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How to Eliminate debt

Debt elimination involves three steps:

1. Stop acquiring new debt. 2. Establish an emergency fund. 3. Implement a debt snowball.

Here’s how to approach each step.

Stop acquiring new debt (This step can be accomplished in a minute.)

This may seem obvious, but the reason your debt is out of control is because you keep spending. Stop using credit. Don’t finance anything. Cut up your credit cards.

That last one can be tough. Don’t make excuses. I don’t care that other personal finance sites say that you shouldn’t cut them up. Destroy them. Stop rationalizing that you need credit cards.

* You don’t need credit cards for a just in case. * You don’t need credit cards for convenience. * You don’t need credit cards for cash-back bonuses.

You really don’t need credit cards at all. Credit cards are like quick sand, the more your struggle, the deeper in debt you go. Later, when your debts are gone and your finances are under control, maybe then you can get a credit card. (I don’t carry a personal credit card. I don’t miss having one.)

After you kill your cards, stop all recurring payments. If you have a gym membership, cancel it. If you automatically renew your Xbox Live account, cancel it. Cancel anything that automatically charges your credit card. Stop using credit.

Once you’ve destroyed the cards, call the credit card companies that you just killed. Do not cancel your credit cards (except for those with a zero balance). Instead, ask for a better deal. Find an offer online and use it as a bargaining wedge. Your bank may not agree to match competing offers, but it probably will. It never hurts to ask.

Establish an emergency fund (This step will probably take several months.)

For some, this is counter-intuitive. Why save before paying off debt? Because if you don’t save first, you’re not going to be able to cope with unexpected expenses. Do not tell yourself that you can keep a credit card for emergencies. Destroy your credit cards; save cash for emergencies.

How much should you save? Ideally, you’d save $1,000 to start. (College students may be able to get by with $500.) This money is for emergencies only. It is not for beer. It is not for shoes. It is not for a Xbox 360. It is to be used when your car dies, or when you break your arm using RIPSTICK.

Keep this money liquid, but not immediately accessible. Don’t tie your emergency fund to a debit card. Don’t sabotage your efforts by making it easy to spend the money on non-essentials. Consider opening a savings account at an online bank like ING or Emigrant. When an emergency arises, you can easily transfer the money to your regular checking account. It’ll be there when you need it, but you won’t be able to spend it spontaneously.

Implement a debt snowball (This step may require several years.)

After you’ve stopped using credit, and after you’ve saved an emergency fund, then attack your existing debt. Attack it with vigor. Throw whatever you can at it.

Some experts say to pay your highest interest debts first. There’s no question that this makes the most sense mathematically. But if money were all about math, you wouldn’t have debt in the first place. Money is as much about emotion and psychology as it is about math.

There are at least two approaches to debt elimination. Psychologically, using a debt snowball offers big payoffs, payoffs that can spur you to further debt reduction. Here’s the short version:

1. Order your debts from lowest balance to highest balance. 2. Designate a certain amount of money to pay toward debts each month. 3. Pay the minimum payment on all debts except for the one with the lowest balance. 4. Throw every other penny at the debt with the lowest balance. 5. When that debt is gone, do not alter the monthly amount used to pay debts, but throw all you can at the debt with the next-lowest balance.

I’m a huge fan of the debt snowball. It still takes time to pay off your debts, but you can see results almost immediately.

Supplementary solutions

You can do other things to improve your money situation while you’re working on these three steps.

First, focus on the fundamental personal finance equation: to pay off debt, or to save money, or to accumulate wealth, you must spend less than you earn.

Curb your spending. Re-learn frugal habits. (Frugality is something with which most college students are all too familiar.) You can find some great ideas on the internet. Also check Frugal for Life.

While you work to spend less, do what you can to increase your income. If possible, sell some of the stuff you bought when you got into debt. Get an extra job. (But don’t neglect your studies for the sake of earning more. Your studies are most important.)

Finally, go to your local public library and borrow Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover. Don’t be put off by the title - this is a fantastic guide to getting out of debt and developing good money habits. I rave about it often, but that’s because it has done so much to help my own personal finances. After you’ve finished, return it and borrow another book about money.

The most important thing is to start now. Don’t start tomorrow. Don’t start next week. Start tackling your debt now. Your older self will thank you.

When Break Ups Happen Divorce Paves the Final Step

As the rate of divorce seems to rise, people seem to still be surprised when it happens to them. Financial, emotional, and personal lives are splintered, and torn to pieces. If you don’t know someone who has been through a divorce, this article will help you learn about what to avoid and look for when a divorce is inevitable for your future.

