How 2B Debt Free Blog

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If you’re living paycheck to paycheck, the cycle can seem like it is never going to end. In this economy, it’s hard not to spend more and more money each time you go to the grocery store and put gas into your car. Personal finances are getting tighter, and more people are getting bogged down in debt. There are things you can do, though, to help you spend less and save money in this economy. 

 By applying these tips,  getting rid of debt,  financial freedom is a possibility to finally being debt free.

Saving Money on Electricity

1. Unplug appliances you’re not using. Even if an appliance is turned off, it still uses a small amount of energy, if it’s plugged in.

2. Fit heavy curtains  over your windows. In the winter, it will keep the warm air in, and in the summer it will keep the hot air out.

3.  Insulate and weatherproof . Go overboard on the insulation in your house, with heating bills going up  during the winter, now is the time to start. Caulk and weatherstrip the cracks around your house, put draught strips under the doors if there are any gaps between the doors and floor, even on the internal doors of your house.

4. Use your outside laundry line. Line dry your laundry outside for as long as possible.

5. Set the  room thermostat at 19 degrees in the winter. Try not to use your gas heating in summer even if the day is chilly, wrap up with a jersey. 

6. Close the heater vents in rooms you aren’t using, and switch of the lights if nobody is in the room.

Saving Money on the grocery bill.

There are loads of ways to save money on your grocery bills, in fact after your utility bills your grocery bill is one of the places that families can really cut back on, you dont have to go over board in learning  how to be to be debt free, just change your spending habits.

1. Buying generic food brands. This is another one of the ways to save money, most stores offer a generic equivalent to foods.

2. Buy House Brands. Next time you are in the store compare  the prices between the stores house brand and the other well known brands, you will notice that there is a huge amount of difference in price, especially with cereals.

3. Shop at the cheaper alternative shops. In the UK instead of shopping at ASDA or Tesco try Liddle or Aldi,  in the US try shopping at  Wal-Mart. I know lots of people who hate Wal-Mart and Liddle, but you could find substantial  savings in your bills.

Saving Money on the Telephone, Internet, and Cable

1. Cut out unnecessary services. If you are paying extra fees for services  like call waiting and caller ID, then cancel these extra services.

2. Use email or instant messaging instead of calling long distance.

3. Try a digital phone service like Vonage, or  internet phone or use service like SKYPE.

4. Use a dial around number for long distance. Especially if you phone internationally often like I do, I have family in SA, OZ and NZ, and by using phone cards and cheaper service I pay around 3p per minute, and there are still cheaper offers out there. 

5. Bundle your phone, TV and Cable. See if you can get bundled savings for your phone, internet, cell phone, and satellite services.

Saving Money on Water

There are also a lot of ways to save water on your water bills - without doing anything drastic like bathing once a week.

1. Shorten your showers. Shower more often than using a bath, make an effort to shower quicker.

2. Save money on sewerage.  Put a half gallon water jug, or  a normal brick in your toilet tank.

3. Gut back on watering your garden .Let your lawn brown out during the summer. Don’t worry. It will come back during the winter.

4. Reuse rinse water from hand washing dishes to water plants.

5. Turn off the water while you brush your teeth.
Start your emergency fund

Now that you are starting to save some money on your utility and grocery bills, don’t spend the money, start a emergency fund ( separate savings account) . A rainy day is bound to come, your tires are going to need replacing and your kids are probably going to get sick. Don’t be surprised when those things happen, be prepared.

One secret to financial freedom is to pay yourself first,  before paying any bills, one secret to financial freedom is to pay yourself first.  Whether it’s $10.00 or $100.00 a month, just start somewhere and start now. The sooner you start, the more you’ll save and the quicker you will be to no longer living paycheck to paycheck and finally being debt free.

If you want to discover more ways to debt elimination or are looking for debt advice then go to How to Be Debt Free.

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how to save money

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Debt has always been a concern for some families, however now days even fairly well off families are going to have to learn to tighten their financial belts. The times ahead will be hard on everybody - however one thing that will be the saving grace for a lot of families is that thank goddess for the Internet - help is just a keyboard away.

