon or on certain days.
11. Dollar stores offer a large variety of items at a low cost. Make sure you check the quality of the item before you buy it. Some things may not be made very well and will fall apart quickly once you use them.

Saving Money When Grocery Shopping

• Do not go to the grocery store when you are feeling hungry because you may buy things you don’t need.
• Try not to buy groceries from a corner (convenience) store because they are more expensive than a regular grocery store.
• Look for weekly specials in the grocery store. Go through grocery flyers to see which stores have deals on the items you need.
• Make a list when you go grocery shopping and only buy the items on that list.
• Coupons can save you money or get you items for free. Purchase items when they are on sale and have a coupon for that item to save even more money. There are many websites on the internet where you can print coupons for food as well as other things. Here are two websites:
  • www.flyerland.ca
  • www.smartcanucks.ca
• Do not buy more food than you can eat, even if it is a good price. No one likes to throw food away.
• Try generic brands of food such as “No Name”, “Equality”, “Selection” or “Our Compliments”. They are often just as tasty as name brands and are often cheaper.
• Look at other brands for the same product. They are often the same quality but cheaper than the most popular brand.
• Look for items on clearance that have been marked down in price. These may be located in a shopping buggy or on a shelf with a sign that says “Marked Down” or “Clearance”. On groceries or food, be sure to check the Best Before Date so that you are not buying spoiled food.
• Buy frozen vegetables. That way, food won’t go bad if it isn’t eaten fast enough after you buy it.
• Most products identify the cost per unit of product (e.g. per 100 grams). This is usually located on the shelf below the product. Use this to compare the cost of different brands of the product.
• In the summer and fall, buy fruits and vegetables from the farmer’s market. They are cheaper and fresher than buying them at a grocery store.
• Shop at a bread outlet if possible for bread, baking etc.
• Use reusable cloth grocery bags when shopping so you don’t have to pay for plastic bags. It is better for the environment.

To budget your money means to plan out how much money you have and how much of your money you spend on certain things.

If we have money, why can’t we spend it until we run out and then wait for more?

Budgeting your money is important because it is a way to make sure that you have enough money for your basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter. It will help you to avoid owing money to friends, credit card companies, or banks. It can allow you to put money away for a big purchase like a vacation, a piece of furniture, or something else that you want or need.

In order to do this, you have to “live within your means” which means you have to make decisions about where to live and where to shop based on how much money you have. You can not spend more money than you have.

Let’s talk first about basic needs and what that means in your life:

• Food → groceries from the store. You need a variety of food types to help you stay healthy.
• Clothing → clothing that is suitable for the weather, your job, etc.
• Shelter → this usually means paying rent. This is something that is very important to maintain and to pay every month. Unless you find a different living situation you cannot adjust this on a daily basis. With food and clothing, you can often shop at a cheaper grocery store, shop for things on sale or buy second-hand clothing to reduce your costs. Not paying your rent can get you evicted and you will have no where to live.

Before anything else, you need to put aside money to cover these costs.

Creating a Budget

Now that we have talked about why it is important to budget your money, let’s look at how you create a budget.

A budget is a document that lists what your income is every month, and what you spend your money on each month. Ask someone you trust to help you plan your budget. You can use the Personal Budget Plan template provided. Your monthly budget should be updated at least once a year or as changes occur.

It is simple, so keep it simple.

1. First, at the top of the page write down all the money you bring home each month. This could be from:
   • A job
   • A disability pension (ODSP in Ontario)
   • An inheritance
   • Help or support from a family member
2. Then, write down everything you spend money on each month. See the article “Knowing where you are spending your money” for easy instructions on how to do this.

   These include both fixed costs (things that cost the same each month, such as cable, rent and phone) and variable costs (costs that will change constantly such as food, going out). Most people remember their rent payment but often forget the newspaper they buy on their way to work each morning.

