By Chris Bennett
What does being frugal mean to you these days? It doesn’t take a financial guru to tell you that each dollar must be stretched for those of us bearing the brunt of this recession.
So what can you learn from it? I see these times as a learning opportunity to change habits, and redefine a term that seems to have lost its way in the American buying culture … frugality.
Being frugal means using your leverage as a consumer in a buyers’ market, which is everywhere. Exploring your spending habits is crucial to coming out on top … or just breaking even for that matter.
Focusing on how we buy and consume food on a daily basis is an excellent way to begin this process. After all, we all have to eat, right? And doing so can be healthy as well.
Maybe we don’t have to eat as much. Or maybe we can use this penny pinching time to change what we do eat to more healthy and cost-effective alternatives.
Before you even begin to grocery shop however, conceptualize how much money you need to save compared to how much food you normally buy. This varies from house to house, but depending on how many mouths you have to feed, your “cost-benefit” ratio needs to be realistic. Read More »
God promises to answer your prayers …
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Matthew 7:7-8 (NIV)
Article By Kevin L. DeWitt
Sometimes when we’re in debt, it feels like we’re drowning, trying to stay afloat, and yet we don’t know how to get out of the turbulent waters we find ourselves in. If you feel yourself being pulled under by the current of debt, there’s hope: by using a Debt Snowball, you can pull yourself out.
This article might seem too simple for those who regularly read about personal finances, but sometimes it’s good to review the basics, and for those who haven’t read much about debt elimination, this can be a life saver.
The basic idea of the Debt Snowball is that you apply an extra amount of money every month to your smallest debt until it’s paid off, and then take the amount you were paying for that debt and apply it to the next biggest debt, and so on until you’ve paid off all your debts. It sounds simple, but it’s very powerful, and it’s something that I’m using a modified version of it now to get myself out of debt.
Here are the basic steps:
- List all debts from smallest to largest.
- Commit to pay the minimum payment on each debt.
- Find an extra amount, on top of the minimum, that can be applied towards the smallest debt — this amount is your “snowball” amount.
- Pay the minimum payment plus the extra amount towards that smallest debt until it is paid off.
- Then, add the old minimum payment from the first debt to the extra amount, and apply the new sum to the second smallest debt — your snowball amount has just gotten bigger, and will get bigger after each debt is paid off.
- Repeat until all debts are paid in full. Read More »
God promises to give you something to look forward to …
“However, as it is written, no eye has seen, ne ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.”
1 Corinthians 2:9 (NIV)
Article By Judy Mosley
Recently, on the way to a doctor appointment, my children and I were listening to a CD that I had received for Mother’s Day. The whole family has enjoyed this recording, but what struck me on the ride was hearing my four-year-old singing at the top of his lungs!
He didn’t get all the words right, nor was he exactly in tune, but listening to him sing with so much gusto reminded me of how much I have to be grateful for. I could hear his heart and the sound was beautiful.
And then I started thinking that this beautiful moment had no impact on our current financial situation. So I started wondering … “What else can you do for free”? Read More »
