Get Rich... Slowly

Who wouldn't like to have that one silver bullet to get rich quick. But the fact is, most of us will never find it. Still, we can accumulate wealth slowly over time. One way is to earn more. But another way is to spend less - think smaller, be satisfied with what we have instead of wanting something else.

I recently saw an ad for a credit card that was targeted toward people who have poor credit, over their heads in debt. It showed images of people that looked like clips from "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous". I thought it must be so appealing to folks who've found themselves in difficult situations that resulted in high debt.

Getting over your head in debt is easy to do - an illness, a job loss, or a divorce and before you know it creditors are calling every day. It's an overwhelming, stifling and oppressive place to be because it's so hard to resolve. Ads like that credit card ad I saw don't help.

Many years ago I had too much debt, and I didn't know how I'd ever get out from under it. It really took years of living simply that made the difference: cutting back, living with less and thinking smaller. And paying off the bills slowly but surely. That's a difficult task in our culture because our society encourages spending more than saving or not spending. I'm grateful to say that my finances are significantly more healthy today.

Even if you're not in debt over your head, I hope you're not, living simply can help you accumulate wealth, too. There are two books that changed the way I think about money and helped me get out of debt:

Voluntary Simplicity, by Duane Elgin (Quill/William Morrow Publishers NY ISBN 0688-12119-5)- This book taught me about living "toward a way of life that is outwardly simple but inwardly rich." It's about learning to appreciate what you have instead of looking outside yourself for happiness. The tenets of Elgin's voluntary simplicity are frugal consumption, ecological awareness and personal growth.

Your Money or Your Life, by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin (Penguin Books NY ISBN 014-016715-3) - I learned how to determine what to spend money on by looking at my values and my goals and putting more money into things that propel me toward my goals. The subtitle is called "Transforming Your Relationship With Money and Achieving Financial Independence".

These books are great reads, regardless of your financial health. But if you are over your head in debt, we have a program that can help relieve some of the stress of living with debt every day. Check out Balance Pro on our website or contact Member Services for more information.

To Shred or Not to Shred - That is the Question!

Shred It or Regret It

It’s rampant. It's evil. It's coming to a town near you. It's IDENTITY THEFT.

Identity thieves may not exactly steal your life, or your home, but they can steal your money and make life a nightmare for you for a long time. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, identity theft is American's fastest growing crime and over 7 million people per year are victims of this crime.

I found getting ready for Shred-It Day this weekend to be particularly draining. It probably had to do with the arduous task of sifting through mounds of paper in our file cabinets. Cleaning out our files was our Friday night project (are we exciting, or what)! While my husband complained about having to go through all the files, I asked him to keep in mind the amount of time I had spent over the years, doing all of the filing.

It was hard to figure out what to keep and what to purge. Just as we cleaned out one file cabinet, I tackled another only to be met with another pile of papers to sort through.

We had to weigh out what to should keep for tax purposes, what I want to keep for sentimental reasons and what we simply don’t need. After a couple of hours be were done, and were getting rid of at least 75% of what was in our filing cabinets. I felt like a weight had been had been lifted off my shoulders.

Let The Shredding Begin

On Saturday morning it was so simple. I gave the shredding company my boxes of papers and all of those personal records were gone, saving me hours of time standing in front of our home shredder to avoid the risk of becoming a victim of identity theft.

Not shredding all of our personal documents is not a risk I am willing to take. The average victim of identity theft will spend over 600 hours and $1,400 dollars of their money clearing their name after an identity thief strikes.

Below are a few easy things that you can do to help reduce the risk of having your identity stolen.

• Shred shred shred. Buy a good cross-cut shredder, and get the most heavy duty one you can afford. Be sure it will take staples and credit cards, as well as several sheets of paper at once. Shred anything with your name, address, and of course, any account numbers on it. It only takes a minute and it's worth it.


• Mail your outgoing letters and bills from the Post Office rather than your home. I know it sounds annoying, but when that little red flag is up indicating that you have outgoing mail for the postman to collect, it's also a sign for thieves to nab your mail, which often contains checks. The thieves "wash" the checks of all ink except for your signature, then poof they have a blank check, signed by you to write to whomever they want.


• Protect your Social Security Number and credit card information. There are only about a ton of email and phone scams out there these days, so don't be fooled. NEVER give personal information over the phone or in an email and, don't click through on any emails asking you to "verify your account information" or warning you that your Ebay or PayPal account has been compromised! It's just a scam to get you to input your personal information to a bogus site that will collect it and use it for fraudulent purposes.

