Avoiding Debt is Like Avoiding Water
It seems that some of us have issues trying to avoid debt and might as well give up water than just get out of debt. It is not easy trying to avoid debt when all you have done all your life is look at something you like and take out a plastic card and the next thing you know you have what you coveted.
Some of us actually have good intentions when we get into debt. I wanted to pay for my college fees and then buy a car to take me to work. Debt Management was not one of my courses in college and you can be assured I have failed miserably trying to get it into control.
However, I am now working on a great new path to totally get rid of all my debt. I will not pay for my gas bills, electric bills, I will walk to work, and I will never shop again in my life. I have set this in motion starting this morning and now 2 hours later, I am succeding. All I have to do now is keep it up for the next 40 years of my life and I will be living debt free.
How can people stop going bankrupt if they can not control their own spending. The adage is right, it is not what you earn but what you spend. If we can all cut down on spending, then we shall go a long way in avoiding bankruptcy and thus enjoying the fruits of our labour.
The Joomla CMS replacement
I usually use joomla for most of my websites unless I am blogging where I just use wordpress. I can buy a new site name and just set up wordpress on it as I think of what to develop on a new site. I would then use Joomla to develop my idea.
However, the recent strict of gnu protocols by the joomla development team has meant that developers who used to rely on Joomla for a living have now given up on it. Good tools are now being left to rot and as such it’s more difficult to implement any ideas I may have. That is untill MiaCMS came along.
It looks interesting and I am going to give it a go.
MiaCMS is constantly evolving so a static feature set is not easy to nail down, but here is a basic list of features offered out of the box:
- Simple Installation
- Graphical Content Editors (automatic code generation)
- RSS Content Syndication
- Powerful/Extensible 3rd Party Extension System
- Flexible Site Theming Capabilities
- Free & Open Source (GPL v2 License)
- Site Search
- REST enabled
- User Management
- Multilingual
- Stable, Secure, and Mature
Time for Holiday Presents
The first part of the year is over and unlike most last minute shoppers, this is the time I start shopping for family and friends. It’s actually cheaper and more fun to start early. You also have the option of removing anyone from your list you do not like.
July is when I start with my list of possible holiday presents. I of course have to include my family but when it comes to my workmates, I have found Photo Cards to be both cheap and also time saving.
Why photocards, well it’s much cheaper than trying to figure out what everyone in your office or business wishes as a present. The idea of holiday presents is to show that you remember people ,not to show them you are making a lot of money by sending expensive presents. It is a great idea to get a present that one has to either see or carry around them everywhere. A car is nice but I can’t buy a car for every one. Photocards are just perfect for this.
Now the only thing you have to do in my particular card is to look for a baby photo for my workmate. Next just go to the site and walla, you have a photo frame everyone will remember and it’s cheap. Now tell me who is going to say not to such a beautiful present?
Can You Save Enough
Before making the decision to add more debt, you need to make sure that you:
Allocate sufficient money for your essentials.
Borrow only for items that you need and can afford.
Borrow only if you’re spending less each month than you take home.
1. Start with your monthly take-home pay.
This is the amount you have left after taxes and other deductions have been made.
2. Subtract the amount you need for necessities and fixed expenses.
This includes savings, your mortgage or rent payment, utilities, food, transportation, child care, medical care, clothing, and recreation. Include payments made on a quarterly, semi-annual, or annual basis, such insurance and taxes.
3. Subtract monthly payments for existing loans and credit cards.
4. The balance is the amount you can safely apply to debt repayment.
Avoid thinking you can spend all this amount, since emergencies do occur, and you may not wish to use your regular savings account to cover small, unexpected expenses.
Monthly Take Home $ _______________
Fixed Expenses —- $ _______________
Loans/Credit Cards —- $ _______________
Amount Available For Additional Debt $ _______________
HOW TO MANAGE CREDIT CARD USE
Many people find themselves with credit problems because they don’t keep track of purchases they make with their credit cards. A simple method of keeping track of monthly credit card charges is to:
Determine the total amount you can responsibly charge on all your credit card accounts during that month.
Keep track of your credit spending in the same way you maintain a running balance of your checking account.
Subtract each amount charged from the monthly charge limit you set.
Stop using your credit cards if you draw this balance down to zero.
Getting Used to Coupons
When I was a kid, I used to look at my mom funny every weekend she would be cutting the newspaper or magazines. It never made any sense to me why anyone as old as she was would bother cutting newspapers, take them to the shop and make the line long as she haggled on $1.40 items so as to get the price of $1.
Well that was until the price of oil started hitting my pockets. I love being online so imagine my surprise to find $200 off Dell Small Business Vostro 400 Mini Tower computer . I cheap computer for my kids would be just the thing to keep me from being bugged .
The $200 0ff would then be used for buying something sensible for my wife instead of her usual shopping rampages. There are great clothing coupons that would be great for her just after I get my automotive coupons . After all I found the site, so I should reap the fruits of my labour.
The reason I love getting especially health coupons from this site is that it is absolutely free to use and can you imagine there is even no registration required. Just get your shopping codes and cheaply shop in the best stores online without ever leaving your home and much cheaper than newpaper clippings.