The Internet is able to produce an amazing list of help centres, debt advice  and saving tips for people in practically any country around the world , all you have to do is learn to use it correctly.

The media these days are full of horror stories about family debt and people living below the poverty line, below are just a few stories that I have picked up.

–Will You Lose Your Marriage Because of Debt?–

Here’s a scary statistic: Over 70% of marriages that end in
divorce are due to “financial difficulties.”

In most cases,that means DEBT. If your marriage is suffering because of a high debt load, you need to do something about it NOW.  Not
tomorrow, Not next week. If you wait any longer, you may be bankrupt, divorced or both.

–”I Never Should Have Tolerated It!”–

Mary was angry. She was losing her husband to divorce. Why?

Lack of money– the debt was out of control.  Hurtful things were said, her relationship with her husband declined and never recovered.  It’s sad, really, but not uncommon. Not at all, did you know over 70% of marriages that end in divorce are due to financial difficulties.  If your marriage is -
suffering because of a high debt load, you need to do something about it NOW. Not tomorrow. Not next week.

Help is at hand these days and all you have to do is start gathering information that will help you to control  and get rid off your debt.

 Everything You Know About Becoming Debt Free is WRONG!

Not just kind of WRONG, but completely WRONG!

And it Will KEEP You in Debt the Rest of Your Life.  But I can show you a breakthrough debt elimination technique that will have you completely debt free, including your mortgage, in about 3 to 5 years. Without bankruptcy. Without debt consolidation. Without any illegal or immoral tactics.
This is not debt avoidance.

It is simply a breakthrough  method of paying off your creditors that shrinks your debt  faster than you ever imagined. No matter how much you owe. In about 3 to 5 years.

My name is Clint Holland. At one time in my life I was $213,000 in debt. Because of providence, I discovered a breakthrough in debt elimination and became debt free in just 4 years. Now I’ve created a system that anyone can use to pay off all their debt, including the mortgage, in just
3-5 years–without bankruptcy, debt consolidation, or any unethical tactics.

 Will you let me help you?

Change the horror  stories of debt, to success stories like below.  

SC Man has Eliminated over $200,000 in Debt in 4 Years!

And I can show you how too. What if I could show you a breakthrough debt elimination technique that will have you completely debt free, including your mortgage, in only 3 to 5 years. Without bankruptcy. Without debt consolidation. Without any illegal or immoral tactics. Not debt avoidance.
It is simply a new way to pay off your creditors that makes your bills shrink so fast you will be out of debt, no matter how much you owe, in only 3 to 5 years. And that includes all your bills, credit cards and mortgage.

And it has an unheard of 97% Success Rate!!!

Member of the Better Business Bureau.

If you are looking for more information concerning debt and debt advice - then please go to How to Be Debt Free

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Be aggressive in paying down Bad Debt, but don’t get so ambitious that you risk missing minimum payments on your mortgage, automobile, or any other secured credit accounts.

Step one: Work it out
Sit down and work out how exactly how much you owe and who you owe it to. Gather the latest bills from all  your Debt accounts.
 Find the minimum monthly payment for each account and then add these up to get an overall monthly minimum. Pledge to pay this overall minimum PLUS an additional chunk every month — enough to make a good dent in the outstanding balance of at least one account.

Next, order the latest bills according to annual interest rate charged. Apply the ” additional chunk” (beyond the minimum) to the highest rate account(s). Repeat this process monthly until the last  Debt account is paid in
Step two: Budget
Once you know how much you owe you can draw up a budget, including a schedule for repaying your debts. Be realistic and work out what you can afford to repay and still stay within your budget.
 Do this by setting up a simple spreadsheet. In one column, list your monthly bills (rent or mortgage, auto payment, utilities, cable, etc.) — everything that is a regular monthly expense. Then list variable expenses (things that change every month) like groceries, gas,  etc.

In the second column, put down the amounts for each. Be sure to put enough for things like gas and groceries, as you don’t want to be short. Also include your minimum debt payments and your emergency fund deposit.

Now, list your income sources and monthly amounts. This is now your temporary spending plan . If the expenses are greater than the income, you’ll need to make adjustments until the expenses are equal to or less than the income.