The Stop at the Lawyers

When you split up a family you are also going to split up everything from the money, to everything in the house. Mental, emotional and financial strains are difficult. Most often times, people who are breaking up do not feel very giving towards the other person with all the belongings. The husband and wife going through the divorce often times focus on who is getting what, and what they don’t want the other person to have in the end.

While looking at the things you have, the money you have, you must also look at the debts and the loans or the credit cards that are in your name. Don’t focus just on what you have, but also on what you don’t have when splitting everything up in the end of a marriage.

Finding answers, using mediation

Lawyers are going to be costly during a breakup. When possible, think about using a mediator, the process of mediation to put things behind you when going through a divorce. Both the husband and wife are going to have to make a few concessions in both assets and in debts, but the end result is going to be a much faster process. Mediation is most often times going to be less costly than two lawyer bills are going to be.

Avoid getting trapped and paying more than you should. When possible, if you have real estate you want to sell it off so you can get cash from the deals. When possible, and you have shared assets such as stocks as a joint account you may want to consider signing off on portions of the stocks in return for other portions of the stocks. This is going to prevent either of you from having to pay heavy fees and cash in taxes when you don’t really have too. When too people are getting a divorce, sometimes the best thing you can possibly do is act like adults and use a third party to save money in many ways.

What financial matters you should think about

Besides the house, and the things you own physically you also have a few other topics you may want to remember to think about. These things include items such as your joint checking, joint savings, joint credit cards, and other valuables such as insurance policies and disability policies. While you may not want to believe it, some joint accounts hold both parties responsible even if divorced. If one husband or one wife were to rack up the credit cards, the other could be held responsible because it is a joint account and for the monies that are outstanding.

One last thing you should think about when breaking a couple up and heading for divorce. Alimony is often a factor when large sums of money are in question, or if one spouse was the bread winner and the other spouse wasn’t working. In some areas of the country it is difficult to get alimony while it doesn’t mean that it is impossible.

What is divorce going to mean for you

Changes are going to have to be made, which is going to mean rebuilding your finances, your home life, and your family. You may need a smaller house, or you may need to live in a different neighborhood as part of the best rebuilding and consolidation plan. All the expenses of a house will become your own, and all the expenses of your children if you have any will also need to be addressed.

Looking for a Review on Home DIY?

If you are looking to improve your home then why not do it through home DIY? For many people the thought of upgrading their homes themselves seems like an impossible task. However, with a little research and the right knowledge you can easily upgrade your home yourself and what’s more, you may even enjoy it!

Why Consider Doing it yourself?

There are a number of reasons why you may need to do up your home yourself. The main reason is that the cost of hiring a professional to do it for you can cost thousands of dollars. So if you can do the renovations yourself then it will definitely save you a lot of money potentially. It could be that you have just purchased your dream home only to find that all is not what it first appeared. Or perhaps you have simply decided that your current home could do with a few upgrades? Whatever your reasons, doing the upgrades yourself definitely makes sense.

Not only will doing the repairs and upgrades yourself be better for your wallet, but it will also help you to learn more too. It is always good to learn DIY skills just in case something goes wrong in the future. What you mainly need to take into account is that it is not as difficult as you first might imagine to do home improvements by yourself. You just need to keep an open mind and start with the basics.

In order to take part in any DIY project, you first need the right tools. So depending upon what you are planning to do within the home, be it a vinyl garden window or a new garage, you will need various different tools to help you. It would be a good idea to go into a DIY store and ask the staff there which tools you will need for the particular task you want to achieve. They should be able to not only show you the tools that you need, but they can also give you advice on how to complete the task too. They can even possibly give you a review of the tools that you will be using. You will need to tell them that you are a complete beginner though. Even if you feel embarrassed about admitting that you don’t know what you are doing, it is better to be honest than it is to end up with the wrong tools that are too advanced for you to use.

Generally the first easy job that you should start on with home improvements is a paint job. Most homes will have a slightly dull paint job after a few years and a fresh coat of paint can really make all of the difference. Take a look around the home and decide which rooms need repainting. Once the painting has been assessed, you should then look into carpets and plumbing.

Overall no matter which DIY activities you plan to take part in within the home, you should always do your research beforehand to ensure that you do it correctly. With the internet there is a large source of information that you can get for free. So there really is no excuse why you cannot find out exactly what you are doing before you go ahead and do it.

