Shake your ass, save the world

Time after time it’s been shown grown-up boys and girls just want to have fun. Express yourself and get footloose with the Breakfast Club Retro Dance fundraiser. You’ll be dancing in the dark to raise money for the Ottawa School Breakfast Program.

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Rocking teased hair and blue eyeliner for BCRD 2015

Until Aug. 31 tickets are only $20 and that feeds a child for an entire month of school days. Sure, right now school’s out for summer but soon everyone will be hot for teacher again. Show some sweet emotion so kids can dream on and start their day with a full tummy.

Because love is a battlefield but getting through a school day shouldn’t be.

Get tickets & more info here

More Details, Fewer Earworms

The Ottawa School Breakfast Program provides over 2 million breakfasts a year. It’s in 177 schools across town, in all school boards and districts. That’s a lot of hungry kids. Surviving school is hard enough without being distracted by hunger.

The Breakfast Club Retro Dance is a high school dance for grownups to raise money for the Program and you’re invited. All of the fun, none of the mean girls!

You remember school. Maybe you had feathered hair and jeans so tight you needed a coat hanger to zip them up. Maybe you teased your hair and destroyed the ozone layer with all the hairspray you used. Maybe you didn’t use makeup because it clashed with your anti-establishment checkered shirt and torn jeans. Whatever your groove, this is the event for you.

We raised almost $4000 last year and *all* of the money goes to the Ottawa School Breakfast Program. Dressing up from your favourite era is encouraged. It’s a cash bar so the punch is already spiked and there are no chaperones.

The Program can provide a meal for $1/day, so each $20 ticket to the dance feeds a child for a month of school days. (Tickets go up to $25 on Sept. 1!)

It’s a good time for a great cause. On Sept. 24 shake your ass, save the world.

Get tickets & more info here

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Pearl Jam and garbanzo beans

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Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder

Figuring out your money starts with tracking how it comes in and goes out, and sometimes you may realize you often buy the same stuff you don’t really need but really like. The book Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin calls them gazingus pins but I can never remember the term so I call them garbanzo beans.

Everyone has them. I’ve realized I don’t really need another black turtleneck or gray hoodie, so I’m down to books and music. The library has saved me thousands of dollars over the years. Saving in other areas frees up enough cash to allow me to indulge my music passion with a concert fund.

I set aside a certain amount of money every year to cover the cost of concert tickets. That way my monthly budget isn’t completely derailed and I don’t have to scramble to take advantage of shows when they come to town.

Pearl Jam played the Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday. They are my friend Joanne’s favourite band in the world and we bought tickets back in January. Unfortunately, despite getting into the site within five minutes of the tickets going on sale and alternating between three different browsers to get the best available, we got nosebleed seats.

Sure we could’ve paid twice as much to a scalper to get floor seats, but Joanne said she probably wouldn’t have enjoyed the concert, knowing how much we paid. This way she still heard them live, plus we had money left over for other priorities (merchandise and wine) without a side of guilt or worry.

Money – or should I say, financial freedom – isn’t this mysterious force that’s out there somewhere. It’s in our choices. If you have more money, you have more options and that’s why it’s important. Sometimes we can find more money by making different choices. I’m fortunate that I can create enough disposable income to afford a concert fund. Having the freedom to indulge in your passions is important in life.

That drawer of concert t-shirts isn’t going to fill itself, you know. Rock on.