Interview About Mortgage Insurance, Mortgages and Bankruptcy
In part two of the video interview with David Grossman, a mortgage broker, he and Richard Killen, a Licensed Insolvency Trustee discuss mortgage insurance and how mortgages work with bankruptcy in Ontario.
Ontario Mortgage Insurance Explained |
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| Richard | Now there’s always further protection that goes into mortgages. It’s called mortgage insurance. I know when you’re dealing with a bank, they’re prompt to line up mortgage insurance. Is this insurance for you, is it? |
| David | This is insurance for the borrower, life insurance and/or disability. If the mortgage is paid off when a person dies, then the home would go to the estate. |
| Richard | So it protects other people but not the borrower? |
| David | Well, no. Let’s say, there’s a husband and wife. It might protect one of the borrowers. |
| Richard | If I’m married and I buy a million-dollar house in my name. I have a $500,000 mortgage insurance and then I die. The insurance company will write a check to whom? |
| David | If you get regular life insurance you name the beneficiary so normally you name the beneficiary as somebody in your family. |
| Richard | What do you mean by mortgage insurance? |
| David | The banks sell mortgage insurance and I believe that if somebody dies, the money goes straight to pay off the insurance or if there’s a claim, it goes to reduce them. |
| Richard | That’s why they want the mortgage insurance? |
| David | Yes. And also because they like selling add-ons and extras because you can make a lot of extra money selling different things. You don’t have to buy insurance from anyone. It’s a good idea to do so if you have heirs, a family, or a spouse. If something would happen to you, would you want your heirs to have to sell or would you want them to continue to live in the property? If you want them to be able to continue to live in the property, you have to think about how they are going to manage financially assuming you’re the breadwinner or the primary breadwinner. Your estate, your heirs will benefit by having insurance and that’s, I think, the main reason why people should get insurance. |
| Richard | That speaks for insurance, in general. It’s always a good idea to have some protection against eventualities. We don’t predict the future very well. As human beings, we’re poor at that. But this business about mortgage insurance, is it essentially an insurance where you’re purchasing, which will cost you money, but you’re insuring the lender from a loss if something happens? |
| David | Well, yes. If you die and you have a mortgage, the mortgage won’t disappear. They’ll still have legitimate charges on the house. The question is how will they pay for it if your income is gone. You may not be able to service the debt. |
| Richard | So that leaves the lender not getting paid? |
| David | That’s correct. |
| Richard | Is it why they insist on you having insurance? |
| David | They don’t they don’t insist. We have to offer people insurance and they don’t have to take it. There were cases before where, let’s say, somebody bought a house and the minute you sign and your purchase is firm like you’ve waived all financing conditions or anything else. Let’s say, that house is closing in 60 days. If you die between now and the closing, you still have to proceed with that contract. There was a case of a husband and wife and the husband died. They didn’t have insurance was sued because she didn’t close on the house. She couldn’t close the house but she was sued. That’s why, the minute you firm up your deal and you’re dealing with your bank or mortgage broker, you don’t necessarily need to take the insurance from them. However, it’s a good time to be looking at insurance for your benefit and the benefit of your heirs. |
| Richard | In the example that you just gave where the purchaser dies before the closing, the spouse or beneficiary of the estate was then responsible for closing the sale. But the lender wasn’t committed? |
| David | The lender can back out. When we get people a mortgage approval, usually, it’s a conditional approval. We’ll submit an application and we’ll say, this person makes a certain amount of income. The lender can get out of that deal up until the day of closing. They verify the employment and if they find out, they can back out. |
| Richard | So it’s kind of a one-way street, right? |
| David | It’s a one-way street. Death is never a good option. |
| Richard | Let’s stick to that philosophical plane. Nobody dies. Even though nobody dies, unexpected things happen to people – sickness, and so forth. These are the people we see in the insolvency business. The people we see have some negative unforeseen things happened to them. Can you, as a mortgage broker, use their equity they may have to help them get over rough patches even though that might affect their credit rating? |
| David | Yeah, for sure. If there’s equity in a home and people run into some kind of problem, things do happen in life, they can access the equity in the home. |
| Richard | Even if their credit rating has been adversely affected by what’s going on? People don’t give up right away when they start having problems. They try to keep things afloat but they can easily find themselves falling behind in payments as they struggle to take from Peter to pay Paul. Six months down the line, this problem hasn’t gone away. They still have equity in the home but now, the credit rating has become besmirched. Can you still help them? |
| David | Yeah. Lenders want to see that there’s a plan. They wouldn’t normally just lend money and not consider the borrower’s credit and what’s going on but they might look at it and say, “Look you have $50,000 in credit card debt that you’re having trouble paying. If we get you a mortgage, we can reduce those payments. Some credit cards are 20-30%. In this case, if the person is without a job, he’s not going to be getting money from A or B-lender, but even if they’re borrowing money at 10-12%, it might help them to solve the problem and then they can improve their credit. Hopefully, they’re going to be reemployed again soon. |
| Richard | It will certainly be better than the 19-26% they’re paying on their credit card. |
| David | Exactly! |
Should I get A mortgage To Pay Off My Consumer Proposal? |
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| Richard | This is one of the options we discuss with people when they come to see us.
When people come to see us, We don’t just talk about bankruptcies and proposals. We talk about consolidation loans. We talk about using resources that they have or might have available or might be accessible to them to try to avoid having to do the bankruptcy or consumer proposal. |
| David | I think that people should start looking to have conversations with professionals like yourself and me before they start missing payments. There are people who have all kinds of equity in their house. However, if they miss payments and they let their credit go downhill, we can still get them the loan but it’s going to cost more money. It’s going to be more expensive. Therefore, they should talk to professionals before they start missing out a lot of payments for some guidance. |
| Richard | It’s a message in our advertising we try to get that across all the time. Why wait for things to have already gone downhill before getting advice. Advice is easy to give but not so easy to take.
