Own a cat? You can relate!

Couldn't help but put this up here...

If you've ever owned a cat...
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Don't take anything for Granite

I listen to Morning Edition on NPR during my commute to work. This morning, they aired an interview that they had with a granite company owner in Barre, Vermont.

Barre toutes itself as the Granite Capital of the World. Have you ever been there? It is a very Italian community with many very skilled atisians. The Hope Cemetary, as are many of the other cemetarys in central Vermont, is a showplace of the scupltures that these talented folks create.

The interview wasn't about how gifted these people are. Instead, it is about how much of the talent and granite is now imported from China. The granite company owner said that what would cost her over $2000 to create is available, delivered from China, for LESS THAN HALF of what it costs her!

What will this do to the granite industry in the US? What about the scupltors who live here? What does this have to say about us, the consumers?

It made me think about how we in this country have raised the bar of living so high that we have driven ourselves right out of the market place; we are too high priced! The people in China are happy just to have a pot to, well, cook in! We on the other hand, not only need more, but WANT more!

Seperating our needs from our wants must become a priority. Lowering our standards might help to drive down our costs, and eventually turn things around for us.

Could this be what happens when a people become materialistic?

What are you thoughts? How do you feel about our standard of living? Do you feel that by having such high standards that we have ruined it for ourselves? Do you think that we have too many luxuries that have turned us into spoiled children?

Here is a link to the NPR podcast "U.S. Increaasingly Turning Overseas for Granite"

How to stop charging stuff on credit cards

Stop charging stuff on credit cards

This might seem like a no brainer to some, but to others it is real issue. People trying to get themselves out of debt can have a hard time doing so if they continue to use credit cards instead of cash. When you're in the debt hole, a credit card isn't a ladder to help you get out. It's like a shovel that digs your hole only deeper. The enticements to use the credit cards, like low introductory interest rates, rebates, and, travel points, don't help at all. If you're in the debt hole, you need to ignore these incentives and take steps to make steps to climb out of the hole!

If you use credit cards out of necessity, you need to take a hard look at what you are purchasing with the credit cards. The suggestions that follow should help.

Identifying the Stuff

The first step to take is find out what 'stuff' you are charging. Get your last few months of credit card statements, a pad of paper, a pen, and take a look at what you purchased with the credit cards. Make three columns on a piece of paper. Title them as follows; Bills and Utilities Stuff, Store and Online Purchases Stuff, and, Other Stuff. You can take it a step further and add columns to track the amount of the charge for the stuff, but keeping this simple is more important than detail right now.

Next, take another hard look at the things that you charged. Put an 'X' next to each item that you know that you could have lived without, a 'feel good' charge. Circle those items that are necessities in your life. Place a check next to anything that wasn't a necessity, but something that you like anyway and aren't really willing to do without. If there is anything left that doesn't have an 'X' or a check mark or is circled, draw thin line through it. These are things that you don't need and can live without. Take an honest look at why you decided to trade your money for this 'stuff' and keep reading...

Click here for an example of what your paper might look like -

Click here for a spreadsheet

Breaking the Cycle (BTC)- Start paying cash

Let's look at ways to make purchases in the future without using the credit card. Each charge that you made was a payable to someone, that instead of giving them cash or writing them a check, you opted to use a credit card. From a convenience and speed perspective, nothing is better than swiping the plastic to take care of the bill, but at the same time it conveniently and speedily puts you in debt! It is too easy for most people to make charges to their credit card and lose track of how much they've spent until they get their credit card statements in the mail.

BTC Strategies for necessary stuff- The Circles

1. Set up an online checking and savings account, like at ING DIRECT, where you can get free on-line bill pay, a debit card, and, electronic checking. Instead of having your monthly cable or satellite services charged to a credit card, pay them electronically with free on-line bill pay. You can schedule regular payments to come out of the account so that you don't really even have to think about it. If the payments are variable, then go to the utilities web site, and change the credit card billing information to the debit card that will come with your new online checking and savings account.
2. Other necessary purchases like food, clothes, and gasoline should no longer be charged to your credit cards. Instead, plan for these purchases in your budget and begin using cash or your debit card. If you have a traditional bank (bricks and mortar, local branch) where you have a checking account, write checks instead of using the debit card. This helps to break the habit of using plastic. Have a personal goal of eliminating plastic from your life. Its good for your finances, and good for our environment!
3. Carry cash instead of credit cards. Use cash for the small minor and daily necessary purchases.

BTC Strategies for stuff you're not willing to do without- The Checks

1. Eating out is something that many of us enjoy and might not be willing to do without. But, do we need to charge these dining expenses to a credit card? Remember, these are items that are more discretionary than the necessities and are things that are more lifestyle, quality of life type things. Don't let that which brings quality to your life contribute to your debt hole! Bring plenty of cash to pay for your dining entertainment. If you don't have the cash, then reconsider whether or not you can afford this lifestyle (right now anyway, after you get out of debt, you'll surely be able to better afford it!).
2. As already mentioned, these are truly quality of life and lifestyle things which need to be considered in a budget. If you are regularly charging these 'Checks' to your credit card, ask yourself if you could continue enjoying them if you had to pay cash each time. Could you even do it on cash? If not, then this is a HUGE wake up call that you're living beyond your means. This is probably one of the big reasons why you're in a debt hole with nothing to help you but a maxed out credit card and some airline miles!