   Record how much you need for your basic needs. These include rent or other housing costs, food, transportation, clothes and phone. This can be a little more complicated than it sounds. Your basic needs are necessary for survival but how much you spend on those will determine how much money you will have left for everything else:

   • Going out – entertainment, special events
   • Hobbies/sports
   • Special items (household, personal)
   • Hygiene items – toiletries
   • Gifts for loved ones
   • Saving
   • Anything else

   Let’s apply what we know so far to an example:

   Susan has $1500.00 of regular income every month. If Susan found a place to live that cost $1200.00 in rent every month, would that be “living within her means”?

   Let’s calculate to find out: $1500.00 – $1200.00 = $300.00 – that takes care of one basic need – shelter. This would mean Susan would have $300.00/month for everything else.

   So after paying her rent, Susan needs to grocery shop and spends $150.00 at the store on food for herself for the month – this covers a 2nd basic need: food $300.00 – $150.00 = $150.00

   Susan also likes to have lunch with her friend every Saturday at the diner and spends about $60.00 a month from the remaining $150.00 – $60.00 = $90.00

   Winter is coming and Susan needs a new winter jacket and clothes so she spends her last $90.00 on that. This covered her third basic need: clothing $90.00 – $90.00 = 0

   It is now October 5th and Susan has NO more money to spend for the month.

So sometimes, you need to go over these steps again and again until you come to amounts that you are comfortable with. The exercise in step 3 of “Knowing where you are spending your money” might be helpful in figuring out how much to set aside for each of the spending areas of your budget.

The budget of a person who is living on their own or sharing an apartment and is receiving a disability pension (ODSP in Ontario) could look like this:
$20 to $30 per week in personal spending
$75 per week for groceries
$30 per month for laundry
$110 Bus metro pass per month
$30 phone bill per month
$40 cable bill per month
The remaining money is for rent, clothing and savings

Strategies to keep on Budget

Once you have your budget in writing, it is important to put it into action and make it work for you. Here are some strategies to keep you on your budget:

• If you have problems living within your budget, ask for help from someone you trust. Money smarts is a learned skill and there are many ways you can learn how to manage your money. A trusted staff, family member, friend or the Public Guardian would be good choices.
• Even if you can manage your budgeting yourself, it is always good to have someone take a look at your money situation every once in awhile (monthly or every 6 months) just to make sure that everything is going ok.
• Use a ledger or note book daily to record the amounts you spend and the amount of money you have left. This makes you aware of how your daily / weekly money is being spent.
• Be on the lookout for ways to reduce your monthly fixed costs.
  • You can bundle your cable/home phone/cell phone/internet with one provider
  • Look at your package with the provider. Do you need all the services such as call display, call waiting, or all the channels that you subscribe to on your cable?
  • Compare prices with other providers and services. Shop around for the best competitive prices in regards to interest rates and between different cable and phone companies.
• Look for ways to save money on things you are buying. See the article “Simple Strategies to Help You Save Your Money” for ideas you could make use of.
• Take a look at your personal spending. Is something really necessary or is it just a habit? For example: An individual shares a 2 bedroom apartment with another person. For years, both individuals would buy the same newspaper on a daily basis. After this was pointed out to them, they decided to share the cost of buying one newspaper and put the money they saved away for something else.
• Some people need and appreciate a little more structure and help to enable them to save. Perhaps, lock up money in a box for major expenses (i.e. clothing, apartment needs, gifts, vacation) and give the key to a person you trust.
• An option many people use to ensure that their rent is paid is to set up the rent to be paid directly to your landlord from your pension allocation.
• Open 2 bank accounts. On one account (a co-signed account) your staff / parent would also need to sign for money to be taken out. On the other account, a personal spending account, you would be the only person who could take out money. For example, let’s say you have calculated a 4 week supply of spending money to be placed in the personal spending account. After each 4 weeks, the money would be transferred from the co-signed account into the personal spending account. This really encourages you to learn how to budget, but does not put at risk the ability to pay for basic needs such as rent and food.
• If you make bill payments by cheque and have difficulty remembering how to complete the cheque, have someone you trust fill out a sample cheque. You can copy from it each time you need to complete a cheque. If your writing skills are poor, have your trusted helper complete the cheque each time and you can sign it.
• Some stores and credit card companies provide an option to use a pre-paid card. You can only purchase up to the dollar amount that has been pre-loaded onto the card. This could help ensure that the needed purchase is made and the money is not spent elsewhere. A grocery store is a good place to use this.
• Motivate yourself to spend less than the amount you have put into your budget to spend. You want to be happy about how you spend your money. Include in your budget an amount you want to save for the month. Remember to reward yourself each month you achieve your saving goal. Go out for dinner or buy a shirt that you have been looking at.
• Some people find it helpful to use envelopes with different amounts of money that are set aside for different purposes. For example an envelope for groceries, one for clothing and another for entertainment.
• You could buy money orders payable to yourself for your weekly expenses and you could cash one each week. That way you would not have the cash easily available. However, you will need to pay extra money to get a money order.
• You could give your ATM card to a trusted person, without sharing the PIN number and only have access to the card once a week to do your banking.
• Consider opening a savings account that is difficult to access such as an account where you would need to first transfer the money into your chequing account in order to take it out.
• If you have a tendency to spend whatever you have quickly, you could divide your weekly spending money into two or more envelopes so that you are not tempted to spend it all at once. Doing this could give you money to spend throughout the week.

