Have Debt Credit Card ? Read

Have Debt Credit Card ? Read...



Know what? We don't care. If you have credit card debt you can't afford cable. You don't actually need it. In fact, after you get rid of it, you may well find that you don't even miss it. Lots of people get along just fine without it. Cancel your cable. Get cheaper internet. Cancel your home phone if you don't need it. Put the money you save toward your credit card debt. Once you stop spending more than you earn and have paid your debts, you can think about getting cable again.

1) Eating Out: Your Excuse: "But, but, but I love food! I don't have time to cook! I can't cook! I'll poison my entire family! I'm too busy working! It doesn't cost that much!"

If it didn't cost that much you wouldn't have credit card debt. If you are spending more than you earn you have to stop eating out. Learn to cook. When? Well, since you canceled cable, you'll have a lot more time on your hands. Make yourself a firm grocery budget. You can use the USDA's food costs estimates to help you. Put all your grocery money in an envelope and go to the store. Don't spend any more than is in that envelope.

2) Gym Membership: Your Excuse: "But, but, but this is my health we're talking about! I'm fat! I'll get fatter! I need the gym! I have a contract!"

Sell your membership or cancel it if its month to month. You don't really need it. You can do jumping jacks. Also, since you're going to be eating out less, and sitting on your ass watching cable less, it'll be easier to lose weight. Once you pay off your debts, you can see if a gym membership fits in your budget. In the meantime, go outside and play.

3) Recreational Shopping: Your Excuse: "But, but, but shopping makes me feel better! I'm depressed! My kids need stuff! I need stuff! I have to look good for work! I have to buy expensive gifts for people so they'll like me!"

If you have credit card debt, you are probably buying more crap than you need. This means that you probably have enough crap to sustain you for awhile. Stop shopping. Have a yard sale. Cut up your credit cards if you can't make yourself stop. Don't cancel them, though. You still need to pay them off.

4) Expensive Cars: Your Excuse: "I am what I drive! I love this car! This car is who I am!"

5) Cable. Your Excuse: "But, but, but I need cable! I get a good deal! It's only $100 a month! I use it a lot! It's bundled with my phone and my internet. I'll only save $30 a month if I cancel it."


No it's not. Sell it. Get a cheaper car. Use the money to pay off your debts. No one cares what you drive except you and really shallow people who suck. Do you really want to be in debt just to impress a bunch of shallow people?

In order to get out of debt you need to curb your monthly expenses:

Let's say you have $10,000 in credit card debt and your current minimum payment is $250. At 18% with a minimum payment of 2.5% it will take you 382 months to be rid of your debt. In that time, you will pay $14,615.49 in interest. Fun.

If you pay a fixed payment of $250 dollars (your current minimum payment), it will take you 62 months to be rid of your debt. In that time, you will pay $5,386.23 in interest. Still pretty crappy.

If you managed to cut your expenses by $200 a month and applied that amount to your current minimum payment, then paid that amount ($450) it would only take you 28 months to be rid of your debt. In that time, you would pay $2,255.56 in interest.

Still not convinced? You can use this calculator from Bankrate to determine how much money you're wasting by not paying off your credit card debt as quickly as you can. Getting out of debt will make you feel better than watching TV in a new pair of shoes ever could.





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Personal Finance Should a Required Part of School

Personal Finance Should a Required Part of School

Thanks to a recent poll on Saving Without A Budget, it appears that I’m not alone in the belief that personal finance should be incorporated into the core curriculum of America’s schools.

According to the poll, 89% of respondents stated that they believed that personal finance should be a required part of every child’s education.

The logic behind teaching children and teenagers about personal finance is pretty obvious. Just think of all of the finance cliches that you’ve heard: start investing as early as you can, the most important factor in investing is time, don’t get into credit card debt, etc. - all things that are best to learn sooner rather than later.

And because many basic aspects of personal finance currently aren’t taught in school and are left to be learned at home, this current system seems to nurture the fact that wealthy people tend to stay wealthy and poor people tend to stay poor. I don’t think it takes a giant leap of faith to see the possible correlation.

And probably the most ironic part of this is, the results of the Saving Without A Budget poll come on the heels of a recent report that shows nearly half of all people in the workforce have less than $25,000 in savings for retirement.

Again, it doesn’t take an MBA to see that this number would probably be a lot less if all of us had been exposed to some basic personal finance lessons as we were growing up.





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Mom Who Spends $400 A Month On Starbucks

Mom Who Spends $400 A Month On Starbucks



I love new clothes. However, I like getting rid of the clothes just as quickly to go buy new ones."

This lady who appeared on Oprah lives the life of a big house in the burbs, new cars, six beautiful kids, and spending way beyond her husband's $5,000/month salary. Felice drops $400 a month on Starbucks, $240 on tans and manicures, and her children have no health insurance.

"I have six kids and I sell their toys sometimes just because I don't like them."

When money runs dry, as it often does, she takes out cash advances. She handles the family finances and hides receipts from her husband underneath a baby blanket in a drawer.

When I do shop, I do kind of get a rush. It makes me feel good... but afterwards, though, I get depressed. I'll buy something even if I really don't like it because I have to come out with something.

On page 5 you learn they're on the brink of being totally financially destroyed with $135,000 in credit card debt, $1,700 a month for three cars, two mortgages at $685,000, and are two weeks behind on their mortgage payment. Before you make Felice out to be the totally baddie, the husband is just as culpable for not asking more questions and making sure the numbers add up. He even says that he would get credit card bills and not know where $10,000 of it came from.
Suze Orman's solution for them? Sell the houses and cars, move to Seattle, and for Mom to get her ass a job. Perhaps at Starbucks, since she likes it so much and they offer health insurance to part-time workers.

Keeping Up with the Joneses [Oprah]





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