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The Spending Diet Game Plan

Lose the extra weight from your budget by putting your spending habits on a diet. At the end of the month, you’ll have extra money that you can use to pay off some outstanding debt, and your budget will be slim and trim. Keep it up for six months or more, and your budget will be healthier than it has ever been. When you diet to lose weight, you must burn more calories than you take in if you want to be successful. A spending diet is similar, although in this case, you must take in more money than you … Continue reading →

Oprah’s Debt Diet: Phase Two…Planning a Monthly Budget

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This year Oprah Winfrey has been challenging Americans to get out of debt and take control of their spending. She calls this America’s Debt Diet. Phase Two of the debt diet starts with planning a monthly family budget To begin a monthly budget for your family, write down all of your monthly expenses, estimating as best as possible. Here are a few things to keep in mind when looking ahead to your expenses: * Take a look at your calendar and note upcoming events that might cost money. * Make sure to account for unexpected or emergency expenses. Perhaps you … Continue reading →

Five Steps that Will Help You Go on A Spending Break

If you have an unexpected bill, want to take care of a new purchase with cash, build up an emergency fund or just get closer to paying off your overall debt, you might want to consider going on a spending break. How much extra money you accumulate will depend on what you normally spend in any given time period plus how long you decide to stay on your spending break. Saving $500 this month is not unthinkable for most families. Before you get started with a spending break, you’ll need to have a plan to ensure the best success and … Continue reading →

Your Guide to Insurance Savings

Everyone has to carry some form of insurance, whether it is homeowners insurance, renters insurance, auto insurance or private medical insurance. Being able to find ways to reduce the amount that you have to pay on your premiums is important. With less money leaving your family budget for insurance, you’ll have more money for savings and other needed expenses. 1. Raise your deductible If your insurance deductible is less than $500, consider raising it to at least that amount. The higher your deductible, the lower your insurance rate. The deductible is the amount that you will pay first before the … Continue reading →

Medical Tourism – A Way Around Insurance?

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What happens if you need a medical procedure, or a surgery, and your health insurance won’t cover the entire cost? Many people are turning to hospitals outside of the United States for their health care needs. The cost is often less than the out of pocket expense a person would have to pay if he or she went through American doctors, and used American health insurance. In general, health insurance is a good thing to have. It helps many people to be able to afford to see a doctor when they need to, to purchase prescription medication, and to receive … Continue reading →

Keep Your Budget Fresh

Budgeting can be very good for finances, but very hard on your psyche. A budget is a financial diet. Like food diets and exercise programs we can become bored and want to do something, anything, except what we’re doing. So how do we stay on a budget? How do we keep the budget relationship fresh, new, and exciting? Just like with a diet or exercise plan, we have to make changes to keep things interesting. We tend to stray off of our diets because we want the foods we’re used to eating. Our new diet is a healthier way of … Continue reading →

Money Resolultions

I can’t believe that 2010 is almost over. Tomorrow starts a new year and new opportunities to start fresh. If you planned ahead, you do not have any Christmas debt to look forward to throughout the year. Typically the New Year brings New Year’s resolutions. I used to make resolutions, but then they became silly traditions with no impetus to follow through. How many times have you resolved to lose weight, work out, be neater, be nicer, etc.? How long did your resolutions last? Was your resolve strong? My resolve never was. We all know that diets don’t work. Diets … Continue reading →

What Your College Kid Needs to Know to Save Money

All around the country, nervous parents are getting ready to send their kids off to college for the first time. The shopping for the dorm room is done, the tuition is paid and the car is gassed up. But before you hit the campus, make sure that your college kid knows the following stuff to save money. Otherwise, she may wind up with huge debt and no idea how to manage it. How to do things for herself If your college kids knows the basics of how to do things for herself, she is more likely to avoid extra bills. … Continue reading →

Is Your Family Prepared?

My first experience with talking about food storage to someone who was not a member of the church came just after 9-11. She pulled me aside to let me know that she had purchased extra groceries just in case something happened. She was quite proud of herself, but then she went on to explain the other ways and reasons that she purchased in bulk and in advance. She felt that food storage was a good thing especially for the disasters that may come in our lives. She was right, but sometimes people look at our food storage and provident living … Continue reading →

Tips for Dealing with Stress in Marriage

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We’d all like life to be great all the time but the reality is, at times, life is stressful. It’s how we deal with stress that matters. Yesterday, we looked at the effects excess alcohol can cause in a marriage. But the reason a spouse usually drinks to excess, could be because they are trying to find a way to deal with stress. Stress is something that affects all marriages at time, whether it is financial stress, illness, job related, death of a loved one, or family issues – the list is endless. Alcohol never solves problems but actually can … Continue reading →