This happens frequently. We have many insolvent people. They can no longer keep all their creditors happy through their resources, therefore, they do something with us. However, most people don’t want to do bankruptcy. I think in the 30 years that I’ve been in this business, I’ve never met anybody who wanted to do bankruptcy. They did because they had to but they sure didn’t want to. However, what we do is provide an alternative to bankruptcy. It’s called a proposal or a consumer proposal. They’ve got some equity in the home and so forth. They’re paying this proposal which can usually be done for over a five-year or 60-month period. They can get two or three years into it. Like anything else, it’s a negative drag on them. It may have a positive end but it’s a payment that they have to make. Therefore, we often suggest to them that they look at using the equity in their home to pay off the proposal. So, even though they’ve done something under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, can you still help them with that? |
| David | Sure, yeah. We do get people who are in a proposal alone but the lenders will typically want to see the balance of the proposal being paid out in one shot from the loan proceeds. |
| Richard | That’s a normal consolidation factor, isn’t it? |
| David | Yes. |
| Richard | They don’t want the semi pay-outs? |
| David | No. They want a hundred percent payout. Correct me if I’m wrong but let’s say, there’s $1,000 monthly payment on a proposal. If somebody was to make a lump sum payment, it’s not going to reduce the thousand dollar-a-month. |
| Richard | I should say that it prepays is the proposal, so they can reduce their payments if they’re ahead. |
| David | Okay. That’s an interesting point. Generally speaking, lenders want to see the proposal paid out in full from the proceeds. It’s worth mentioning though that sometimes when people are looking to do a proposal they can get a mortgage at the same time and do a lump sum. |
| Richard | In other words, they can use their equity to fund the proposal process to get out of debt. |
| David | Right. Rather than having payments over five years, they could do it in a one-time shot and it’s done. |
| Richard | Then, they can amortize their payments over a longer stretch through the mortgage process. |
| David | Right. |
How to improve credit rating after a bankruptcy or consumer proposal |
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| Richard | Some of our viewers might be people who have done bankruptcy or a proposal and they perhaps have gone all the way through it. One of the things that’s going to be uppermost in their minds is regaining the good credit status that they used to have. Can you help them with that? |
| David | There are some things that people can do to re-establish their credit. The first thing they can do is get a secured credit card. Home Trust is a company that offers it. In a secured credit card, put down some money which they’ll hold on to. You can put down $1,000 or $1,500. They’ll hold the money but they’ll give you a credit card that you can start using. It’s convenient as a way to start rebuilding your credit. lt operates like a regular credit card except they’re holding on to some of your money.
You can also get a car loan because car lending companies are pretty flexible. They’ll charge a higher rate on a car but it’s a good way to start to re-establish credit. Eventually, you can get a mortgage from a bank if you’ve had two full years of re-established credit. By no means game over for you if you declare bankruptcy or go for a proposal. You do get a second chance. |
| Richard | Is there a difference, in your experience, for people who have done bankruptcy or proposal in their speed with which they can recover their credit rating? |
| David | I haven’t really noticed a difference. As from a lender’s point of view, they look at the date of completion of a proposal or from the date of discharge of the bankruptcy. A bank or an A-lender want to see two years minimum of re-established credit. You must make all of your payments on time in the proposal.
B-lenders will give you a mortgage lump sum the next day after a discharge of the bankruptcy or completion of a proposal. You may need to have it with a minimum of 25% down and a good provable income but they’ll do it one even one day after the discharge. You may not ever be able to get a mortgage from an institution who was part of the loss. So, if you lost money with the Bank of Montreal, you go to Royal Bank. If you lost money with both Royal Bank and the Bank of Montreal, you go to TD. If you lost money from all of them, then you have a problem. There’s always a lot of lenders out there. If you take steps to reestablish your credit, you do get a second chance. |
| Richard | This can happen immediately? |
| David | It can happen immediately, not with a bank but with our alternative lender. They’ll charge a little bit higher rate but if you’re back in the saddle, you’re making money, you can show you’re making money, and you’ve got 25% down. |
| Richard | But it doesn’t happen by itself. You have to be proactive about it. you have to be the one to make it happen. In other words, you can’t sit on the sidelines and expect your credit rating to come back automatically. |
| David | That’s correct. You gotta get out there and whatever the situation was that led to the loss, if it’s something that’s in your control, hopefully, you’ve learned something from it. It took a little while to get yourself set in the right direction. |
| Richard | People that go through the process to deal with an insolvent situation, they’re not happy about it but by the time they get through that, they’re pretty well-resolved not to repeat this process ever. It happens because they can’t foresee the future but they’re well aware that they don’t want to go through this again. |
| David | It’s a second chance. It’s a glass-half-full. They’ve learned some lessons and it’s a renewal to be let off the hook for getting into all that debt. |
Will I lose My House If I go Bankrupt In Ontario? |
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| Richard | On that particular point, I was telling you earlier that when people come in to see us and they have a home, the first thing they say to us it is “I don’t want to lose my house.” Now, what would you say to something like that at that point?
If you decide to do a proposal or bankruptcy, it doesn’t mean you’re going to lose your house. You have to disclose it because it is court-ordered. But I know that a good trustee like yourself has ways to arrange things so that people don’t have to necessarily lose their house. The idea of the bankruptcy, proposal, or the insolvency process is to serve both parties. You have two protagonists. You have a debtor and the creditors and they’re both supposed to get something out of this law. The debtor will get a fresh start and all the rest of the good stuff but the lender will have to resign himself to get what he can from the assets. However, if there’s equity in the home, some of the creditors agree with this completely that as long as they get the kind of money out of the situation that they were going to get if the house were sold, they don’t mind if the people get to keep the house. |
| David | Yes. They’re not looking to put people out on the street. |
| Richard | Well, David, I appreciate you coming down and I’m going to ask you one last question. People are looking at you here and listening to you. What would you say to them in terms of why they should come and see you under whatever circumstances they’re in? |
| David | Whatever the circumstances, it’s important to talk to people who know their business. I’ve been in mortgages for a long time and I deal with both prime borrowers. More of my business is in the alternate space, dealing with people who are not getting what they want for any reason. Furthermore, I’ve had a fair bit of experience dealing with people who have credit issues and who have debt issues. Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and give me a call because you just never know. |
| Richard | It’s a no-lose situation, isn’t it? |
| David | It’s a no-lose situation. There’s no charge for advice. We don’t get paid unless we arrange a mortgage. That’s the nature of our business. We want to help people and I can pick up the phone and tell them what we know. |
| Richard | I’ve had this sitting on my table. I’ve written this book and the program itself is called after the title of this book. There are many different little intentions of this book but one of the main reasons why I produced the book is because there are several people I’ve seen go through the insolvency process. They let it get them down and let it diminish them in some way. The process should have a different outcome, an ultimate result. When people deal with us, we try to get at that and make sure that they can see the process that we’re going to apply would allow them to make life better. But you can’t get there unless you have the right attitude. And so, we call that The Glass Half-Full just to denote that attitude is a huge part of accomplishing anything in life. So, what you would say is that maybe these words would have a lot of impact on your business, too? |
| David | Every day, that’s the way. You have to make a choice of how you see things that come your way. The problems are opportunities, so, I think it’s a great approach. Moreover, I think you have a great show and I appreciate you inviting me to be on it. |
| Richard | It’s a pleasure to have you |
How To Get A Mortgage with Bad Credit
| Richard | Today we have with us, David Grossman. He’s a mortgage broker with Rock Your Mortgage which serves the Greater Toronto Area. Dave has been arranging mortgages for people for over fifteen years now and he brings to us a wealth of experience and know-how to a business which I find somewhat mysterious and a little bit intimidating. |
| Richard | What Does A First-time Homebuyer Need To Know? |
| David | There are several things that lenders are looking for. Presumably, people would need a mortgage. Most people don’t pay cash. Therefore, they need to have savings of at least:
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| Richard | Is there Anything Else They Need to Know? |
| David | Besides having a down payment, the other things that lenders are looking for are credit, income, and the type of property.