Step three: Be disciplined
Don’t borrow any more money or take on any more debts until you have repaid what you already owe.
Pay bills on time. This may be a problem for a lot of people. It’s important, if you want to get out of debt, to start paying all your bills on time.  If you have trouble remembering, try one of these methods:

•  pay bills as soon as they come in — take them to the computer and pay them online, or write out a check and prepare the envelope to be mailed the next day; or
•  set up a reminder in your calendar program to tell you when bills are due. 

Step four: Watch your daily spending.
If you find it hard to keep track of your spending and ensure that you’re sticking to your spending plan. Here’s the key:

• Take a set amount of money out of the bank at the beginning of the week.
•  give your card to a friend or family for self-keeping.
•  first do the emergency fund deposit.
• Then do the debt payments.
• Then do your monthly bills.
• Now withdraw the variable amounts in cash 

 and put all these amounts into separate envelopes. This system is  old-fashioned, but it works, as you don’t have to worry about overspending. When your envelope is empty, you can’t spend anymore.

Finally 

 Continue to cut back on non-essential spending as much as you can at this point, so you’re able to stick within your spending plan.
 Make small cutbacks  look at things you normally buy and see if you can cut out a few of them, or spend less on them. Groceries? See if you can buy house brands instead of name brands. Coffee? Make it yourself at home instead of buying out. Lunch? Try packing it to work instead of eating out.

 Another great way to get out of debt faster is to make more money. Look at ways you can make money on the side — Take 30 minutes to brainstorm. Are there ways you can start a small home based internet  business ? Sell your valuables on eBay? Start freelancing on the side? Get a part-time job? This only has to be temporary, but the more money you make, the faster you’ll get out of debt. Be sure to apply your new income to your outstanding debt and you will soon be debt free

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Suze Orman: 9 Steps to Financial Freedom Review by Jesse Chettle

 In this article we are going to learn about Suze Orman’s 9 Steps to Financial Freedom.  I will be explaining each step in full detail and then giving you my opinion on how the step is/isn’t applicable to personal finances and benefitting you. 9 Steps to Financial Freedom is a book that Suze Orman wrote in 1997.  It is now over 10 years old but has stood the test of time and is still liked by many today.

Suze Orman’s 9 Steps to Financial Freedom:

Step 1 - Seeing how your past holds the key to your financial future

In Orman’s 1st step of her book she talks about how most people have some past memory that effects the way they perceive money and finances.  In this chapter she helps you to realize that past memory and move on from it so that you can start new with your personal finances.

This steps to be a bit off and useless for most people.  There are some people who have bad memories regarding money but in general most people are just to lazy and undisciplined. For most people it is an issue of motivation and not an issue of a bad experience.  This step could be helpful to some people to get them started but it not broad enough to be applicable to a lot of people.

2 - Facing your fears and creating new truths

Here Orman makes a connection with the first step in the book.  Orman has her readers look at their past memories and see how they cause them to act toward money in their current life.  Orman suggests writing out a list of your money related fears and then realizing how to overcome these.

Again, I find this step to be more of a mental exercise for those that need it but not to be widely applicable to all people.  The first two steps in her book seem to be more related to a traditional self-help type book and not a personal finances or financial planning book.

Step 3 - Being honest with yourself

In the third step of Suze’s book she goes into detail about budgeting.  Suze suggests getting all of your past records and realizing where you money has gone over the past 2 years.  The plan is to use previous records to determine your budgeting plan for the future.

This step is extremely good and something we should all consider.  Setting up a budget to track our income in the most basic and important step in starting on a quest for financial freedom.  The only issue here is having 2 years of old records.  If you do not have 2 years go with whatever you have to make estimates for the future.

Step 4 - Being responsible to those you love

In step 4 Suze talks about setting up your money so that it can help your loved ones if you were to pass away.  The basic setup of this step tells you all about insurance, estate planning, trusts, and wills.

I find this step to be very important but it seems to be out of place.  I think that before you can begin to plan for others once you are gone you need to get your own personal finances in order.  If you do not get your own finances in order you won’t have anything to leave to your heirs and it will be useless.  Steps 4 & 5 should be switched.

