Save for a “Rainy Day,” something most Americans do not do. You need to build your emergency fund. Take 50 minutes and learn seven steps and apply them to your life.

• Not paying bills on time
• Writing the checks but waiting to mail them
• Rarely balancing the checking account
• Taking cash advances from credit lines or individuals
• Accepting additional credit cards
• Paying only the minimum on charge accounts
• Bouncing checks
• Borrowing from family and friends

-Mary Hunt

I would like yourrecommendations of the best ways you know to get out of debt. I have listed a few below to get the ideas flowing in your mind. Use the contact form above to submit your ideas. I will than put the ideas together and show them to you in a future post. So if you have a suggestionplease submit it today.

• Stay out of Debt. Pay cash for all your buys and do not take on any new debt accept for a home home.
• Spend less than you earn. Live below your income.
• When your debt is closed out, put 60% into savings and enjoy the remaining 40%,
• Know your liabilities. Create a spreadsheet showing exactly everything you owe, include monthly payments, interest, balances and a running total of all your balances. Update it monthly as you pay off debt. It is very motivating to watch the change.
• Only have one credit card. It must have a low limit and you must pay it off every month.
• Build your emergency fund. Any extra money, via tax return, birthday, raise, etc. put into your emergency fund. Once that’s built add it to your debt payoff.
• Cut up your credit cards and don’t get any new ones.

The jobs not only helped him financially, however; they helped Lincoln broaden his circle and gain a seat in the IllinoisSay legislature. From there, he became a lawyer and was elected to the United States Congress. Of course, you know the rest of the story… Lincoln remained true to his values and honed his gifts to become one of the most revered presidents in United States history. Lincoln’s administration abolished slavery and helped others to understand equality and to value education. Lincoln stands as an example of how paying off a small debt can ultimately benefit an entire society for many generations.

If you’re facing problems to manage your credit card and other bills, you can consolidate bills with the help of a bill consolidation or debt consolidation loan. Bill consolidation is an excellent method to consolidate bills and make you debt free. Credit card debt and other bill payments can eat up a significant portion of your monthly budget. A bill consolidation loan can eliminate this problem by combining all your bill payments into a single monthly payment. Furthermore, you can make the most of the reduced monthly payments.

You can consolidate bills with the help of a professional bill consolidation company. You can lower your monthly payments as far as 50%. You must always go for a company that offers specialized services on bill consolidation to make consumers debt free.

Bill consolidation consolidates the following types of bills:

• Retail card bills
• Credit card bills
• Financial institution loans
• Gas card bills
• Hospital bills
• Medical bills
• Attorney bills
• Overdue utility bills from inoperative accounts

When you are having difficulties to make your monthly payments, you should go for bill consolidation. Get in touch with a bill consolidation company and a bill consolidation professional would speak with you about your financial condition. All the conversations are kept secret. After assessing your budget and credit details, the bill consolidation professional would help you design a repayment program that would incorporate a debt management program or a debt consolidation loan program or both.

You wouldselect the date on which you would be making your initial payment. Subsequently, you have to keep in mind just one date rather than many payment deadlines.

When you register with a bill consolidation company, negotiations would be carried out with your creditors to lower your interest rates. This enables you to pay off your debts faster.

Benefits of Bill Consolidation

Following are the important benefits of bill consolidation:

• One affordable monthly payment
• Reduced interest rates
• Prevention of bankruptcy
• Elimination of over the limit and late fees
• Quicker repayment of debt
• No necessity for credit checks
• StopHumiliating creditor calls
• Improvement of credit rating

Wouldn’t it be nice if you Did nothave to use credit cards. This is how you got into credit card debt in the first place. Unfortunately in this high-tech, electronic age, every family needs on all purpose credit card. You will need it to rent a car, book a hotel room, purchase those airline tickets over the world wide web or on the phone.

However, you must get into the habit of paying that one card off every month, the complete balance. Otherwise you’ll be back into building more debt. Remember only one credit card.

If you find you can’t control it, here is a way to make you take some time to think. Get a coffee can and fill it half full of water. Freeze it, put your credit card on the ice and add water to fill it to the top. Freeze it again. Next time you’re tempted to use your credit card it will take a while to thaw out and by that time you may decide you Did notreally need what you thought you did.

So two things, only one credit card and pay it off each and every month.

I really enjoy Dave Ramsey and in this video he debunks some debt myths. If you have 10 minutes to sit down and listen to this you will gain some great knowledge. So enjoy and learn something new today…

Warnings Signs of Impending Financial Trouble

Here are some warning signs that might alert you to the fact that you may be getting close to financial trouble.

• Not paying bills on time
• Writing the checks but waiting to mail them
• Rarely balancing the checking account
• Taking cash advances from credit lines or individuals
• Accepting additional credit cards
• Paying only the minimum on charge accounts
• Bouncing checks
• Borrowing from family and friends

If you are in debt most likely itDidn’t happen overnight. It will not be easy to get out of debt and will take time and persistence. So check the signs above and if you fall into this category step back and prepare to move forward to conquer this debt problem.