Credit Credit is important. People need to take steps to establish credit and maintain it. For a first-time homebuyer, lenders want to see that they have a history of at least a couple of years. The assumption is that people want to get mortgages from the bank or places like a bank, therefore, for those types of borrowers, they need to have about five to ten percent down payment. Income First-time borrowers need to have income too. If they are salaried, lenders want to see their job letters and pay stubs. If they’ve been in the job for less than one year, lenders would want to see some history of income. Moreover, people need to build up some credit. |
| Richard | If Borrowers Are Applying For Mortgages Through your Services, What Are The Mechanics of Doing It? |
| David | The first thing people usually do is give me a call. I’ve got a direct number that people can reach me on and I’d like to have a quick conversation with people to start. Within five to ten minutes, we can determine what’s the scope of what’s going on whether it’s a purchase or a refinance, or a pre-approval. We also take into account its urgency. Does somebody need the money to pay out a creditor in two days?
Once I know that there’s a potential deal, I will send people a two-pager application that they need to fill out and sign. Subsequently, I’ll give them a list of papers that we’ll need to go after the mortgage. |
| Richard | We were talking about this $75,000 down payment on a million-dollar home the downpayment to get a mortgage with a bank. There are other places where you can get mortgages. Do they not have similar requirements? |
CMHC Insurance and High Ratio Mortgages In Ontario |
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| David | There are A-lenders. They are banks, credit unions, and trust companies. With those lenders, you can get high-ratio financing. A lot of people have heard of CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Home Corporation). It is a government-run and they’re there to help Canadians buy homes. |
| Richard | Is CMHC an insurance program? |
| David | That’s right. It’s an insurer, however, it’s not in the way that people normally think about insurance. Unlike life insurance or car insurance, it comes at a borrower’s expense but it protects the lender. |
| Richard | How does CMHC help the borrower? |
| David | It helps the borrower because now, they can get high ratio financing or small down payment. |
| Richard | What If They Still Want To Buy a Million-dollar Home? |
| David | They can get it with just $75,000 down payment with the insurance. If you don’t have insurance on it, you’ve got to have 20% down payment. |
| Richard | Is the Bank Mortgage through CMHC as well? |
| David | Yes. The $75,000 is for an insured mortgage. If you have enough money, you can get it uninsured and make at least 20% down payment. |
Mortgage requirements for Self Employed People In Ontario |
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| Richard | You were telling me that there are papers that they need to bring to you. Are these requirements different if the borrower is self-employed? |
| David | There’s a key difference for self-employed people often in that self-employed people are going to minimize what they report for tax purposes. One of the benefits of being self-employed is that you can have legitimate tax expenses. Oftentimes, if a self-employed individual goes to the bank, the first thing the bank asks is their tax returns and notice of assessments. And the net income per the tax return and the notice of assessments are often not reflective of what’s happening.
Somebody could have $200,000 in sales and their net income is only $40,000. The bank looks at the $40,000 and may approve them for a $200,000 to $250,000 mortgage but this is somebody who might be able to afford $500,000 to $600,000 and wants a bigger home. Therefore, we have lenders which are not the prime banks. We have alternative institutional lenders. They charge between a half a point to a point more than the banks. They’ll also amortize the loan over a slightly longer period. Therefore, even though there’s a higher rate, the payment will still be affordable. This way, even self-employed people can get the mortgages that they want and still benefit from some of the tax write-offs. |
The 3 types of mortgage lenders in Ontario |
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| Richard | You mentioned A-lender before and I’ve heard the term ABC. How many are there? |
| David | Some lenders can go to Z but I think A, B, and C are good categories. |
| Richard | Can you tell me who are they? What makes an A-lender, B-lender and what are some of the pitfalls that one might accrue to dealing with one or the other? |
| David | There are three different types of lenders. A-lenders are essentially prime lenders or bank type of lenders, which most people would like to get a mortgage from because that’s where they would get the best rates and the best terms. In that same category are credit unions, trust companies, and there are many institutions out there that we consider as A-lenders that people have never heard of that serve strictly the mortgage brokerage community. There’s no shortage of A-lenders out there but they look for people who have a good credit and provable income.
The next category is B-lender. A B-lender is also an institution who will take self-employed borrowers. They’re more flexible in how they look at income and credit. Hence, people who have credit issues might still be able to get a mortgage from a B-lender. B-lenders will charge a percentage point more or less premium over what the bank is charging. If you can get your loan from an institution, either an A or B-lender, that’s the best-case scenario. However, if you’re in a pinch, there are C-lenders which are also known as private lenders. Private lenders include individuals who just like to lend out money on mortgages and MICs which stands for Mortgage Investment Corporations that do private loans. These are high-risk types of loans that you wouldn’t be able to get from an institution so you pay higher rates. Moreover, you pay fees. They are more expensive and should be avoided, if possible. The other thing about private loans or the C-mortgages is that they’re usually short-term loans. Therefore, lenders will want to know how are you going to repay the loan. That’s an important question. As a borrower, if you need it as a bridge to get over a hump, then it’s alright. However, you have to think long-term. You need to take into account that private lenders don’t always want to renew and if they do their fees could be high. If you get a one-year term and that lender is not prepared to renew the loan at the end of the year, you need to have a plan to get out of that private mortgage either by refinancing at the end of the year or selling the property. |
| Richard | For anybody, whether they’re a first-time buyer or not, the ideal thing is to try and get an A-lender mortgage, right? |
| David | Ideally, you want an A-loan but I also deal with a lot of people who don’t mind dealing with B-lenders. they don’t mind paying a little bit higher because it allows them to save a lot of money on their taxes as they’re not shy about writing down the legitimate business expenses. They don’t mind paying a little bit higher rate if it gets them into the property that they want and can afford. |
The Mortgage Stress Test In Ontario Explained |
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| Richard | A lot of people heard about the Mortgage Stress Test which is a relatively recent development. Can you explain that? |
| David | At the beginning of 2018, the Canadian federal government decided that they needed to take some steps to cool down the market. They implemented or imposed this stress test which applies to almost all institutional lenders except a few lenders that are provincially-regulated. However, the lion’s share of institutional lenders out there are federally-regulated.
