Experience your Debt Differently
It’s payday. You’re trying to figure out what to pay, how much you need to get you through the month (or following your spending plan that you created to make life easier! Yes!). You...
Category: Budgeting & Money Management
10 Tips for a Great Financial Start to the New Year!
Well here we are, at the start of another New Year. This is always a time of reflection, a time to set goals, to get our lives back on track or to jump to...
10 Tips to avoid credit card debt over the holidays
I was enthusiastically reminded this morning that it is 4-weeks to Christmas. I suppressed the urge to harm my co-worker and smiled politely. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas. It’s just that Christmas...
FREE is Fabulous! ~ 6 tips to eating healthy for less!
It seems that everything has a price. Everything you want to do costs more. There is this constant battle to either justify spending the extra money or justify doing without. Take eating healthy for...
To pay or not to pay? That is the question…
What if you are faced with a hard decision. You have to decide what to pay and what not to pay. How do you decide? And how do you handle this stressful decision? Now...
Should I switch bank (accounts)?
This question comes up often, but usually too late, after the Bank has taken money out of your account and left you short on your mortgage, car payment or any number of things scheduled...
Are you Nickle and Diming yourself to Debt
I was recently reflecting on the reasons that people walk through my door. Of course, they come to me because they are experiencing some type of financial hardship and they need advice. But I...
Breathe new life into your budget
Payday comes, the money goes into your bank account, you leave some in to cover the automatic withdrawals, pay some bills online, head to the grocery store, fill up the gas tank on the way and start your next pay cycle. Often with little or no thought to how well it is working. Sometimes you just need to pause…take a few deep breaths…and look at things from a different angle. Then ask yourself, “what can I do to make this better?”. You might be surprised at the answers that present themselves.
Just say NO!
I know we live in a world of credit, but sometimes I feel like I am on a seedy corner, with a drug pusher who is saying all of the right things to get me to make the “purchase”. I resist because I see the perils everyday, because I know how much credit I now have and how much I am unwilling to let myself be lured into that false sense of security that comes with credit.
Why you should NOT use credit as an emergency Fund
Is it an Emergency? Or a planned expense? Do you use credit versus savings? This is the heart of what I see everyday and what I personally struggled with as I attempted to set up a spending plan for our household. By not planning for things like car maintenance, we are left with a roller coaster plan. We allocate our money to all of other expenses, spend the rest, and then feel the setback when we have a large ‘anticipated’ expense.