Whatever strategies you decide to use, they need to work for you. Everyone has different habits and ways of doing things. You need to believe that you can change that habit and that you will be better off by changing it.

Whether you have a disability pension (for example, Ontario Disability Support Pension – ODSP) or you receive a pay cheque from employment, the money you have available to use is likely limited. When you do not have access to unlimited funds, it is important to ensure that your basic needs (e.g. rent) and fixed costs (e.g. cable) are met as well as being able to put some money aside for your dreams, your goals and for emergencies. This requires that you set up a budget to plan out the money you have available and how you are going to spend it.

However, before you can set up a budget, you need to know where you are spending your money. Most people do not have a good idea of what they are spending their money on. We usually don’t remember what we have bought. We just know that we had more money in our pocket than we do now. Much of this spending is for small knick-knacks or snack food that we regularly buy without really thinking about it. The total spent can add up very quickly. This effect has been called the ‘latte factor’. If you buy one coffee per day at Tim Horton’s costing $1.50, this will add up to $10.50 in a week, $45 in a month or $540 in a year – enough to buy a good TV or take a summer vacation.

5 easy steps to taking control of your spending rather than your spending controlling you.

It would be a good idea to get some help with this from someone you trust. This could be a parent, other family member, a staff, a friend or a volunteer.

1. For a week or two keep track of everything that you buy. Keep all of your receipts and use a notebook or the attached daily log to record daily expenditure amounts and the amounts earned.
   

   Sample Daily Log

   

2. At the end of the week, group together all similar expenses i.e. food/ entertainment/ personal needs/ transportation/ snacks/ coffee. This lets you know how your money is spent. Use the attached Expense and Income Summary form
3. For each of the groupings, decide whether it was money worth spending. Record yes or no on the last line of the Expense and Income tabulation form.

   For example, if you spent $50 on food, were you okay with the amount and type of food you had? Did it meet your needs for meals? If it did not, then you should decide if you require more money for food or if you can change the type of food you are buying.

   For another example, let’s say that on the way home each day you stop at the corner store to buy a bottle of coke and some chips. At the end of the week you have spent $40 on these. Rate how much satisfaction you got from eating the snacks each day. Do you even remember? Was it just something you do out of habit? If so, then you may want to think about what else you could have spent the money on that would mean more to you. Do you have a goal in mind? Maybe it would be better to save this money for that.

4. Now that you know what you presently spend your money on and whether it is money well spent, let’s look at what you want to spend your money on in the future. Make 2 lists. Title the first list ‘Basic Needs and Fixed Costs’ and include your expenses that you need to pay, such as rent, food, clothing, transportation, phone, cable. For each of these expenses decide whether the amount you spend (step 2) is okay or do you want to spend more or less money.
5. The second list titled, ‘Goals and Wish List Spending’, includes any goals, activities or purchases that you are planning in the next year that require money. For each of these items decide how much money you need. Then rate them according to how important each one is for you to achieve (with 1 being the most important).