Step 5 - Being respectful of yourself and your money

Here Orman focuses on helping her readers sort through and organize their own finances.  This chapter includes information on putting money towards retirement, eliminating debt, and many other things.  Orman writes how taking control of your finances can make you feel a whole lot better about yourself.

This is another one of Orman’s best steps out of the whole book.  This is the most important step in achieving financial freedom.  Without the proper savings, debt elimination, and future financial planning people cannot even start to think about financial peace.

Step 6 - Trusting yourself more than you trust others

This step talks about how people should trust themselves over others when making financial and investing decisions.  It says that people should always go with their gut-feelings too.

I find this step to be completely inaccurate.  People should always seek out the proper advice about financial planning from experts and have all moves planned out rather than going with a gut-feeling at any moment. I think that all people should have a personal financial advisor to help them with their finance and investing decisions.  It is important to note that a financial advisor is only an advisor and all final decisions should come from you.

Step 7 - Being open to receive all that you are meant to have

In this step Orman goes into detail about money not bringing happiness but the opposite being true.  It also goes into detail about the joys of donating to charities.

Here Orman contradicts many statements from the earlier in her book.  In earlier parts of her book she continually talks about happiness and feeling better about ones self but then says the opposite here.  She says that you get happy first and then you achieve financial freedom. What does that even mean?  The two are completely independent of each other in both ways.

Step 8 - Understanding the ebb and flow of the money cycle

Here Orman writes about how sometimes all the tough and bad times in our lives teach us really good lessons for our futures.  She talks about how to make the most from our past failures to see success in the future.

I think that Orman hits the nail on the head with the accuracy of her statements but again, what does this have to do with the nuts and bolts of financial planning?

Step 9 - Recognizing true wealth

In the last step of Orman’s book she writes about how the real value in life does not come from money and wealth.

Again, I feel this section contradicts some of what Suze says throughout the book but I also think that it is very true.

Overall, Suze’s 9 Steps to Financial Freedom is an excellent book for people who want to learn about the psychology of money and want to change their mindset about it.  It is more of a self-help book for these people.

Her books give very little true financial advising plans and there is not much mechanical substance to it.  I would not suggest this book for people looking for the nuts and bolts about personal finance advising.  For these people I would suggest something by a different financial advising expert.
Jesse Chettle is a self-made Personal Financial Advising expert who specializes in giving out free Personal Financial Advice over the internet.  You can visit his Personal Finance Advisor blog to learn more about The Suze Orman Show.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com/Article/Suze-Orman:-9-Steps-to-Financial-Freedom-Review/398025

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If you want to learn more about Suze Orman or get any of her excellent products then. enter her name in the Amzon search box, on the right to see a list of her excellent products.

For more information about solving debt and debt management, go to How to be debt free.

Regards

Alan

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There is a way to control your debt and finally become debtfree, it is not as hard as it seems, in-fact it might sound silly, but the only reason why you are in debt is because of one silly rule that we tend to forget, which is,

We spend more than we earn

To control this debt monster  you have to  start making small changes to your household expenses, and you will soon notice a difference, you do not have to do any thing that is drastic, just have a plan that you can implement TODAY and each week you will start having more disposable income in your pocket. Do not go and spend this extra cash, use it to cancel more of your debt.

To get your self out of your mountain of debt, 3 things have to be in place.

1.  have a plan -  an expense and a  payment plan.
2.  start paying off your debt.
3.  start saving plan, (emergency fund).

 You have to learn to get your finances under control, it is crucial to  plan your spending,  and because we never know when an emergency could arise you need  to create an emergency fund.

One of the most important steps, as mentioned above, is  that you need to find a way of  increasing  your  income in multiple ways, in a series of steps designed to get your finances in better shape and to pay off debt faster.
Living within your budget should be the first thing you do,  It is vitally important. But it’s only a part of the equation — spending less only gets you part of the way. Earning more gets you the rest of the way.

How can you increase your income?  Sure, anyone can create a blog, write an ebook, freelance, write a print book.  But it doesn’t always work out for everyone.