It is called a stress test because you have to qualify for the mortgage as though it was 2 percentage points higher than the rates you are actually getting. For example, you’re borrowing at 3.5% and they look at what the payment is and figure out how much you can afford and how much mortgage they’re willing to give you. With the stress test, the rate goes up from 3.5% to 5.5% and then they look at how much they think you can afford and the result is that you could you can only get a smaller mortgage. That has really thrown a wet blanket on the real estate market. |
| Richard | If you’re borderline in terms of your means, this really might cramp your style. |
| David | Yes, it could definitely impact. But I think they’ve acknowledged that they’ve done enough to cool off the market, therefore, there’s a new incentive coming out to help first-time buyers. |
RESPs (Registered Education Savings Plan) |
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| Richard | There’s a lot of public discussions about the government assisting people to be able to get into the market. What is it out there for people? |
| David | There’s a couple of things. First of all, there has been a program where you can use the money that’s in your RESPs (Registered Education Savings Plan). That’s been around for quite a few years. I think the maximum was $25,000 per person that you could take out of your RESP tax-free. You have over 15 years to put that money back into your RESP. I believe the government has just increased that to $35,000 per person.
There’s a new thing coming up very soon where the government is going to contribute like a partner in your home. If the family makes less than $120,000 a year and your down payment is 10% or less, they could potentially get part of that government program. |
| Richard | Is it repayable? |
| David | Yes, when you sell the house. You have like 25 years to repay the government, therefore, I think it’s a plus. It’s free money. They haven’t released all of the details yet but we should know more very soon. |
| Richard | They have a similar program for RESPs where the government contributes. |
| David | Yes, that’s right. |
| Richard | In the insolvency business, we run into these things. RESPs are factored because they become an asset of the bankruptcy, however, not the part that the government has put in. Let’s say, there’s $1,000 on your RESP and the government put in 20%. Then, it’s only worth $800 to your creditors if you’re the owner of the RESP. I wonder if it’s going to be a similar kind of thing. |
| David | Yeah. I’m interested to see how that impacts people in a case of bankruptcy. |
| Richard | In the bankruptcy, the property itself is actually on the table. The creditors, through the trustee, have a right to the equity of the property. Whereas, if you don’t get to that stage in a proposal, then the RESP is a hypothetical asset. It’s not really at risk.
That’s not the actual money that the person would end up with if they sold their house. There are costs of selling them so the real equity they might have in that place might only be $175,000 instead of $200,000. Equity is the difference between what the thing is worth against what you might owe. |
This is the end of Part One of the Interview with Mortgage broker David Grossman. Stay tuned for Part Two of the interview.
How to Save Money with Credit Cards
Many of us abuse the use of our credit cards and often end up in debt. However, if you can use the plastic in a responsible manner, you can actually save money with credit cards, and are often better off using them rather than paying in cash.
Here are some money saving strategies you can take advantage of to get the most out of your credit cards.
Rewards and Points
When you have a credit card that earns points, you can earn as much as five points for every dollar you spend. There are also several occasions when companies will offer special three-month promo periods where you can earn double or triple the usual amount of points. When you reach a certain point threshold, you can redeem your points by buying items direct from the credit card company’s rewards catalog or exchange those points for hotel stays, merchandise, gas, shopping vouchers or lifestyle experiences like concert tickets, movie tickets, fitness trackers and spa treatments.
The trick is to find the right rewards card that best fits with your spending pattern. For example, if you patronize a particular brand of clothing, gas station, hotel chain or airline, you can earn points and enjoy rewards faster. In this way, you get to Save money with credit cards in exchange for points and rewards and enjoy some really great perks — which if you add everything up is basically more beneficial than if you paid outright with cash.
Frequent-Flyer Miles
With travel rewards credit cards, you would rack up miles every time you book a flight with a specific airline. When you have accumulated enough frequent-flyer miles, you can redeem these miles for airline tickets, special airline discounts, companion tickets, hotel room discounts and other perks such as rental cars, use of airport lounges, cruises, trip cancellation insurance, trip delay reimbursement, lost luggage reimbursement and other reward options. Now that’s some very valuable mileage with huge savings for you! If you travel frequently – as in a lot – this could be a very valuable credit card reward for you. It goes without saying that if you barely ever travel, this is not the type of credit card for you.
Cash Back
Cashback credit cards are great because you can literally earn cash back every time you make a purchase on your credit card. The cashback is credited back to you on your monthly bill. When you check your next monthly statement, you can see the cashback offsetted on the month’s credit card bill. Some cards offer 2%, 3% or even as much as 6% cash back on selected purchases. There are some cards that offer an even higher rate of cash back but requires you to deposit the cash reward directly into an investment account.
With a cash back card, you can earn rebates mostly on dining, groceries, gas, food delivery, for shopping at specific stores. This lets you save money with credit cards on essentials like food, fuel, groceries and other daily necessities. However, cash back cards require a minimum spend each month before you can start earning cashback and they set a limit to how much cashback you can earn per month. If you’re confident you can hit the minimum monthly spend without hurting your budget, then the cashback reward may be worth it to help you save money on groceries, dining, petrol and other essentials every month.
Consolidate your credit card debt carefully
If you have high credit card debt , you can transfer your credit card balances to help you pay off debt. A balance transfer card offers a 0% or a low APR on the amount that is moved over, but only for a limited introductory period. To make sure you save money on this strategy, you need to be able to pay off the entire debt balance before the promotional rate period is over, in order to avoid any increase in the card rate. You can still save money whether the new card offers a 0% or low APR, and in the end it may still be worth doing a balance transfer because essentially the new balance transfer card carries a much lower APR than your old credit card. Calculate everything carefully. It would help a lot if you do a cost benefit analysis so you can take into account all costs and charges, like if you’ll be charged a balance transfer fee if you do the switch.
It’s impossible to get into debt trouble if you know how to use credit cards to your advantage. In fact, there have been many instances where the credit savvy can even save money with credit cards and use them in the most favorable way. They are a very handy tool to have in your life and if you are careful about how you manage your spending when using credit cards you can benefit a lot from all the perks they offer without damaging your credit and putting yourself in debt trouble.
4 Money Saving Tips That Can Help You to Save on Groceries
According to Statistics Canada, the average Canadian family of 4 people spends about $214 on food for each person every month. And, this is just for groceries and does not include eating out. Financial experts recommend cutting down this average budget to only $125 per person on food each month. That’s a pretty tight budget! Can you do it?
Try these money saving tips:
Make a Grocery List and Stick to it
The best way to shop is to have a list on what things you need to buy and to make it a point to buy just what’s on the list. This avoids impulse spending, and according to research if you make a habit of sticking to your list you can save up to 23% on your grocery bill. Now, that’s huge savings already!
A grocery list will also help you plan your meals for the week. When you’re planning your weekly menu make a grocery list based on your plan. So every week, you have a meal plan and a list to guide you to buy more nutritious and less pricier food items and you can avoid buying expensive and unhealthy food items on impulse.
