TORONTO GIRL CHRONICLES

I love Toronto because it makes me dream. Go out there and enjoy the weather! Who knows what you might find.

These are some of the things I found while walking around Yorkville on a lazy afternoon.

You know how I am always saying save your money, cook your own meals? well, its harder than it sounds isn't it? so I guess I am going to practice what I preach and do as I say. Eating out is ...out, but it doesn't mean deliciousness is out of my life as well. You see, I have friends, and these friends can cook and I have bugged them and bugged them until they gave me their yummy-licious budget friendly recipes.

First up,  T's bean burger recipe. She is a vegetarian cooking goddess and makes these delicious bean burgers. I made them a couple of weeks ago for my meat loving bf and he had seconds, so they're not so bad. They are amazing!!!

Here are the ingredients:



1 Can of Black Beans ( I enjoy Eden's Organics Black Beans)
1/2 Cup of Bread Crumbs ( I like Mr. Pita's because it contains no eggs)
1/2 Cup of Onion chopped to perfection
1 Garlic Clove Crushed
1 tbs of Dried Bay Leaves/ Cuming/ Black Pepper/ Coriander/ Sea Salt (depending on what you like or have around)
1tbs of Canola oil (I use the spray type so its about a 2 second spray)


Instructions:



1) Rinse beans and drain while you chop onion, crush garlic and mix spicies.



2) Mix all ingredients together and mash them up. You can mash them with your bare hands, but I have a food processor so I use mine because I am lazy.



3) Now that  the mixture is ready, roll mixture into a ball and flatten to form a patty. Heat a little bit of oil and place the pattys on the pan until they are browned.



4) Bon Appetite! I like to eat them with a bit of avocado. 2 pattys will leave a regular person satisfied.

Do you have any other delicious and ridiculously easy recipes you'd like to share? e-mail me at torontogirlchronicles@gmail.com or post a comment!

It seems like since I went back to school all I worry about is tests. Well, this morning, I took a particular type of test that I acquiered from INVESTOPEDIA. I did the test to find out what my money personality is. Interestingly enough, I've fit one of the personalities at one point or another. For example, when I started working I was a spender, loving fancy clothes and fancy dinners, a shopper, worried about my addiction but always captivated by a great deal and now I am a saver  (a bit of a shopper once in a while). Its funny how my experiences have taken me from one extreme to the other.

I am very careful with money now. I went through a horrible phase 2 years ago (typical spender/shopper behaviour), where I was spending everything I made and saving very little. Then the expected unexpected happened: I lost my job.The thing was, I had just finished paying my credit card bills, I had a bit more to pay, but I didn't have any savings. NO SAVINGS. Needless to say, this left me a little restless. Fortunately I found a job a couple of days after (the power of networking) but ever since then, I started saving as much as  50% of my paycheck for a rainy day.  I also got a second job so that I could pay travel expenses and support my addiction to all things dance.

Recently, I've made the decision to go back to school, so I had to look at my budget and re-adjust it. Dance had to go, travelling plans suspended (for now), eating out had to be cut down, cell phone plan changed to a more cost efficient one, clothing & book expenses shut down (I'm not allowed to go to the mall) and cabs perpetually banned. I've officially entered the saver zone. Yes, I get upset when my roommates leave the lights on and walk out of the room and I rarely use my credit card. If I can't pay for it now, I don't buy it.

The article also highlights what you can do to balance yourself out. Now that I am conservative saver, I should try and relax a little (although the thought of relaxing stresses me out) and live a little. Most importantly I should learn how to invest properly and learn how to minimize risk while maximuzing results in my investments.  I guess the more I learn about investments the more I will change into an investor/saver, which is ideally where I would like to be.

What ever your personality is, its so important to learn about your money. Talk to your parents, talk to your bank, take courses, learn as much as you can, save as much as you can (ideally no less than 20% - for women).

RESOURCES:

To find you Money Personality click here
For great Budgeting Tools click here
Tips on Saving Money click here
And if you've found the love of your life, read this