Myth Buster: The More Motors in a Massage Chair the Better

The massage chair industry has a few myths that have been sustained over a number of years. One particularly interesting one is the number of motors in a massage chair. The myth claims that the more motors in the shiatsu massage chair the better. Certainly, an increase in the number of motors can enable more functions. Practical reality suggests that more motors means more cost and more real estate and weight of the massage chair. This myth will be explored in this article.

The more motors the better the chair myth is going to be put to the myth buster test. Obviously, having more motors enables more massage options to be possible. Motors are not cheap, in fact they are expensive. Immediately, there is a quality versus quantity tradeoff. Having 18 motors versus 3 motors would make the cost of the 18 motor chair skyrocket, if they use the same quality motor. First concern is the quality level of motors in a massage chair with 18 motors.

The motors used in a massage chair must be allocated space within the chair. If more motors are used, then more mechanism must be installed around each motor to drive whatever massage function. More and more real estate in the massage chair is used to accommodate additional motors. Motors are fairly heavy, weighing 2 lbs to 5 lbs each. If the massage chair has 18 motors at 5 lbs each, that is 90 lbs just in motors. Adding additional motors increases the weight of the chair and takes up valuable real estate within the chair.

How is the quality of massage with more or less motors? High end luxury massage chairs generally have 3 high quality motors to power the back massage rollers. There are individual motors to run the kneading massage and to run the tapping massage. The third motor drives the roller unit up and down the chair back. The tapping and kneading motors can be run simultaneously for the shiatsu massage.

There is a 5 motor design where the kneading and tapping use two motors each. This is done by having a motor on both the left and right side rollers for both the kneading and tapping. Having 2 motors for kneading splits the duty and should lead to longer motor life. Did it make any difference in the massage capabilities? There was no noticeable difference. Is more better?

Some massage chair companies started this fad and some how it caught on and became perpertuated into myth. We still see massage chair companies hyping that they have 12 or 15 motors. It is obvious that these motors cannot all drive the massage mechanisms. These companies think that if it moves, we can count it as a motor. Having motors is not enough, what do they actually do? This is a myth built on hype and unsubstantiated facts. Why would someone want an overly complex chair with low quality motors? Simple is the elegant solution.

Home Improvement for the Kitchen

If you do not like the way that your kitchen looks, you will want to think about the budget that you have. You need to have everything that you want for your kitchen and still stay on the right budget that will make it what you want. You want to be able to afford the kitchen that you want without breaking your bank account.

Finding Cheap and Quality Cabinets

Using cabinets for your kitchen is a must. You need to make sure that you are getting the perfect look for your kitchen so that you are not making a mistake in your style and your budget. There are plenty of different cabinets out there to choose from and you will want to make sure that you are picking the perfect ones for you.

If you are fixing the old cabinets in your home you will want to sand them down first. You will then want to put on the primer and this will make the wood ready to take in the new paint. Using a good blocker primer for the stains that may be on your cabinets is a good idea. Make sure that you are choosing a good paint that is made for cabinets. With a little bit of hard work you are going to have the perfect cabinets that you have always dreamed about having.

A more costly option for your kitchen cabinets is to reface them. This may cost up to thousands of dollars depending on the size of your kitchen. You will take the cabinet doors off and then you will use the refacing material on them to make them look brand new again. You will then put the doors back on and add new hardware to spruce them up even more.

Saving Money on Your Remodeled Kitchen

You can also refinish your appliances and this will save you money. You can get a whole new look that fits your style without spending a whole lot of money.

Flooring can be costly too. You will find that you will save money on your kitchen remodeling with doing the labor yourself. You can find a more expensive flooring for your kitchen and be able to do the work yourself to save on the cost.

Painting is another good way to remodel your kitchen without having to spend a lot of money. You can paint the walls in a new and fascinating color. This can make your entire room look completely different and brand new too.

Changing the lighting is another good way to change the look of your kitchen. This is going to be an inexpensive way to totally change the look and you will also find that you can really make a difference. For some you may have to hire an electrician to install the lights and this can cost you some money.

Finding Cheap Accents for Your Remodeled Kitchen

There are so many different ways to accent your kitchen. You can make a totally new difference with just a few added accents.

Using new curtains in your kitchen is a good idea. Using pictures and new frames Putting up a border Adding new throw rugs on the floor New table cloth Seat cushions and or new kitchen chairs

Start With An Idea And Go On

There are many people who do things which just don?t make any sense. Some people pierce body parts that are just frightening to consider and some people emblazon the permanence of tattoos in places they will surely one day regret. But the thing that everyone can do which can help them in their lives and still make sense is to make sure that any home improvements they undertake truly do make sense for their needs.