Stock Up on food items on sale
The month of February is National Canned Food month in Canada. Did you know that? Well, it is and it’s during this time when you’ll likely find specials on canned produce, so take advantage and stock up on things like canned beans, tomatoes and even canned fruits.
Another themed month linked to saving money on food is on March which has been declared as Nutritious Food Month by the Dietitians of Canada. Frozen foods packed full of vitamins and minerals likely go on sale, so it’s a great time to stockpile on frozen veggies and fruits, and also bread and meat.
Canned and frozen vegetables and fruits can be a huge money saver especially when fresh produce is out of season and still very expensive to buy.
Another great way to look at what’s on sale is to take the time to browse through grocery store flyers, newspaper ads and online to see what items are on sale and which stores you can get them.
Remember to stock up on only things that you normally use. It’s the only way this will work. You won’t save if you go splurging on food items that you don’t need. By stocking up on grocery items that are on sale, you can save about ten percent to twenty percent or even more on your grocery bill for the month.
Go on a meatless diet
Canned and frozen vegetables and fruits are also just as nutritious as fresh produce. So, even if you’re saving big on costs you’re not going to compromise on nutrition. Now, here we have another way to bring down your monthly food shopping bill. Plan out meal recipes wherein you can make use of these canned and frozen vegetables and fruits, for example, you can make large batches of soups, chili, stews, pie fillings, cookie dough batches, or prepare meatless meals like bean burritos with salad, rice and bean casseroles with vegetables, vegetable and cheese omelets with whole grain toast and tofu vegetable stir fry on rice noodles, the recipe list can be endless.
When you serve meals with nutritious, fiber-rich meat-free alternatives, you eat less meat, which is healthy and good for the whole family, and you also buy less meat, which will cut your food costs significantly.
Skip Grocery Shopping
Another food saving hack you can plan your budget on is to skip grocery shopping once every month. When you stockpile on groceries when they are on sale, you can live off of what you stockpiled and then skip grocery shopping at least once every month. If you can’t do this every month, then aim to do it maybe once every three months for a start. It will still save you more or less 25% on your food costs for the year.
Yes, food is expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. There are many ways for Canadian families to save on groceries every month and still eat well and healthy. All it takes is some strategic planning. Use these money saving ideas to start with and then try combining other money saving hacks you can find and in no time you can make it possible to lower your grocery budget and save some serious money that you can put towards other financial goals.
4 Real Ways to Make Money Online and Increase Your Budget
Building a lucrative side hustle that can let you make extra income can really be a lifesaver. For one, it can let you earn unlimited income. With a traditional job you have your regular income, now if you augment that with a side business that literally does not limit you to how much you can earn. Imagine what all that extra money can do to help you reach your financial goals — maybe it can help you pocket a few extra dollars to save up for that family vacation you’ve been planning for a long time, or maybe you can finally catch up paying some much-needed bills or maybe even start saving and building your emergency fund.
Looking for a side hustle to make extra money isn’t hard. Not with the advent of the Internet which has opened so many opportunities to make money online. Of course, you’ll have to choose carefully as some opportunities can be a scam. However, if you do it right and work really, really hard, you can make a decent income with a few of these legit online opportunities.
Earn cash by using apps
There are companies that will pay you to simply download and install apps on your cell phone and leave them there to run in the background and it will track your spending and purchasing habits. They pay you to use the data for marketing research purposes. If you’re interested in a passive way to make money online, try out these apps: Nielsen Digital Voice App, Smart Panel, Media Insider Panel.
There are also apps that pay you to do various tasks, like watching TV, exercising, or taking photos. You simply select tasks from their list of tasks and you earn money when you complete it. The Ibotta app, for example, let’s you take photos of your receipts and get rebates. Another platform, perk.Tv, lets you make money by watching videos on android phone. Inboxdollars is a search engine app that pays you to search the web.
Test Websites and get paid
There are companies that ask people to run through a site and perform user testing. You then give them feedback on whether the site is user-friendly or not, does it have too many pop-ups, can links be found easily, are the fonts and colors readable, is it easy to navigate, does it load fast, and is using the site in general a pleasant experience or is it a pain. You just basically have to have a basic understanding of what makes a website user-friendly, then you simply surf the web, click around on a site, take some notes, and you’re all done. You can earn anywhere from $10 to $15 for about 20 minutes of work. That’s not bad at all! If you think you can do this, here are some reputable sites you can check out : UserTesting, Enroll, TestingTime, TryMyUI, UserFeel, UserLytics and UserZoom.
Get paid to do a gig
If you’re a master at doing odd jobs, you can sell your services on Fiverr. You can sell just about anything on this platform, tarot reading, creating unique cartoon portraits, write resumes and cover letters, create social media graphics, create video advertisements, make crafts, any talent that you’re really good at that you can do for five dollars and someone will pay for you to get it done. All you need to do is sign-up to post a job, set your price and wait for people to contact you and request for your services. Prices start at $5, but you can set your prices higher if you can offer premium value for your service. Don’t give up if you don’t make money fast as there have been many sellers who ultimately earn six-figure-plus revenues annually.
Answer questions and make money
There are websites that can pay you to answer questions with your expertise. This is a great side hustle that can help you make money online, particularly if you have a high-level skills such as medicine, law, automotive, veterinary, information technology and other expert skill or knowledge in a particular field. JustAnswer is one of the best websites for earning money answering questions. It’s very high trafficked so you have more opportunities to connect with visitors and get thousands of questions a day. If you have technical expertise, you can try answering questions in FixYa which is related more towards fixing electronics and mechanical things. If you become a top expert, you can easily earn $1,000 each month just helping people solve their problems.
There many legit ways to make money online and avoid financial problems like debt and bankruptcy. However, just like a traditional job, it’s not something that is going to be easy. You won’t get rich quick. It’s going to take a lot of work and you’re going to have to really commit because it might take awhile to make more than a few dollars. Ultimately, hard work will pay off and you’ll soon be enjoying the benefits of having a side hustle or two to earn extra money.
3 Popular Ways You Can Make Extra Money to Pay Off Debt
Having a traditional 9-5 job is great. It will give you regular pay, that means having a steady income you can rely on to meet all your basic needs. But what about if you have a heavy debt load and need to pay off those debts? Your regular pay won’t be enough. You’ll need to look for ways you can make extra money and meet those extra needs so you can get out of debt quickly.
Making extra money is the best way to increase your income. Of course, you will need to cut your spending back. However, that can only get you so far. A lucrative side hustle can bring in much needed cash flow that you can use to put toward paying off your debt.
Here are some great ways to bring in more cash every month which you can all do in your spare time.