Taking these simple steps will help reduce your risk, limit your exposure and avoid the nightmare of identity theft.

Boycotting Gas Won't Make A Difference

In fact, I swear this boycott suggestion has actually raised gas prices today. It's up to $3.50 (I heard it's over $4 in Chicago.) On one talk radio show this morning a limo driver said he watched the prices go up 35 cents in a 3 hour period yesterday. What we don't purchase today we'll purchase tomorrow or Thursday, and the gas companies know this. Remember, we've been spoiled up until now...Europeans have been paying these kind of prices (and higher) for a very long time.

There is only one way to show big oil companies that we're tired of getting the shaft - that is we have to reduce our consumption of gasoline. And that, my friends, won't happen in a day.

Here are some ways to reduce your use of gasoline:
1) Trade in for a smaller vehicle that is more energy efficient.
2) Trade in for a vehicle that uses alternative fuel. (I know where you can get a great rate on an auto loan, too....)
3) Drive less! Stay home and play outside or read a book instead of going out now and then. (Remember, everything you buy had to be shipped to the store in a gas-powered truck!)
4) Walk! It's summer - how about doing some of your errands on foot. Can you walk to the grocery store for milk? Think of all the impulse purchases you won't make if you have to carry stuff home. You'll save money and gas.
5) Ride your bike! Do some of your farther errands on bike - use a backpack or a basket if you have stuff to carry. You'll get some exercise and save gas too.
6) Use public transportation. Believe it or not, we actually do have a public bus in the suburbs. And the train is so much fun to take into the city. I always feel like I have much more freedom being in the city without a car. It's much easier to get around.
7) Carpool. Drive with a friend and have a nice conversation while you're out.

Then there are real, long term strategies that will really burn the oil companies if we all do these things:
1) Move closer to work. What if you could walk or bike there?
2) Work from home...there's nothing better than working at home, if you can.
3) Live where you shop. I love my house because it's located within walking distance to just about everything I need.

What if we all could reduce from the two-car household to a one-car household? What would you do with that car payment? The insurance? The gas money? The repair money?

I must say that this boycott that has circulated the web has really inspired some hope, though. I'd like to thank the person or group who made the suggestion about the boycott, they at least started a conversation about this topic, which needs to be discussed. There's really nothing we can't do in our country...maybe we really could become less dependent on oil. It won't happen in a day, but it could happen.

Are You Prepared?

After hearing about the devastating tornados in Kansas last week, looking at the horrifying pictures, and listening to the sad stories on the news, I wondered what all of those people were going to do now. How would I feel and what would I do if I found myself in a similar situation? With my house flattened and all of my personal belongings destroyed, how would I start to rebuild?

If you were to sustain a catastrophic loss like that, would you be prepared? Could you remember the details of all of your possessions? I know that I could not.

Even with home owners insurance, I would not be in a position to be able to recoup all of my possessions. Insurance companies require that you provide overwhelming and undeniable proof of what you own. When a disaster such as a tornado throws your life into utter chaos, insurance companies want details of all your tangible personal property and what it is worth, based on insurance stipulations and requirements. Not having this information available during a disaster, puts you at the risk of losing 20% or more of a casualty loss insurance claim, after faithfully paying all of the premiums.

By preparing yourself for the unexpected you can maximize the return on your insurance claim, and reduce the entire claims process by weeks or even months.

If you're like most of us, you buy things and put the receipt in a folder in case you need it for warranty purposes. But in case of a fire or a tornado. . . well, you know what can happen.

It is essential to keep a documented inventory of your personal property. Insurance policy interpretation is where the problems usually arise. It is assumed that families have color TV's, maybe even two or three. But what is not assumed is that you may have a big screen TV, a custom made dining room or bedroom set, or made to order drapery, etc. Property that falls into this category is not assumed by any insurance company. You will have to prove you had it in order to financially recover in case of a claim. Insurance companies will ask for an inventory, including description and value of damaged property. And, most important, they'll ask you to attach bills, receipts that justify the loss. Photos and written records kept in a safe deposit box would be very beneficial during a time like this.

My plan now is to start working on creating a digital inventory of my home using my digital camera, (how hard can that be). Record it now! Don’t regret it later! That is what I keep telling myself. I am planning to make a complete written inventory of our home, and take videos and photographs of our home and contents.

This process will help to ensure that if my family is faced with the same kind of disaster that many families in a small town in Kansas experienced last week, we will receive the proper settlement from our insurance company to help rebuild our lives.

Where does all of our money go?

