Investing

Questrade – The online trading platform I use for RRSP, TFSA and non-registered trading.

Online Shopping

Honey – A Chrome add-on which automatically searches for discount codes. You save money on purchases you were going to make anyway and also gain points from certain websites (like booking.com) which you can exchange for vouchers for places like Amazon.

Mortgage

Ratehub.ca – A great website for comparing mortgage rates come renewal time. They also compare bank accounts, GIC investments, home and life insurance and credit cards.

Expense Tracking

YNAB – This is the tool I use for expense tracking. It allows you to split expenses so I can easily track expenses between my husband and myself. They sync with your bank account as well so keeping it up to date is easy (for Canadian accounts at least). The reports are handy too. I used to use the desktop version which had a once off fee but now they’ve moved to a cloud based paid subscription of 84$/year. I struggled with this cost but I’ve also struggled to find an alternative that suits my needs. I also convert the cost into my hourly wage and figure it will save at least that amount of time per year in maintenance as it has the auto syncing and our historical transactions from the desktop version.

Travel – Accommodation

Air B’n’B – If you don’t already have an account – get 60$ off your first trip!

Booking.com – Great site for finding cheaper accommodation. I usually compare between both Air B’n’B and Booking.com. As mentioned above, if you use the Honey chrome-extension you can earn points which you can convert to Amazon vouchers. So far I’ve earned 40£ just by booking accommodation I would have booked anyway.

Travel – Fights

Google Flights – One of the quickest easiest ways to find flights with easy search filters for max duration, stop overs, price etc. Also really handy to explore destinations by putting in one or two starting airports and seeing where you can get to for little money. Great if you are just getting ideas of where you want to go, or where it’s cheap to get to from your airport. They also have price tracking notifications so you can be notified when prices increase or drop if you have a specific flight/date in mind.

Skyscanner – Similar to Google Flights, easy to search multiple airlines and sometimes has better prices than Google Flights.

Travel – Getting Around

Google Maps – Google Maps is great for showing how to get around a new place, it includes public transport, walking and even Uber prices and times. Street view is also a great way to explore an area before you get there.

Rome2Rio – Sometimes better at the public transport options than Google Maps and even shows much longer journey price and booking options from country to country.

Ex-pat/Cross-border Tax Advice

Trowbridge – When I was struggling to make heads or tails of the non-residents tax filing requirements for rental income from abroad, I received extremely helpful.