Sell items online
Selling stuff online is one of the surest ways you can make extra money. If you’re getting rid of any of your used items, such as household appliances, furniture, used books, collectibles, or pretty much anything you’re not using, you can try selling them on Kijiji, Craigslist and Ebay. All you need to do is list the items for sale and you can start selling right away and earn some extra bucks quickly. If you specialize in some craft or hobby, like knitting, painting and jewelry making, a great place to sell this is on Etsy. If you’ve got a really good product, Amazon would be a great place to sell your stuff. You can even make the leap into entrepreneurship, start small and then slowly but surely build your brand and expand your business, who knows maybe one day you can build your own online store where you can sell all your products. If you don’t have your own product to sell, you may want to look into dropshipping as an option. You can also sell for others as an affiliate and collect a commission for each sale you make.
If you don’t want to create listings and ship items and pay a service fee for using these sites, there are many neat apps nowadays that make selling items online a much quicker and much easier process. There’s Let Go, where you can sell anything from smartphones to shoes. Poshmark is a luxury fashion app where you can sell your high-end handbags, shoes, clothes and accessories. 5Miles is an app that is much more location specific, so you can put up local classified ads and yard sales online and sell your stuff to buyers that are within five miles of your location.
Drive on your spare time
Why not drive for Uber or Lyft on your spare time? It’s another popular way for making money nowadays. Thanks to the boom of the sharing economy more passengers are in need of rides and Uber and Lyft drivers are sought-after by employers. The great thing is, they have this very neat feature where you can turn on and off your availability on their networks by just clicking a button on your phone, so in effect you can set your own schedule, run it as your own side business, and make good money in the process.
Rent your home or a spare room on Airbnb
If you are willing to rent out a spare room or even your entire home to travelers for a short period of time, AirBnB can be a great resource for you to make extra money. Just create an account and list your space or home for free and you can decide your own schedule, when your home or room is available, and also have full control of prices and requirements for guests. When your listing goes live, guests can start to contact you and you can communicate with them through chat message or any means you’re comfortable with. You get paid 24 hours after a guest checks in. Some people have managed to make this a very lucrative sideline for them that it has become their primary source of income source.
By earning extra money you can earn a respectable amount of cash that’s going to supplement your income and help you to get out of your debt plan as soon as possible. It’s not hard to find opportunities at all as nowadays there are many ways you can make extra money and earn a few extra bucks to pay off your debt. All you really need to do is make the decision and commit yourself to it.
Understanding your credit rating
When it comes to managing debt, do credit rating reports help?
There is a simple way to avoid taking on personal debt: never take out a loan without first knowing its purpose, the long-term goals and benefits it will achieve, and the plan to pay it back. Simply put, use credit with good judgment ideally to profit from your borrowing. But as we all know, we often borrow without considering the consequences, and then we find that our debts pile up quickly, resulting in an overall negative impact on our financial position.
Look before you leap
The best way to know how to control debt is to look before we leap. We need to ask ourselves if the credit is necessary, what it will involve, is there a better way to get what we want without incurring this debt and how fast will we be able to get rid of it. Also, it’s good to know where we stand with our creditors. If we know exactly who we owe, we can figure out how much we owe, either as a pay-out figure or as an amount to be repaid over time. If we’re not sure who we owe we can also pull our credit report from each of the two national credit bureaus in Canada: Equifax Canada and TransUnion Canada. If we just need to see what debts we have and how much we owe, looking at our credit reports is a great place to start, though it probably won’t be able to provide current amounts owing.
These credit bureaus are companies who carry a file on each of us which was opened the first time we applied for a credit card and it contains all our financial information, at least where our credit is concerned. This information is usually supplied by the credit companies with which we do business. When we request a report, it will give a fairly detailed summary of our individual credit history including key information on all our financing transactions like our credit card balances, outstanding mortgage, auto or student loans. It will also note any negative events like a default collection record, bankruptcy or consumer proposal filings, or any other court-related event like a judgment or garnishee, tax liens and even promissory note defaults from personal loans, even from friends and family if they are reported. The credit bureau report will also provide past creditor information that we may have forgotten about because a lot of time has elapsed since we last paid them.
Ideally, obtaining a report from both credit reporting agencies is a good idea because there is no guarantee that they will both have the same information. But before requesting a report, it’s important to know a few things about how this system works and that our rights are protected. In Ontario, the credit bureaus are regulated by the provincial government through the Consumer Reporting Act. This law lays out:
● what a consumer reporting agency can report,
● how a consumer’s credit report can be used,
● when someone can request a credit report, and
● what consumers can do if their files contain any information that is wrong or incomplete.
The Consumer Reporting Act also recognizes that businesses, landlords and employers need to have correct information, but at the same time it must ensure:
● that agencies collect, maintain and report our credit and personal information responsibly;
● our right to know what is being reported about us and to whom; and
● our right to correct (or fix) information about ourselves that is inaccurate.
When we receive our report, we will see a score — a number on a scale — that indicates whether we are in good stead with our creditors or whether we have some adjustments to make to improve our score. Basically, every transaction we make, every application we file and every legal action we get involved with ends up on our file for others to see, and those actions are taken into account when determining our score. While on the surface, this process may seem daunting, but in fact it’s empowering. Not only can we ensure that our information is true and accurate, we can also use the knowledge to improve how we manage our debt, which is good news.
Richard Killen, Licensed Insolvency Trustee and author of the new eBook The Glass is Half Full which is now available to be downloaded for free from iBooks, Amazon, Indigo and Kindle. Richard Killen & Associates, with offices conveniently located across the GTA, have been helping Canadians resolve their debt issues since 1992.
How to Save Money When You Are Broke
Is it possible to save money when you are broke and a big chunk of your income goes towards paying monthly expenses and dealing with debt? Saving money even while you are getting out of debt and have a low income should not be as difficult as many people think. Of course, you will need to make a few changes to how you currently do things, like following a strict budget and really making an effort to live within your means, but those changes don’t have to be overly radical in that you deprive your family and yourself too much that you can no longer live a decent lifestyle.
Here are some strategies to help you do this the right way:
Make a budget
To be able to save money when you are broke, you will definitely need to start paying attention to how you spend every dollar because the little things that you do day-to-day matter a lot! It’s all about taking control of your money and your financial situation and in order to have that power you need to know where each penny goes. When you are aware of this, it will enable you to make the right decisions on how you spend. Creating a monthly budget is the single most effective way to help you keep track of your spending and savings. Budgeting and savings apps will make this task easy for you as they can help you manage your finances on the go direct from your smartphone. No need to log in anywhere else or bring out a pen and paper. Some popular apps you can try out are: Mint.com, Receipts, Debt Minder, Debt Manager, iExpenselt, and many others. Choose one that best suits your budgeting and money management needs, and really be disciplined to make it work for you. Set aside the time each day or week to look at your app and keep an eye on your spending activities, this way you will really see results.