The key is to find something you’re passionate about, and pursue that with all of your heart. That might mean educating yourself, and learning new skills. That might mean finding mentors, and starting at the bottom. But when you’re passionate about something, you’re more motivated to learn and to succeed. Really pour yourself into it, and you’ll find a way.

It’s also important to seek new opportunities, and don’t let good ones get away. If the opportunity doesn’t work out, well, drop it … but at least you gave it a shot. And who knows? One or more of those opportunities might turn into pure gold.

Start implementing this 2 step approach now, to start decreasing your debt and work towards becoming DEBT FREE.

Step 1 : Resolve to spend less than you make
 Realize once and for all that if you can’t pay for it today — you can’t afford it.

Work out your Debt.

Sit down and work out how exactly how much you owe and who you owe it to. Be honest or you’ll only store up more problems for the future. If your debt repayments take more than 20% of your net monthly income you are entering a danger zone and must take steps to cut back.

Understanding how much debt you’ve accumulated is the first step toward reducing it. Use a  Debt Checker Calculator to determine the total amount of your debt. It can be difficult to confront that total, but it’s critical that you do. so you know exactly how much you owe to the world. Put them in a spreadsheet, with monthly payments, interest amounts, balances, and a running grand total of all your balances. Update it monthly as you pay off debt, and watch the overall amount go down slowly.

Create Your Plan

Put the plan for reaching your goal on paper. The Debt-to-Income Ratio Worksheet and Debt Goal Worksheet may help you set targets for monthly expenses such as utilities, groceries, medical costs, household needs, and transportation. Set realistic targets and then try to spend even less. Make hard decisions about how to squeeze more of what you earn from your budget to pay off your debt. Don’t forget to budget for the unexpected, such as replacing a broken hot water heater or emergency medical treatment.

Step 2. Distinguish between Bad Debt and OK Debt
OK Debt has an interest rate well under 10% — preferably with some tax advantages to boot. In the best case, what you bought with borrowed funds will appreciate in value. Home mortgages and student loans are examples of OK Debt. Automobile loans are on the border: They often satisfy the low-rate piece, but automobiles almost never appreciate in value. Bad Debt is everything else — from your Gold credit card to the 29% loan from Lenny’s Kwik Kash.

 Cut up store cards
Store cards charge by far the highest rates for credit, so if you’re finding it hard to manage these debts throw away your cards now to avoid temptation.
You’ll pay well over the odds for most store cards - it’s better to pay cash if you can. For those items you can’t pay cash for, shop around for the best deals - the market is competitive, so there are some excellent interest free credit offers around. It is also worth taking a look on the internet as many products are offered there more cheaply. 
 
Cancel the credit card.

Cancelling your credit card is  crucial in getting out of debt, credit cards are extremely tempting, and with the high interest, they can be very dangerous. It is possible to use them wisely and even profit from using them - however, most people don’t use them that way, so it’s better to just cancel the card.

Eliminate non-essential expenses.

You need to cut back on luxuries,  eliminate everything you do not need: cable TV,  eating out, going to the movies (except on rare occasions), alcohol, cigarettes, buying new clothes (except when really needed), etc. Re-learn what it is like to live frugally. This is an important aspect of being debt Free.

Create a  spending plan.

Most people don’t like to use the word “budget”  so use a more neutral  term like “spending plan”, because it conjures images of creating a plan to achieve a goal, taking action, and doing something about your problems. Nevertheless, both concepts are essential the same: figure out how much you make, and consciously decide how much you want to spend  this month.

Instead of doing a monthly budget try  a  paycheck budget, it is much more specific, you then can see exactly how far your paycheck can stretch.

Anyway, the spending plan is essential. You have to decide where your money is going to go before you actually spend it. Remember it was spending without a plan that  got you  into trouble. A plan should be flexible, and have a little manoeuvre, because life changes.

Finally
Always Track Your Spending—Using the plan you’ve developed, track your spending carefully so you can look for additional ways to save. The more money you can apply to your debt each month, the sooner you should be out of debt. If you need more help with your Debt, please see the following list of  Debt Advice Centres, which can really be beneficial in getting rid of your Debt Monster. 

saving money

how to save money

debt management