You are now ready to create your budget using the new information you have gathered from completing the five steps above. Take a look at the ‘Budgeting 101 – Creating a Budget’ article for more details on how to create a budget.

Money is what you use to buy things. Over time we, as a society, have agreed on how many “dollars” are needed to buy each item. We know it works because we have used it over and over for all kinds of things.

We learn from an early age by watching our parents, brothers, sisters or others that if we give a certain amount of money, we will get in return that toy, snack or candy that we want.

For the inexperienced, “value” is often assigned to the BIG money, the SHINY money or the PRETTY money. Families must teach that sometimes, the small coins have more value than the larger ones and sometimes, you need to hand over several coins to get what you want!

We added paper because it was lighter to carry. Now, we have added plastic cards that allow remote access to “money” we have stored in an “account” of some kind. These are all very abstract concepts.

It is by learning these concepts and gaining experience with making transactions that we begin to learn skills that will support independence in the future.

People with disabilities, like the rest of us, have a right to control their own money and make choices on what to spend it on and save it for. They too, need to understand the responsibilities that come with their right. It is never too early or too late to start learning about money!

How to help someone gain experience with money (from idea to reality)

• Provide the opportunity to count and handle coins. They can practice counting by fives and tens with pennies, nickels and dimes. Make coin rubbings to get familiar with the size and look of different coins. Also, group quarters to make “dollars” and have a collection of different coins available.
• Provide props, such as (play or real) money, a cash register or calculator, and items suitable for using to play “store” in a role play. This will give an opportunity to work with money in a non-threatening setting. Start with sales that allow handing over “even” amounts, then change prices to force concepts like: determining what bills/change to hand over, waiting for change, checking your change, and not having enough money.
• Money Magic is an online arcade game that the individual can play to learn Canadian coin recognition and making change
• Games like Payday and Monopoly could be useful. Play as a family on a regular basis.
• Provide the individual with an “allowance”. Discuss the types of items they can purchase in different stores and take them to a store where they can choose and pay for an item. This is a great time to discuss concepts such as the price tag on the item, the specific coins/bills needed to purchase it, how much the individual actually has and what they could purchase “now” compared to what they need to “save” for.
• Have the individual pay the cashier when shopping for household items, such as bread and milk. It creates the “habit” of paying for items, introduces the concept of handing over “enough” money and introduces getting “change” back. It starts to introduce the concept of how we can pay for things with paper bills and coins.
• Introduce the idea that television commercials/ store flyers/catalogues are designed to sell products. Have the learner view several commercials or compare flyers and have them determine what would be the best buy for their money. Have them think about the usefulness/healthiness of the product, price and need/want for the product. Use grocery flyers to plan the weekly meals. Introduce the concepts of choosing sale items and working the meal plan around them. Grocery checklists can be used to introduce approaches to making the actual grocery list. Tell them about coupons and how they can save money by using them.
• Discuss and define money terms. Save, spend, earn, and borrow are all important money terms that individuals can understand and use.
• When shopping, have the individual seek any information needed from sales staff. Have them complete the transaction by paying. Insist that the sales staff address their customer, not you (the support person).
• Provide opportunities to earn money. Identify some chores as simply a part of domestic life, and offer an allowance or a chance to earn money for other activities. This way, the individual sees that not all chores carry a money reward with them. Rather the reward is for a job well done. (Don’t forget to praise!)
• Open a bank account for the individual and have them make regular deposits. If needed, set a limit on how much can be taken out so he or she can learn that just because there is money in the bank, that doesn’t mean it should be spent. This is a good time to introduce the concept of budgets: what expenses does the individual have that are not optional? What income can the individual count on? Are there items/services the individual would like? Do they need to save money for things?
• Talk about money as a family. People will understand how to use and view money better if they are included in some discussions or decisions. If you buy something on credit, explain that you are still responsible for paying the full price. Let the individual know why you can’t or won’t buy certain items, or that you are saving up for a vacation, car, etc. Talk about paying the monthly bills and how your pay cheque gets divided up.