Katherine Caughran's Page

In 1999, I facilitated an online study group of purchasing professionals studying for the Purchasing Management Association of Canada's C.P.P. exam. During our online discussions, I created a thread asking about 'your most important lesson learned' from starting in purchasing/procurement/inventory/quality through the certification process. To get through the educational and experience requirements took some people 4 years, some the maximum 15 years, but many of the lessons learned were very simi… Continue

I was twittering yesterday about an article I ran across, published in a now defunct magazine (HomeBusinessReport). Tip #7 was about buying what you NEED, which I thought was a very ONO concept. Even large businesses buy things that they don't 'need' but 'want' the bargain, but then have to pay to store the item which is no bargain at all! So a tip to non-purchasing people was to buy only what you need, don't fall into the trap of buying because it's a 'deal'. That's like falling into the trap o… Continue

We're moving - it's been 10 years since I last owned a home - now as a family we've purchased a house. Why buy? There are a calculators, discussion threads that can speak to rent vs buy, etc and in our case we are getting double the house for only slightly more than our current rent/less than rent on a comparable sized house. PLUS, the main reason we are moving - we needed to be closer to the school we are sending our son to.

At the best of times, moving is exhausting...we're excited about the… Continue