It’s no secret that I’m a huge supporter of public libraries for accessing materials like books, ebooks, DVDs, and audiobooks (or even books on cassette tapes for those of us old enough to remember those days). I’m also very blessed to live in an area that has an interlibrary borrowing system that spans the entire province instead of just a single city, meaning that our catalog is pretty broad considering the relatively low population.

This year, I’ve kept myself (mostly) sane while staying inside by consuming massive amounts of content, a lot of which came from my local library.

But…

Your local public library

Your local library is that old streaming service you’ve forgotten that you already pay for with your tax dollars. I’m willing to concede that some are better than others when it comes to the selection of audiobooks available, but a lot of libraries have seriously upped their digital content game in the wake of COVID. I did a quick search and found my own library had over 10,000 audiobooks available that I could listen to instantly from any of my devices, and about 17,000 total (some of the most popular titles did have a waitlist, but I could easily put…

Here are some detailed data-filled results of what happened.

Passive income seems like it’s been having a moment on the internet lately, I suspect due to the current instability of many people’s jobs.

Though many people see it as a total scam (and I honestly can’t blame them with the rise of highly suspect Youtube videos on the topic), the idea of passive income has existed long before the internet.

Amazon’s KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) is just a straightforward and user-friendly way for designers and writers to enter the passive income scene with book royalties, without needing a traditional publishing…

Side hustle

First off, I just want to preface this by saying Amazon offers an incredibly wide array of ways to tap into their massive platform and earn some extra side cash from your couch, whether it’s selling your own products, writing a bestselling novel, narrating audiobooks, or even designing t-shirts.

I’ve tried dabbling in most of them, with pretty unimpressive results up until now.

Enter low/no content publishing, an idea that I first heard about in 2019 and has picked up steam with various Youtube guru’s promising you 10k/month in profit if you buy their usually expensive course. …

Once upon a time, a sweet little 12-year-old version of me got her first computer and a box set of the original Sims games and expansion packs. Looking back, I highly doubt my parents thought it would be a deeply educational experience or knew anything about the mechanics of the game… because there's a good chance I wouldn’t have gotten it if they did.

Fast forward a decade or so, and while I spend too much time playing video games, I think the mechanics often actually translate better to the real world than we give them credit for.

9–5 jobs can have their own unique perks

At this…

Index funds are great, but they aren’t the only way to make money grow

If you spend a lot of time in the Money topic on Medium, or reading personal finance advice on the internet in general, you’re already likely well acquainted with the golden child that is the index fund. Throw your money in (ideally in a tax-advantaged account), let someone else replicate the entire stock market, eventually retire with significantly more money that magically appeared.

This is not an article seeking to shame index funds, or traditional vehicles for building wealth. I use index funds, and I very…

Beyond baking sourdough bread, here’s how I’ll be staying sane inside.

This March, as more and more of us we’re forced indoors thanks to COVID-19, it seems like more and more people started to adopt pastimes that were already staples of my small city work from home lifestyle. We collectively baked bread, started gardens, took up knitting or crochet, and bought so many mason jars it became difficult for seasoned canners to find them anywhere.

As the winter months set in, and it looks like the 2nd wave will be keeping Canadians and much of the rest of the world…

Canada is often seen as a champion of women’s rights, LGBT* freedoms, and liberal ideology when compared to our neighbors to the south. In many ways, this is true, and while more conservative rhetoric exists here, they generally seem to have accepted that certain debates (like the legality of abortion) are off-limits.

However, this time someone has gone too far.

MLA Dan Williams (Peace River), has introduced the “Conscious Rights (Health Care Providers) Protection Act” in Alberta, so that “Health care providers should never have to choose between their most deeply held beliefs and their jobs”.

The bill has now…