Best Way to Reduce Debt (Guest Post)
Debt can pull you down – no matter if you are an individual, a giant corporation or even a government. Avoiding debt completely insures that the financial discouragement will be less likely to darken your doors. But even if debt has already been established one key will break you free for life.
Many people talk about budgets, but developing a budget that you can and will follow will provide you that one key you need to break away from debt. No matter where your finances are today, finding a way to bring in more money than goes out will allow you to reduce your debt and even eliminate it altogether.
Developing a Budget
The first step in developing a budget to reduce your debt requires understanding spending. Take a week or two to write down everything that you spend throughout the day – including small purchases like gum to big purchases like rent and groceries.
Tracking My Finances In 2010: May Week 2
I have decided to post my weekly spending for the previous week on Fridays so you know how my cash has been flowing for the week. Please note that I get paid on the last day of the month so my cash flow net effect will usually be negative until the last day of the month.
This does not mean that I am adding to my debt, it just means that the money coming in is less than the money going out because bills are due starting on the first but I don’t get paid until the last day.
How I Save Money At CVS: 10 May 2010
Today I paid $0.00 out of pocket for $8.49 worth of items. I got both of the FREE items from CVS this week and I am pleased with the purchases. There were a few other items that gave out extra bucks but I really wanted just the free items to make sure I used up my ECBs that were about to expire.
I also remembered to bring in my reusable bag so I will be getting the credit for using that after the next three visits.
Transaction 1
Item: Crest Pro Health sensitive toothpaste.
Price: $3.50
Managing Your Money And Avoiding The Debt Traps (Guest Post)
Debt. It’s something we’re all familiar with to some degree, be it a missed payment on your personal loan or a default on your mortgage. According to The Office for National Statistics, the nation as a whole is in debt to the tune of several billion pounds, £152 billion to be exact, and this figure increases by more than £440 million each day. While there’s nothing we can do as individuals to ease government debt, there are ways to decrease or avoid our own personal debt.
Happy Mother’s Day 2010
I just wanted to wish all mothers around the world a happy Mother’s Day. I lost my own mother almost two years ago to cancer and still miss her.
So if you have a mother to celebrate with this year go ahead and have a blast. Appreciate her for all she does!!!
Tracking My Finances In 2010: May Week 1
I have decided to post my weekly spending for the previous week on Fridays so you know how my cash has been flowing for the week. Please note that I get paid on the last day of the month so my cash flow net effect will usually be negative until the last day of the month.
This does not mean that I am adding to my debt, it just means that the money coming in is less than the money going out because bills are due starting on the first but I don’t get paid until the last day.
How I Save Money At CVS: 3 May 2010
Today I paid $0.00 out of pocket for $2.99 worth of items. I only got one tube of toothpaste as I had some ECBs that were about to expire and I did not want the ‘free’ items this week. I was also lucky enough to scan my reusable shopping bag and get $1 ECB from that.
Transaction 1
Item: Colgate toothpaste
Price: $2.99
CVS Extra Care Bucks earned: $2.00
Total coupons used: $2 ECB
Total paid today: $0.99 , on gift card.
Total CVS Extra Care Bucks earned today: $2.00 + $1 ECB from shopping bag.
Reducing Debt with a Snowball (Guest Post)
Tackling debt can be as easy as rolling a snowball. Kids learn early that when you roll a snowball along an area covered with snow that the snowball with grow. Paying down debt can work with the same concept.
The snowball method of reducing debt takes the payments from one debt and rolls them into the next debt as each debt gets paid off. It means that the payment amount will grow larger but without requiring adjustments to your budget along the way.
The first step for getting finances under control must always be developing a budget. Creating a balanced budget (where more money is coming in than there is money going out) will help you reduce your debt and also prepare for the future. Once the budget is established you can begin aggressively taking on debt until you are free from its hold.