BTC Strategies for the 'Feel Good' stuff

1. Sometimes people shop and buy stuff just because it makes them feel better. For many this is an addiction for which professional intervention should be sought. For others, it is a matter of prioritizing what they want to use their money for, and how they're going to pay for it. When going to the mall out of boredom, bring some cash, leave the credit cards at home. This limits what you can buy on impulse and won't dig your debt hole any deeper.
2. Put a freeze on your credit card. This doesn't mean you call the credit card company, no it's much easier than that. Here is what you do. (1) Get an empty coffee jar, or some other plastic container. (2) Fill it 3/4 full with water. You can ad some food coloring if you'd like, it makes for a nice effect! (3) Carefully place all of your credit cards in the water. You must be very careful so as to not splash yourself and get everything around you all wet! (4) Place the container with the credit cards in it into your freezer and let chill for 24-48 hours. Now, when you're getting ready to go to the mall and get some feel good stuff, you'll have plenty of time to think about what you're doing with your money while you wait for your credit card to thaw out...

Now, some will tell you to keep one of the credit cards out for emergencies. I've thought about this long and hard. Don't do it- freeze them all! If you are in a debt hole, no matter what, you don't need more debt. There isn't anything so important that you need to spend money on right NOW!

BTC Strategies for all the Other Stuff

1. Plan your purchases. This other stuff is stuff that you've determined that you didn't even need! You just bought it! Now, if it still has tags on it or if its still in its package, maybe you can return it or sell it on ebay.
2. Get on a budget to help plan where you're spending your money. Don't lose site of the fact that just because your not forking over cash or righting a check that you're not going to pay for this. Borrowing and spending is a plan for disaster. You want out of the debt hole don't you? Cut out this other stuff then!

In summary, the goal is to avoid using the credit card to finance your purchases. Although credit cards are convenient and efficient, if you're using them instead of cash, then you're in danger of digging a hole that will be very hard to get out of. There used to be a saying that if you don't have the cash in your wallet, then you can't afford it. In today's world, if you don't have the cash in the bank or the cash flow to afford this stuff that you are charging on your credit card, then you can't afford it. Credit cards are the number one reason people have driven themselves into bankruptcy and other financial ruins. Be wary of credit cards, use cash and checks instead.

Related Posts
Transfer fees and minimum payments
Compulsive Spending Disorder
Bankruptcy on the rise

Need a Smoke?

Fortunately, I was able to break the smoking addiction years ago. You know what they say about reformed smokers, they're the worst kind! One of the things that helped me to stop smoking (notice I wrote stop, not quit? I take great pride in having not ever quit anything, but I have stopped doing some things.. there's a difference!) was the toll it was taking on my wallet, not to mention my health!

A pack 'o' butts cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $5.00. If someone were to go through a pack a day, they're missing out on some serious cash. To say that smoking is expensive is an understatement. Talk about money going up in smoke!

A person smoking a pack of cigarettes a day spends about $1,825 a year. If this person became a non-smoker, and made regular monthly contributions to a savings account earning a measly 4%, they would at the end of...

10 years they would have $22,900
15 years they would have $38,271
20 years they would have $57,040

That's at 4%! What if you could earn 8%?

10 years.... $28,546
15 years.... $53,993
20 years.... $91,907

What if instead of saving this money, it was used it snowball debt? First, the reformed smoker could rapidly reduce and retire their debt, then they'd be able to save like a miser! Not to mention, they'd would be a lot healthier too!

There’s a hole in the bucket - Blunt Money

You're going to the well with you water bucket. It's a pretty good walk from where you started to get to the well. You fill your bucket with water and trek on back to where you began. Now, your bucket is empty. All that work for what? Nothing? An empty bucket? Is that what you wanted?

How did the bucket get empty? Was it because you weren't watching it? Was the water spilling over the sides as you went along?

Is there a hole in the bucket? Is the water somehow leaking out from a hole that you're not aware of? Or, is there a hole that you do know about, but you're just trying to get the bucket home before it's empty?

Alright, what does this tale of the empty bucket have to do with personal finance?

What if the bucket was your wallet or bank account. What if the water was your paycheck. What if the trek from the well to where you started was the time between paychecks?

How would you fix your bucket? Some people try to patch the hole with a short term loan. In some cases, these short term loans can be a life saver, as described in this post called Removing the Burden of Debt. But, other times, borrowing to replace the money that you lost because you were careless with your bucket, or to patch a whole is a very bad idea.

Be sure to read this post at Blunt Money There’s a hole in the bucket where there is more discussion about borrowing when you have a bucket problem!

141st Carnival of Personal Finance

The 141st Carnival of Personal Finance is hosted by the Broke Grad Student. There were many, many, excellent posts! Here are few of my favorites.

• Five advantages and disadvantages to online banking by Money Mythos- just what it says!
• Reduce and eliminate ATM Fees at Green Panda Treehouse. According to GPT, over $4.5 billion in ATM fees went from our pockets to the bank. I'm all for keeping this cha-ching!
• Top 10 Tips for Getting Your First Mortgage over at the Finance Blog. Some good advise. I agree that there isn't any harm in waiting. Time is usually on your side.
• The importance of renters insurance, and why you need it at the Moneycrashers. Extremely valuable! Unless you have nothing of value that could be stolen or burned in a fire, then you need it!
• Tips for entering sweepstakes and getting free stuff offered by the Baglady. You can't win if you don't play!
• How to put together a budget with irregular income. Another post at the Moneycrashers!
• Budgeting- An easier, smarter way by Prime time money. I like the idea, focus on what you need to change, not what is working the way you planned.
• The Credit Report Jingle and Car buying Reality by Monroe on a budget. When did lenders stop worrying about whether or not you can afford the proposed loan payment?

Thanks goes out to the Broke Grad Student for hosting this weeks carnival, and thank you for including my post about correcting errors on your credit report !