Make adjustments on household expenses
Once you have your budget set up, you can get to work on making some tweaks to your lifestyle. First thing to look at is if you are spending your money on what’s necessary like grocery, water bill, electric bill, gas, etc. Then, make adjustments and cut back on some things.
- Reduce your water usage. Small things like taking shorter showers, installing low-flow faucets and shower-heads, installing a rain barrel and other unwasteful ways will not only bring lots of savings on your water bill but you’re also helping to save the environment.
- Look for ways to lower your energy usage every day. Things like lowering your thermostat, running full loads in the dishwasher and clothes washer, opening drapes and blinds during the day to use up solar energy are some sensible options to conserve energy and save cost.
- Find practical ways to save money on groceries. One of the best ways to cut spending on food is to eat out less. Start making little changes like cooking your own meals, bringing your own lunch, making your own coffee everyday instead of dining out at cafes and restaurants and you will find that you can easily save thousands of dollars on your food budget per year.
- Let go of the cable tv and cancel other subscriptions that are not really needed, like your magazine subscription or your gym membership.
- Save on gas bill and transportation costs. This is also a significant expense for most Canadian households, including your own. The cost of gas is expensive and public transport is not free, so cutting down on this expense will make a huge difference on the budget. Consider carpooling or walking or biking, maybe you can buy cheaper gas in your area – use free apps like GasBuddy, Gas Guru or Waze to help you find cheap gas, or try talking to your HR department if they have any programs available that will subsidize the cost of gas expenses or public transportation.
- Quit your bad habits, like smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol. A smoking and drinking habit is extremely costly. A pack of cigarettes in Ontario, for example, can be from $18.37 a pack. That means you could be spending as much as $569 per month if you smoke a pack a day. To give you a clearer perspective of how much your bad habits costs you, try using this expense calculator to see how much money you could be spending on something else.
- Cut back on shopping. You will pay a lot less, for example, if you shop at thrift stores. You can find a lot of stuff, clothes, appliances, odd items, that have never been used, worn, or even opened. Another great way to save money on shopping is to avail of cash backs where you can get a little of your money back on purchases you make. When you shop at retailers like Amazon, Target, and Starbucks, for example, they can let you earn points for each dollar you spend and also get exclusive coupons and deals.
- Find ways to pay off your mortgage faster. As a rule of thumb, your housing expense should not take up more than 30% of your income. If this is not the case with your household, then you may need to refinance for a lower mortgage rate. Getting that interest rate down will save you money and enable you to use that money to pay off your mortgage faster so you can get out of debt more quickly.
It’s these little stuff in your daily habits that can add up. However, you have to find ways to cut back, even eliminate some things, especially when you are broke and have debts to pay off. If you watch closely what you spend, you will be surprised how much you can save monthly.
Make sure you have enough savings
Regardless of your situation, you have to start an emergency savings account. It is very important to have a little bit of money saved up even when you are paying off a lot of debts. You can start small and maintain that amount until you have a bit of wiggle room. The aim is to save and make sure you have some cash to pay for emergency expenses when they arise. Remember, this money is for emergencies only, so keep it someplace where you can easily access it when you need it but not easily within reach so you won’t be able to spend it spontaneously.
I challenge you to take on a couple of these money saving strategies and maybe find other ways that you can be saving money on a daily basis and then really have the commitment to apply them in your daily life and make them work. You will find that little by little, slowly but surely, you are able to get out of debt faster, your savings account balance will be growing, and you’ll see all your financial dreams come true in no time at all.
How to Save Water at Home and Save Money on Bills This Summer
We’re now just getting into the start of summer and hot, humid summer days are coming. With the rising temperatures comes an increase in water use for most Canadian households, which in turn means a spike in your monthly water bill. So we thought we’d take this time to share some ways to save water at home this summer so you don’t get punched in the wallet with a huge water bill.
Many households experience a dramatic increase in water usage during the summer. Maybe it’s because we take more showers to avoid getting sweaty and smelly. And yes, also the lawn sprinkling, garden watering, car washing, and other yard and garden activities where we use a lot of water. Of course, when we use more water we can expect to see our water bill go up. Now, for a homeowner with lots of debt to pay off and a very tight household budget to manage, a huge spike in your water bill is the last thing you want to see. You have to save money in the budget wherever you can, and reducing water usage, especially during the summer months when you use up more than usual can go a long way in helping to save money on bills.
These tips will greatly help save water usage at home this summer.
Let’s start indoors.
Repair water leaks
The City of Toronto has confirmed to residents that leaky faucets or toilets attribute to higher bills. It is best, therefore, to regularly check if you have any water leak issues in your house that you need to attend to and fast so you don’t waste thousands of litres of water and end up with a massive water bill.
You can do DIY repair on many water leak issues in the home. If you have faucets that are leaking, all you have to do is replace worn-out washers. To check if you have leaky toilets, just do the toilet test. Put a few drops of food coloring in your toilet tank or drop a dye tablet into the toilet tank and lightly stir it. After a few minutes, if the water in your bowl turns color, then your toilet is leaking. You can fix this yourself by replacing with an inexpensive rubber flapper. However, if the toilet is leaking around the base, you will need some professional help to fix this.
Adjust the flow
An easy fix that will save you money and reduce your water use is to regulate the amount of water flowing out of the tap. One effective way is to install low-flow faucet aerators in your kitchen or bathroom sinks. Aerators are inexpensive devices and they can reduce water flow by 25 to 50 per cent. Another way that can save you much in water costs is to use low-flow showerheads, which can reduce water use by about half the amount of water as with a standard flow rate shower head.
Retrofit your toilet
About 30% of water use in the home is caused by toilet flushing. Now, if you really think about it, you don’t need that much to cleanly flush your toilet. A full-flush toilet uses about 18 litres of water per flush, but if you use a low-flow toilet, you can lower water use to just six litres per flush.
Before buying a new toilet, check first if you already have a low flow toilet. Look between the seat and tank for a flush volume stamp. You might find this on the walls of the tank or on the lid itself. There might also be a date stamp inside the tank. If you see a “1.6 gpf or 1.28 gpf,” your toilet is already a low-flow model. If you can’t afford to buy a new toilet just yet, you can simply buy a $10 water retention, displacement or alternative flushing device which you can find at most hardware stores to reduce the water flow of your current toilet.
Now, let’s go outside your home.
Outdoor water use during the summer months can spike consumption by as much as 50%. So, here’s what you can do to save water at home this summer when you are out on your garden or yard.
