The Experts Speak Video - Saving Money

Video Vignette Transcript

-> Alison Griffith, Columnist, Toronto Star, Host of TV show Maxed Out offers tips on saving money.

“I think saving money is the wrong place to start. I think we need to start at spending money. And the biggest problem Canadians have is we think it’s saving, but in fact it’s spending, the spending comes first. If you spend too much, then obviously you don’t have any money left over to save.

And there’s that old maxim is that ‘don’t spend more than you make.’ Well, that’s really easy to say, but in fact at the end of the month there’s that wonderful anonymous quote that goes something along the lines of ‘why is there so little month left at the end of the money.’ And that is what we need to tackle first in terms of money management; is to control the spending.

And when I say control sending, what I’m talking about actually is starting with tracking your spending. Most Canadians haven’t a clue how much money they spend from week to week or month to month. And once you start there, just start there, track your spending.

Figure out how much goes out every single week. Especially cash withdrawals, and then you’ll find all of a sudden you’re starting to get control of your spending. Once you control the spending, savings happens.”

The Ministry of Consumer Services thanks Alison Griffiths for sharing her advice on this important subject matter.

For more information visit the Ministry’s website at: Ontario.ca/Consumerservices.