I am up against a wall! Where is that sledgehammer!

If you are not familiar with Dave Ramsey read his book. Available from my library below, go buy it, I'll wait.....

One of my problems is that I am too analytical. Being a science geek from an early age and having caught the Computer bug early on, has regimented my thinking a bit. Science and Computers use troubleshooting as one of it's main tools.

Try this, do that, poke it this way, hang it from the ceiling. Basically, look a the problem from every angle. In my IT job, I use mental flowcharts and experience to guide me on the path of getting a users problem resolved. the brain starts working like a flowchart.

Brain: "Wow, look at that, that idea didn't work, store it to try again later, but go back and try another step."

Body: "Trying new idea. Wow, it worked, good work Brain"

Brain: " Filing and amending old info"

Silly yes, but that's how my brain usually works! Add to this that I think pretty fast through these issues and try many angles, quickly.

Apply this to my finances I can cause trouble. That's why I like Dave's book, Total Money Makeover, in it he lays out the steps, Baby Steps, mind you, to create wealth in your life. Not by winning the lottery, or creating a new and amazing thing for everyone to buy, but to look at your income and outflow. Create a Budget (I fail here), Find your leaks, and plug them.

Clean out your financial closet.

DO we really need 10 bazillion TV channels? Or that new IPOD?
DO you have subscriptions to magazines that you don't read? CANCEL them.
Are you paying too much for Car insurance, look around for new policies, Every year to year and half have them fight for your business! You CAN cancel them mid policy, if the numbers are better.

Look at the budget and see what has been hanging around for awhile and clean them out if you don't need them.

After the budget is done, you will have a great idea about ebb and flow of your money. Oh and you might be surprised, when you find out how much those trips to the local convenience store REALLY cost you. I latte factored my Coffee purchases up to 50 dollars last month. I found out in full color and glory using Mint and their unrelenting charts. If I ever need coffee int the morning those charts will haunt me! I and coming to work where it's cheaper, and bought in bulk!

Do your budgets. I have found it is tough at first, but there are loads of ideas on the net. But in my case I built one from scratch in excel. It helped me SEE the numbers, and with Mint now I am going to have to be shown the awful truth with every pretty graph.

Go forth and Budget!

Make me a Mint!

I have been working on my debt for awhile now. I have used many tools, spreadsheets, Microsoft Money, Quicken, and even a DOS based toll long ago. At one point I sent all my bills and money to a group in North Carolina, and they gave me a stipend! Early outsourcing! All to try to figure out where my money is going and how to it keeps leaving so quick!

Money works well, but not all my banks want to work with it, and it always had more bells and whistles then I really needed. Same with the one time I tried Quicken.

I have and still use Excel, I have built many a budget in it, It's just more controllable! It's good to see where the money plans to go, but after I spend off budget it can't show me.

So I found Mint. You attach your account info to the site (don't worry it's safe) and it downloads transactions into your Mint account, and in seconds you can see where your money is going. Budgets, based on past usage averages, and pie charts for where your money went.

Me, thankfully I am under budget on most categories, except Entertainment. One Beer Fest and I am over!!

Anyway check it out!

http://www.mint.com/index.html

Freecycle

I tend to read web comics a lot. I have a whole Firefox window just for them. Rue the day I stumble on a new one I like, I lose hours of time, catching up.

Anyway, one of the comics, I read, Questionable Content, the characters wanted to put stuff up on Freecycle. Having seen these reader tips hidden in the comic before, and always one for a challenge, I went surfing at the great Google Oracle.

What I found was very cool. Now I rss Craigslist Free stuff, but here is a place where people FREEcycle their stuff. No trading is allowed, just "Hey Group, I have an old couch, or lamp, who can use it?" Someone gets back to the poster and takes the thing away! It Salvation Army, without the middleman!

The landfills don't hurt for it either.

I think I will go look for a new towel rack we seem to need that!

Oh and do checkout Jeph's page it is a great comic!
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You know what irks me?

The people who live in America! Yeah don't worry, it includes me too!

I was driving into work this morning and the usual commentary was on the radio. Time filler, minutia, you know the cheery morning DJ's. My case it's Paul and Al on 94 HJY, I live in RI.

For the last week, they have been griping about the cost of tickets to shows, Football, Baseball games, and the rising price of gas! Basically everything is going up and no one knows why!

Well Boys and Girls, I know why, and so do you! IT IS US!

Yup that's right, we raise the prices, we have done it for years! Eons!

Ok, here's the deal, show of hands, who gets paid for work? Or even not for working? Nice the whole class!

Ok, now again, who of you is TOTALLY Freakin happy with getting the same income forever?

Hmmmm..... No one, odd. Listen wake up and smell Capitalism, we want a good income for our efforts, all of us. From the ditchdigger, to the CEO, to our esteemed king George, we all want more.

The point here is everyone wants more for what they do. So what is the difference if it's you, me, or Axl Rose? "The difference is Axl is rich and we are trying to making ends meet, so he should keep the price down." No the real reason is hunger, we hunger for more than we have and we lost the ability to perceive real hunger. "OH MY GOSH!! Gn'R is coming, I have to go see them!"

Hell's yeah I do, but I also have had to learn the art of Wants and Needs. (It helps the hunger pains.)

I NEED to go see a Gn'R Concert vs I need to buy food for my family.

Which of the above is the correct answer?

Good we are learning, AXL rules!

Seriously though, We all need to take a diet pill for finance. We as a country are in Debt!

Pssssst... those are the Plastic things in our wallets called Credit Cards, or the loan against the house to pay the credit cards off, and use them again and again! I go back to the TV commercial I saw in the 80's "STOP THE INSANITY!"

We are so in debt up to our eyeballs it is Hilarious, we have even mortgaged the US of A!

And the beat goes on!

So I told you at the beginning WE (including me) are to blame for all this, because we pay what we are asked. "Come on Man, the Red Sox are in the WORLD Series, I Have to GO! I will pay ANYTHING!"

There you go right there! We will pay anything! Listen that is a once in a lifetime situation I know, I guess you might need to pay ANYTHING! Well since they did it twice in 4 years I think I'll wait for the next one!

Seriously though, what would happen if we all didn't show up at the gas pumps one day? Nothing, we would go the next day. But, what is a great percentage of us didn't show up for gas for a week? Now Mr. Saudi-Texan, would start to cringe, the price would have to go down just to raise interest, that's when we wait another week.

Immortal Supply and Demand, Lots of supply and no demand the market has to correct itself. Oh and I seriously hope you aren't blaming the manager at your local, they make about the same profit as they normally do every day.

"Well we can't wait a week our whole society runs on gas!" True, but are we really being cost effective? Are we using public transportation as much as we could, are we ordering a pizza from the local and having it delivered a two minute walk?

We did it before. Our esteemed Elders can tell you that. I was called the Great Depression!

We need to go back to the Depression Mentality, do what we have to to get by. Eat leftovers, use everything, there's a War on!

Mercy on your soul if you used credit. The interest could really kill you! Truly, bats weren't used just in baseball.

I am not saying we need to foergo all the ammenities, just want vs. need them. We all deserve to live like kings, we are Americans! We all get a vote!


I voted against Axl Rose and his150 dollar CHEAP Seats, in the words of Nancy Reagan, I just said No!

Axl got his money though, so one else bought the seat the show was SOLD OUT! So was the audience, Axl canceled.

BTW, I am an avid Gn'R Fan, but I won't pay that much for a ticket.

That's the way I see it!

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