10 Habits to Develop for Financial Stability and Success

Just like any goal, getting your finances stable and becoming financially successful requires the development of good financial habits. I’ve been researching this topic extensively in the last few years in my quest to eliminate debt, increase my savings and increase financial security for my family. I’ll speak more about these habits individually, but wanted to list them in a summary (I know, but I’m a compulsive list-maker).

Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Make savings automagical. This should be your top priority, especially if you don’t have a solid emergency fund yet. Make it the first bill you pay each payday, by having a set amount automatically transferred from your checking account to your savings (try an onlinesavings account). Don’t even think about this transaction — just make sure it happens, each and every payday.
2. Control your impulse spending. The biggest problem for many of us. Impulse spending, on eating out and shopping andon the webpurchases, is a huge drain on our finances, the biggest budget breaker for many, and a sure way to be in dire financial straits. See Monitor Your Impulse Spending for more tips.
3. Evaluate your expenses, and live frugally. If you’ve never tracked your expenses, try theOne Month Challenge. Then evaluate how you’re spending your money, and see what you can cut out or reduce. Decide if each expense iscompletely necessary, then eliminate the unnecessary. See How I Save Money for more. Also read 30 ways to save $1 a day.
4. Invest in your future. If you’re young, you probably don’t consider retirement much. But it’s important. Even if you think you can always plan for retirement later, do it now. The growth of your investments over time will be incredible if you startin your 20s. Start by increasing your 401(k) to the maximum of your company’s match, if that’s available to you. After that, the best bet is probably a Roth IRA. Do a Littleresearch, but whatever you do, startnow!
5. Keep your family secure. The first step is to save for an emergency fund, so that if anything happens, you’ve got the money. If you’ve a spouse and/or dependents, you should definitely get life insurance and make a will — as soon as possible! Also research other insurance, such as homeowner’s or renter’s insurance.
6. Eliminate and avoid debt. If you’ve got credit cards, personal loans, or other such debt, you need tobegin a debt elimination plan. List out your debts and arrange them in order from smallest balance at the top to largest at the bottom. Then focus on the debt at the top, putting as much as you can into it, even if it’s just $40-50 extra (more would be better). When that amount is paid off, celebrate! Then take the total amount you were paying (say $70 minimum payment plus the $50 extra for a total of $120) and add that to the minimum payment of the next largest debt. Continue this process, with your extra amount snowballing as you go along, until you pay off all your debts. This could take several years, but it’s a very rewarding process, and very necessary.
7. Use the envelope system. This is a simple system to keep track of how much money you have for spending. Let’s state you set aside three amounts in your budget each payday — one for gas, one for groceries, one for eating out. Withdraw those amounts on payday, and put them in three separate envelopes. That way, you can easily track how much you have left for each of these expenses, and when you run out of money, you know it immediately. You don’t overspend in these categories. If you regularly run out too fast, you may need to rethink your budget.
8. Pay bills immediately, or automagically. One good habit is to pay bills as soon as they come in. Also, as much as possible, try to get your bills to be paid through automatic deduction. For those that can’t, use your bank’s onlinecheck system to make regular automatic payments. This way, all of your regular expenses in your budget are taken care of.
9. Read about personal finances. The more you educate yourself, the betteryour finances will be.
10. Look to grow your net worth. Do whatever you can to improve your net worth, either by reducing your debt, increasing your savings, or increasing your income, or all of the above. Look for new ways to make money, or to get paid more for what you do. Over the course of months, if you compute your net worth each month, you’ll see it grow. And that feels great.

Paying off Debt Quickly

In the last post we discussed how to accelerate your debt reduction by setting up an emergency fund and than listing your debts from smallest to largest so you canbegin getting rid of your debts.

The next step is to find extra money so you can accelerate your debt payoff. You need to find or make extra money so that you can speed up the process and become debt free.

In the tips section I have covered a couplerecommendations to save money, theserecommendations wereTo finish fix up jobs around the house yourself and to drive your car for the life of the car. 

In the next few posts I want to discuss a few of these ways to help accelerate your payoff. I have added a couple below to get you started thinking about ways you can save money.

Remember you must first stop feeding the debt, so stop spending on your credit cards and only pay cash for things you’re going to buy. By spending cash you are more aware of what you are spending, and if you’re keeping record of your spending and writing it down you will tend to think before you buy and will avoid impulse buying.

1. Take a lunch to work and don’t eat out. You can really cut back on your eating expenses by doing this.
2. If you’re a coffee drinker and do the Starbuck’s thing, stop your daily visit and make your own coffee and take it in a thermos to work.

Figure out the money you’re saving and apply that amount to your payment on your lowest bill. You may find you have enough even to pay it off, depending on its size.

Take your first baby stepsThis day and make the commitment to save money on your daily habits.

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