I look around and see a lot of people hurting financially. I hate that. Some have lost their jobs, others have made a financial mess for themselves and both are in fear of what the future holds. (The future may be really scary if we don’t get the capitalist killers out of OUR White House and other government positions.) At any rate, here we are. We need to skinny-up and get our own house in order before sending money to another person’s house.
The first step in getting your financial life in line is taking care of what Dave Ramsey calls the four walls: housing (including utilities), food, transportation and clothing.
Housing. Whether you own or rent your housing shouldn’t be more than 25% of your take home pay. If it’s more than that you should consider selling or looking for a cheaper place to rent.
Food. We have to eat don’t we? But if you’re in a financial mess beans and rice is what’s for dinner until your finances turn around. While getting out of debt our family of four spent $400/month on food and household needs (toiletries, light bulbs etc…). We budget for $500/month, now, but eat out a couple times a month for a special treat. To save money we shop at Aldis, grow a garden, buy meat and eggs from local producers, cook from scratch and always, always, always make a menu and shop from a list. (Just ask my kids what happens if your requests don’t make the list…probably go without until the next big shopping trip.)
Transportation. Dave Ramsey says all of your cars, trucks, boats, four wheeler’s value shouldn’t add up to more than 50% of your yearly gross income. So if you make 50K/year your total value (what they are worth today– not what you paid for them) shouldn’t be more than $25K. If you have more than 50% you have too much invested in items whose value drops like a rock. If you’re make a couple of huge car payments, getting into cheaper cars would free up a lot of cash and get you back on track quicker. (We sold our brand new truck when getting out of debt. The best thing we ever did.)
Clothing. I’ve seen very few people running around naked. The ones I have seen were being chased by cops. So it’s not just a hunch, you probably have enough clothes to get by on until you are out of your financial mess. If not, or if you have kids that tend to grow regardless of what your bank statement says…shop garage sales and used clothing stores to save big. (I just found two pairs of GAP jeans, a pair of Cruel Girl jeans and three new shirts for me at Salvation Army and paid less than $20 for all of them.) Good deals are around every corner if you look.
With the money left over you should pay off your debts smallest to largest until the money is gone. If you’re getting a tax return or some windfall don’t forget to get $1000 in the bank for an emergency fund. And cut up your credit cards for goodness sake, they are nothing but trouble.
You can do this. The hardest part is making up your mind to change.
Simply,
Sis
So. I was looking through old photos to update our photo wall and came across this one…
Pitiful, ain’t it? It made me laugh outloud. It’s of W and Barney after an afternoon in our mud hole out back. (Swimming pool is what they called it.) When Ben saw it he said started filling in the thought bubbles. I tag-teamed…and it went something like this…
Skeeter (in the welding hat aka Barney): “Yeah, I can fix yer truck fer ya. Pull it round back there, I’ll have a look-see! That’s my brother, Ed. Good ole boy–strong as an ox. He can jest pick yer ole truck up and set it down on them blocks over there ch-yonder… You want a grape Nehi? I have one them yernins fer one…I’ll go fetch us a couple…”
*sphnicker sphnicker*
Here in Mayberry we don’t have much to do, but make fun of our offspring. Once it thaws we can head back down to the creek and git back to frog giggin’. Till then we”ll just pick banjos, pick our teeth and pick on the kids.
I really need to get out more. What are you doing till the ground thaws out enough to garden?
Simply,
Sis
Tags: funny, humor, skeeter and ed
(Thanks to BlogHer Pic App for this photo that makes me want to throw-up.)
It’s tax time, ie: pay more time if you’re a overachieving small business owner or it’s get back more than you paid in for others. How fair is that?
Our tax system is broken. It unfairly taxes the high income earners (a lot of which employ most everyone else) and lets those that make $250K or less basically skate. Give me a break. Marlin the millionaire thinks we should have a flat tax, say 10%. He says if it’s good enough for God, it’s good enough for government. I love it. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t get a tax return and hasn’t for years.
I find it interesting what people choose to spend their money on. According to cch.com 41% people will pay bills, 41% will save it, 15% will spend it and 3% don’t know. How can you not know? Anyway.
Since tax returns are mostly other people’s money (most returns boast more money than paid in) maybe they should be spent responsibly. Isn’t that what we want our politicians to do with our money? What if everyone who got a tax return used $1000 to start a baby emergency fund, (remember emergency funds should be 3-6 months of expenses used for true emergencies) then with the balance they started paying off their debts smallest to largest until the money is gone?
What if everyone woke up fiscally responsible? We wouldn’t be in massive debt to China, there would be happier marriages, politicians would be laying down with the people (lion with the lambs), pigs would be flying and hell would be freezing over. I’m afraid even that wouldn’t wake us up as a nation. Maybe when the people of China call in our debt and folks in India take all our jobs and we are eating rice for every meal– we’ll have a light bulb moment (not the Al Gore kind) and want to do something about it. But by then it will be too late.
Got returns?
Got ideas on how to spend them?
Simply,
Sis
Tags: don't bite the hand that feeds you, emergency funds, saving money, tax return ideas, tax returns, taxes, unfair taxation
Random.org picked Mrs. Money as the winner of the “Love and Respect” book giveaway. I sent an email to Mrs. Money this morning to sing of the news.
Whoop-Whoop!
Thanks so much for reading everyone. Hope your Valentines Day is fill with lots of love and respect!
Simply,
Sis