But the thing that everyone can do which can help them in their lives and still make sense is to make sure that any home improvements they undertake truly do make sense for their needs. You don?t need to spend a fortune on a home improvement project to make it look attractive and you certainly don?t need to break the bank when you are doing something pedestrian like replacing your floor.

While there are always going to be really excessive options for your palette, if you do the smart thing and just move forward with some trepidation and some caution you can get a smart and inexpensive new floor which you can then make marked improvements on through the life of the floor so that you will be able to justify spending a little bit now and a little bit later to reap the long term rewards which having a nice floor entails.

Start With An Idea And Go On

If you are considering something which is totally far-fetched and doesn?t make any sense for you, then what kind of an idea is that? Do you like the look of marble flooring or do you prefer bamboo?We?re borne into a culture that will too often borrow for the things we want now with no idea of how we will be able to pay these things off at a later date. This is one of the worse things you can do for yourself, for your home, and for your family.

High-Priced Is Not The Way To Go

Especially when you are just starting out you need to remember that doing something high-priced just because it is that way doesn?t make a lick of sense. If you have a way about which to pay for everything in full without falling behind on your lease payments or your child support then that is one thing, but if you are scraping the bottom of the barrel for your newest flashy item of discontent for your home, then that doesn?t seem to make a whole lot of sense either.

Whatever the scenario you need to be able to justify what it is that you are purchasing versus how much it costs versus how much you earn versus the overall value that it will have for you in the end. If you can?t formulate that equation in your ledger, you might want to hand the checkbook over to someone who can.

The Best Credit Card Debt Help Is To Use Your Credit Card Wisely

There are literally thousands and thousands of individuals who have found themselves buried deep within a pile of overwhelming debt. Some people find their way out on their own, while others are forced to file for bankruptcy in order to escape from their debt.

However, they should realize that credit card debt help is there for them and it is just around the corner if they only make an effort to find out how to avail of a number of options in this regard.

Accumulated Interest Rates

Accumulated interest rates steadily add more and more debt to your credit card balances. For that reason, it is essential that you fully understand how to get rid of debt by taking advantage of the many available sources of help.

The first thing you should do is communicate directly with the credit card companies that you owe money to in an effort to negotiate your debts. You can ask them to lower your interest rate. Companies that you have had an account with for a long time will tend to be more willing to accommodate you in the negotiation process.

Another credit card debt help solution is to also ask your credit card company to lower late fees levied on you, and here again, a number of these companies will accommodate your request, even going so far as to totally wipe off the late fees, especially if you promise to pay the minimum outstanding amount soon.

You can also request that the credit card company extend the payment lines. Not everyone is an amazing negotiator, and you may need to avail yourself of the help that third parties like credit card relief companies offer, having them handle the details of the negotiation process for you.

Nevertheless, before asking a credit card relief company makes sure to deal with only a reputable company, because there are many unscrupulous companies out there that you need to steer clear of.

What is Green Cleaning

What are GREEN products? Why are they better? How do they work? What is a micro-fiber cloth? Why would I use one?

These are all questions many consumers have. The rage or trend these days is all about GREEN cleaning. We all have to do our part to help save the environment, and at the same time protect our health. With many products making GREEN claims how do we to know what is truly a GREEN product and how do we properly use it?

First you have to take a look at the product itself. Learn how to understand the label. Does the product have a governmental approval, or is it just the product manufacturer telling you how wonderful it is? You also want to use the proper uses of the product. Does it require special attention in some way? How is the product maintained, and is it something that you could recycle?

The Green Clean Institute, an Illinois based Green Cleaning educational facility teaches the end line user the procedures and products used to be a legitimate Green cleaning firm. Minneapolis based WorldWide Oxide is one company that has teamed with The Green Clean Institute to offer these courses to its customers.

From courses on mold and mildew, courses on building maintainence, and supervisor courses there is something applicable to everyone. The common homemaker or the person that cleans for a living will find valuable information in these courses.

Students will learn what type of green cleaners to use, and why they are using them. They will be learn to be able to distinguish between a good quality item and a lesser quality item. Students will learn about Micro-Fiber cloths and how to choose the correct type of cloth.

