We have a weekly tradition in our household. Every week, assuming they have earned it, we stop at the local convenience store, where my kids get to pick out a movie. We head to the non new-release section. Its a great deal. A 3 day rental for 2.00. The kids get an entire weekend of entertainment (assuming they have time to watch the movies. And if they don’t, it’s only 4 bucks.)
If you step back and look at your finances, you will find that you are in one of three stages of financial being – The first stage is “survival mode”. The next stage is the “breathing room” stage. The third stage, which is where we all strive to be, is the “comfort zone”.
Trimming your budget is a lot like trimming your waistline. Consumers spend millions of dollars every year looking for that magic solution to losing weight. And businesses increase their bottom line while relatively few consumers decrease their bottoms/middles etc. The same phenomenon happens in money management. We tend to look for quick fixes – consolidation loans, second mortgages, payday loans. Neither works for the masses. Why? They do nothing to address the underlying problem…
It’s been six long months and my hands are cleaner than ever. Who would have thought I would make it this far? I am referring to life without a dishwasher. Around mid-December, ours broke. My first reaction was sheer terror. I’m pretty sure I almost lost consciousness. Like many families struggling to make ends meet, I didn’t have any savings to buy another. The word credit kept flashing in my mind, but we were just managing what we had. I took a deep breath, pulled up my rubber gloves, and started washing.
{“You have got to feel good about money to attract more to you. Understandably, when people do not have enough money they do not feel good about money, because they don’t have enough. But those negative feelings about money are stopping more money coming to you! You have to stop the cycle, and you stop it by starting to feel good about money, and being grateful for what you have. Start to say and feel, “I have more than enough.” “There is an abundance of money and it’s on it’s way to me.” “I am a money magnet.” “I love money and money loves me.” “I am receiving more money every day.” “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”}
Isn’t it wonderful? There is absolutely no reason to wait for something you can’t afford now. And the deal is much better than buying it on regular credit that has to be paid starting next month. Ah! what a wonderful consumer-driven world we live in.
It’s also dangerous. In fact, it’s a trap – a credit trap. The objective is to have you commit future income towards the purchase of something you just can’t (don’t want to) wait for. We are such an impatient society aren’t we? Wait! It gets better – you are further tempted (expected) to spend more than you normally would on the item(s) AND the gamble is that you won’t pay it off completely by the time it comes due.
I’ve been struggling holding off buying my kids a DS. My daughter is 7 and my son is 5. All their friends have one. I have a momentary flask back, “But Mum, I plead, all my friends have jeans”. (I was in Grade 6 and still wearing polyester pants). That was 1978. Oh how far we’ve come. Hmmm. Really. Today’s pleas would be “But Mum, all my friends have a DS, computer, ipod, cell phone, (fill in the blank).”
I know…it seems wrong doesn’t it? You are in a state of having to consider filing for bankruptcy and you find out that you have to pay. Often I get asked, “How can someone pay you if they are bankrupt?”. More often than not, the amount you are required to pay into your bankruptcy, is a manageable payment considering what you are required to pay to maintain your current debt (let alone pay it off). This simple Bankruptcy Payment Calculator will help you estimate what that payment might be.
Wonderful, accessible, way-too-easy-to-get, way-too-had-to-pay-off, credit.
It makes the world go around and sometimes makes our head spin. It can be our best friend or our worst enemy. Using it gives you a temporary high. Owing it gives you a log-lasting headache.
Where am I going with this you ask? I shall tell you.
We are all one or two events away from bankruptcy – meaning all it takes is one or two major events to turn our financial world upside down. The reason is simple. We live too close to, or above, our means. As a result our credit is maxed out, our savings minimal, or worse, non-existent, and we have absolutely no breathing room.