Garden smarter
One easy tip to follow is to water your lawn at night or early in the morning, ideally before 9:00 am. This way you avoid the heat of the day and reduce evaporation, allowing water to properly sink into the ground. Also, avoid overwatering. Generally, lawns need only about 2.5 cm of water every week. If you have a sprinkler system, you can plan a watering schedule by setting up the timer and making sure that the water comes on at the exact time you’ve scheduled it, and that it does turn off accordingly so that you avoid wasting water on your yard.
Deep watering
Another simple way to help reduce evaporation and thus use less water is to set your lawnmower to maximum height. This way when you cut the grass you leave it just a little taller so that it shades the soil and prevents water to evaporate giving time for the water to soak below the soil surface. The deep watering method lets you use less water because you only need to deep water once a week while at the same time you ensure that water gets to the roots of plants and trees.
Landscape using native and drought-resistant plants
Another advise that the City of Toronto would like residents to follow is to plant native plants and trees in your garden or yard. Common plants and trees like Sugar maple, Red maple, Canada anemone, Cinnamon fern, Lowbush blueberry, Balsam firs, Manzanitas, Black-eyed susan, Red osier dogwood are low maintenance and naturally drought-tolerant which means they will need less water to thrive in the local environment. Not only that, they’ll also help give shade, privacy, color to your property and will help keep your home and yard cooler in the summer – which will help lower your air conditioning costs, too! 😉
It’s really worth it to make the effort to save water at home especially during the summertime because it’s one of the best ways you can save money on your utility bills. It may not seem like a lot of money to save each month, but if you can maintain regular savings in this way every month it can add up significantly over the course of a year.
Free and Cheap Things to Do in Toronto this Spring & Summer 2019
The summer season is upon Canada and everyone’s excited for warm weather. Time to plan out some things to do in Toronto to enjoy the amazingly warm temperature of the Summer months.
Summer is one of the best times of the year in Toronto. Lots of delightful events and activities to lure us to go outside and see the wonderful sights and sounds of the city once again – music festivals, street fairs and parties, flea markets, food and drink events and nature trips.
Let’s go find them…
Capture the beauty of the cherry blossoms in High Park Toronto
First off, let’s celebrate the arrival of the Spring season with a visit to High Park and view the magnificent cherry blossoms on the Sakura trees along the hillside of Grenadier Pond. The cherry blossoms usually reach their peak bloom days in late April or early May, so it’s the best time to see them in all their full pink glory. It’s one of the most popular spring events in the city, so make sure you don’t miss this spectacular blooming experience – it’s totally free!
2019 Spring flower show
If you can’t wait for the cherry blossoms to be in full bloom, you can enjoy the colourful display of fresh spring flowers at the annual Spring & Easter Flower Show held at Allan Gardens Conservatory & Centennial Park Conservatory which will take place until May 10, 2019.These gorgeous gardens and greenhouses are full of all kinds of flowers that are already blooming – daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, fragrant Easter lilies and hydrangeas! There are also a variety of trees, palms and plants from many climates and parts of the world. You won’t miss the coy ponds and the birds, too! A walk through these gardens will surely give you 30 minutes of natural therapy in a colourful and tranquil oasis right in the heart of the city — all for free!
Get back to Mother Nature
Another great way to come out of hibernation and enjoy a great day outdoors is to go walking and hiking at one of the city’s many hike-friendly parks. A great spot is the Humber Arboretum, a 250 acre parkland full of botanical gardens and nature trails for the whole family to enjoy.
The Evergreen Brick Works is another gorgeous place to go hiking in the middle of the city. What it has are tons of hiking trails, mountain biking trails and quiet streams where you’ll enjoy beautiful skyline views and nature walks. Don’t miss the Saturday farmers markets for wonderful local produce and other organic, fresh food items.
Go birdwatching or fishing at the Tommy Thompson Park
Birds have long been known to signal the arrival of Spring and many celebrate by heading to the Tommy Thompson Parks for the annual Spring Bird Festival which will take place on May 11, 2019 in line with International Migratory Bird Day. Tommy Thompson Park is one of the city’s largest green spaces and is a prime hotspot for different types of migratory birds, such as the Baltimore Oriole, Ring-billed Gulls, Black-crowned Night Herons and the Common Terns. You will surely enjoy watching the colorful birds swooping and diving and delight in their sweet chittering sounds as they rest on the branches of trees. It’s a unique urban wilderness full of natural areas such as wildflower meadows, cottonwood forests, coastal marshes, cobble beaches and sand dunes, and of course, the birds, butterflies and fishes! It’s just minutes from downtown so make sure to plan a quick getaway from the hustle and bustle of noisy Toronto.
Cheer on the Jays
The beginning of Spring is also the start of the Blue Jays season. If you love baseball, then of course you won’t want to miss out on the chance to cheer for our home team the Toronto Blue Jays. They promise an exciting season, with 4 home games at the start of April to kick off the season and more throughout the month. You can grab tickets and watch them under the dome at the Rogers Centre or cheer them on with a group of friends at some of Toronto’s best sports bar – there’s Toronto Style Bar & Grill which has some outdoor seating, The Dock Ellis is another good spot to watch sports and enjoy some tasty decently priced food items, and Homestand is Toronto’s newest sports bar and has all sorts of Jays-related events to hype up sports enthusiasts.
Spring festivals galore
Another perfect Spring adventure that’s not to be missed are the Spring festivals.
Kick it off with the exciting outdoor street festival ‘Spring Into Parkdale’ which is taking place on May 12, 2019. It’s an annual event which features a sidewalk sale with tons of outdoor vendors selling food, plants, cell phone cases and many, many more! Plus, there will be live entertainment and free family-friendly activities.
Art festival in Toronto’s Distillery District
The annual Artfest Toronto takes place this year from May 19th to 21st. Local artists from across Ontario, Quebec and other cities and provinces will be exhibiting their amazing art and craft at the beautiful Distillery District. Drop the kids at the Artfest Kids pavilion for a free art workshop while you explore the array of paintings, photography, sculpture, pottery, glass art, jewellery, designer clothing and more. Admission is free, so go and immerse in some fine art!
6th annual film festival
Who would want to miss the largest film festival ever? The annual National Canadian Film Day (NCFD) returns on April 19. This year marks an exciting milestone – the centennial year of Canada’s first blockbuster film, its most successful silent film todate, and its oldest surviving feature film – Back to God’s Country starred by Canadian film actress Nell Shipman. In commemoration of this, the festival will host a selection of films celebrating 100 years of Canadian cinema. So, for the film buffs out there — check the NCFD website and book a screening!
We’re sure you won’t run out of things to do in Toronto this Spring, you probably won’t even have enough time to do all the things that are out there to explore. The best thing is, you won’t really need to open your wallet to have fun and enjoy. Some events and activities are cheap and will cost you just a few dollars but, believe it or not, there’s plenty of free things to do as well!
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