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…

The other day I got a text from my husband on his way home from work asking “what do we need to make tomato soup and grilled cheese” which is his not so discrete way of asking if I’ll make soup this week if he picks up the groceries.

Snow has fallen in Saskatchewan and now that it looks like it’s here to stay, my winter love affair with homemade from scratch soups will begin again for the season. It started long before my marriage, in my broke and busy college days.

Truthfully it’s one of the things I’m most…

For the vast majority of my life, I’ve been one of those people who set some pretty lofty New Years resolutions every single year.

And unsurprisingly, without fail, like many of you, by Feburary or March I stopped doing the things that I was supposed to be doing in order to keep those resolutions on track. By the time summer hits, they’re usually completely out the window.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with setting big goals, in fact I’m a big believer in the fact that if your dreams don’t seem a little crazy they aren’t big enough.

The problem with…

For me personally, that translates into buying an acreage before I’m 35 with my husband (I want alpacas for fibre and to be able to grow the majority of my own food… I also want a mini pig and we can’t legally have one within city limits as they’re considered livestock).

It also includes building an income that does not require me leaving the house if I don’t feel like it, and ideally let’s me have some flexibility with the hours I work. See above dream of alpacas.

While this dream may be “my” dream, this dream is not unique.

…

It’s already pretty great, but here are a few simple ways to improve it even more!

1. Find a fun way to incorporate short bursts of physical activity

I recently decided to pick up a mini-trampoline (Thanks Amazon Warehouse deals) and throw it in my living room, directly outside of the tiny bedroom I use as my office and an occasional guest room. It’s honestly probably the best $30 I’ve spent this year. No matter what kind work you do from home, sometimes you just need to look away from your screen for 5 minutes to clear your head. Spending those 5 minutes doing something active really forces you to turn your…