These reasonably priced courses are consumer friendly and designed to give us the knowledge to create a better life for ourselves, our families, and our pets. It’s time to educate ourselves on proper product secection and usage. We have all used products for many years that we now know were not good for us. It’s time to change. We know better now.

Having Emergency Funds All Part of Budgeting

Budgeting is often viewed as stressful and even difficult, maybe not difficult in coming up with the budget, difficult to follow at the very least. The truth though is that if you can’t follow a simple budget, you’ll have little chance of being financially responsible. If you can follow a few of the steps outlined below, you should at least give yourself a fighting chance when it comes to paying down debt, investing wisely, and still having money to enjoy life.

Balancing Investment and Debt

This is a fine line to straddle and many people do so poorly. By focusing too much on investments, you’re likely ignoring your debts which probably costs you more in interest rates than your investments are saving. On the other hand, focusing too much on your debt may just lead to you spending more, thanks to the larger comfort zone afforded by the minimized debt, while not adequately preparing for the future.

Ideally you do want to minimize your debt as quickly as possible, starting of course with the higher interest rate debt first. Fixed-period loans may allow for overpayment or they may not, but credit cards can be paid down at any time and usually come with the highest interest rates, so they’re a great place to start. As mentioned though, you need to avoid the trap of putting excessive amounts of credit back on the card once it’s paid down or you’re not accomplishing anything.

If you have a mortgage, you’ll probably find that it’s one of the cheapest loans you have as far as interest rates is considered. In the rush to own their own homes, many people go out of their way to make overpayments on their mortgage, but in line with what was mentioned above, this probably isn’t a great idea. Your other debt will cost you much more in the long run, and you may even be able to invest the money for a higher return than what you’d be saving paying down the mortgage.

A good target range for investing is 10% of your income. This of course depends on your income and associated standard of living. If you find you can’t afford 10%, it may be that you’re living standards are too high for income, and you should cut back at least slightly. A more modest living space or vehicle, and cutting some of the extra bills off like cell phones, high speed internet or satellite T.V can all help in this respect.

Budgeting

With a general idea of how much money you should be investing and/or using to pay down your debt, you can now begin to figure out what you’ll need to do to your budget to accommodate this. Your budget should be monitored for a few months to properly account for all the little miscellaneous spending which may not be as easy to map out. These other monthly things that pop up are often what drives people crazy when trying to make and stick to a budget and may eventually lead them to quit keeping one. By giving yourself at least a general idea of the average amount you spend on these unexpected purchases, you can more accurately prepare your full budget.

Now will come the moment of truth where you’ll see how well your budget fits into your income level, and whether or not some trimming of the fat needs to be done. Another balancing act is needed here, as you don’t want to sacrifice your present for the future, just as the other way around. If you try trimming your budget clean of any excess spending, putting away the chase rewards card, you may find it difficult to stick to it, as you simply won’t have any money to do anything spontaneous or enjoy life.

Closing

Budgeting can certainly be daunting and humbling. The goal is to properly set a course that gives you both a well rounded and satisfying present and future, not leaning too heavily in either direction. Once you get locked into a nice budgetary zone, you’ll find your stress is greatly reduced, and your optimism for the future greatly increased.

Take Out Home Insurance, Be Smart

Smart people always take the trouble of having home insurance which will protect them against unforeseen events and which will cover them against losses that can happen due to a number of different reasons, many of which are beyond their control and which often occur without warning.

Home insurance not just cover the home, it also covers items like accident at home or loss of things at home.

A home is probably the largest and most important investment that a person makes during his entire life and if it is burnt down or the property is damaged due to different reasons, you will find that only home insurance will provide you with compensation that will keep you on your feet despite the worst of accidents.

The insurance may not help you cover everything, but it will certainly provide you a sizeable amount of money to help you tide over the tough period of time.

You probably already have a insurance policy for your home if you have a mortgage.

There are 5 types of coverage - property damage, liability coverage, cover for payments on account of medicinal treatment, coverage for living expenses when forced to live somewhere other than in your home, and coverage for contents of your home

Another important question that needs answering is one that pertains to the amount of coverage that you need to purchase.

The coverage should be near equal of the total amount of items in your home as well as your property.

All said and done, the best home insurance policy would be one that provides you with sufficient protection and thus you need to carefully consider how much coverage you purchase, and you can also be sure that it will prove to be a very important investment that may be second only to the investment made in purchasing the property.

The bottom line is that it will give you plenty of peace of mind knowing that you are protected against that awful day should your home get damaged or destroyed.