This weekend, I did it again. I went shopping and spent too much money. I did not buy anything big, just all of the things that my family and I need.

Looking at the total on the bottom of my receipt, made me stop and think. What is really necessary? We slowly get used to more & more stuff, and before we know it, it is hard to tell the difference between our needs and our wants.

Instead of buying Suave shampoo (on sale for .99) like I used to, I now buy a more expensive shampoo that cost about $3.50. Is that cost increase really necessary? All of my little cost increases can really add up, and my hair does not even look or feel any better than it did before. Although this represents a very small piece of my financial puzzle, I wonder why many of us spend extra money, when we don’t really need to.

Money is a powerful resource. We strive to acquire it and we are told we cannot survive without it. It represents glamour, prestige, power, security and happiness and no matter how non-materialistic we may strive (or claim) to be, in the end, much of our life revolves around making money and spending it. And, we certainly spend tremendous mental and emotional energy thinking about it.

What is the difference between or needs and wants?
Our actual needs are pretty limited: food, shelter and clothing. Just about everything else is a "want," and our wants are essentially endless. Almost all of us have limited resources, so we have to make choices about which wants to fulfill.

The way we fulfill our needs also involves a lot of choice. Shelter, for example, can be a bed at a homeless shelter, an apartment, or a $1 million home. Our food choices offer similar extremes, from beans and tap water eaten at home to steak and Dom Perignon at an exclusive restaurant.

I think that many people believe they have to spend money in certain ways or in certain amounts, when in reality their spending is a choice -- or is at least based on choices that have been made in the past. For example, if you have a huge mortgage payment, it's because you chose to buy a big home and select a particular mortgage.

A hard, cold look at how and where we spend our money can show us – often in a painfully clear light – why we may experience financial difficulties from time to time. This, of course, is one of the main reasons that so many people resist examining their monetary habits and belief systems in the first place.

For more information on learning how to properly budget your money, take a look at our free Balance Fitness Program.

Balance will help you develop a workable spending and savings plan, we want to help. That's why we've provided access to free and confidential financial counseling and education through BALANCE.

Got too much stuff?

Are you a pack rat? Seems a lot of us are. In fact, so many are that these self-storage facilities have become quite an industry. I thought those storage places were for people who were in transition - you know, moving to a new house but living with the in-laws for a couple months between closings. We've all done it.

Turns out, as an article I read recently explains, people just have too much stuff. Temporary storage is the second top reason for using self-storage. The first is "no room for items at residence". Wow. The article even has a list of what's in this guy's storage unit. He has 8 extension ladders. 8?? Okay, this guy is a retired roofer so that's why he needed 8. But now he's retired, why is he keeping them all? Besides, he's probably forgotten most of the stuff he has in there, anyway, so why keep it?

This self storage phenomenon is amazing considering we're living in the days of McMansions. We still don't have enough room for all our stuff, even with houses that are bigger than ever and getting bigger every year.

That's why I love my little house. It's about the size of the house I grew up in. Built in 1969, the closets are SMALL. But that's good because it forces me to think long and hard about each thing I buy. Is it closet-worthy? And, it also forces me to clean out every so often. The lack of clutter and the purging of stuff is quite therapeutic. My soul needs it now and then!

I save money because there's less space to air condition and heat. Less electricity to power and fewer rooms to fill with furniture. It's easier to clean and takes less time to clean, too. I can even clean it myself (although I hate to clean).

Sure, when I see those beautiful McMansions, sometimes I get a little green with envy. But it only lasts until I get back to my little house. It's just the right size for my family of 3. It makes us closer. Yes, I mean that physically and emotionally closer too. We can't run away from each other. We have to learn to co-exist together.

In fact, there are builders now who create tiny houses. Check out Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. Jay Shafer, the builder, lives in a house of 100 square feet. I love this guy! Here's what he says:

"My name is Jay Shafer and since 1997 I have been living in a house smaller than some people's bathrooms. I call the first of my little hand built houses Tumbleweed. My decision to inhabit just 100 square feet arose from some concerns I had about the impact a larger house would have on the environment, and because I do not want to maintain a lot of unused or unusable space. My houses have met all of my domestic needs without demanding much in return. The simple, slower lifestyle my homes have afforded is a luxury for which I am continually grateful."

I love that his concerns were about the environment. And check it out - he says a smaller house provides a simpler, slower lifestyle. Who doesn't want that? Yippee! Thank you, Jay Shafer.

Check out the inside of one of his houses:


Hard to imagine, but it sure is food for thought!