Substitute Name Brand for Generic

Part of getting out of debt is putting money back into your pocket. You don't have to completely cut out the pleasures in your life just maybe the ones that aren't as significant. This could be buying generic ketchup instead of name brand, you will be amazed when you find out how much you can save on some generic substitutions. You can compare the ingredients and some have the same exact ingredients while some aren't comparable. This will give you more cash to put in your pocket for bills, going out, eating out etc. If you visit clothing consignment shops you can sell old good conditioned clothes and get in store credit or you can even shop there yourself. You will be surprised at the treasures you can find at your local thrift shop. Statistics show that due to the economy the rise in sales at thrift shops is growing significantly. Buying in bulk is another way to get more bang for your buck. You can buy bulk at Costco and other food stores. There are many ways to save and I'm sure you will come up with more!

Good luck!

After you have put money into your pocket you want to invest your money by putting it into a savings account or checking where it will build interest.

Benefits of Investing your Money

Some people may not realize this but investing your money is very important. This is what will help you in times of emergencies. Due to the economy more people are learning the importance of saving. When you put your money into a savings account or any type of investment account you will build interest for the time that you leave it in there. This is money that you just put away and forget about. You want to choose the account with the highest interest rate and check to see if there is a minimum deposit. Make sure to compare rates. Most people have a savings account but other people have other investments to fall back on. In emergencies you can clear your savings account right away but if you have your money invested in several than you have more backups. All it takes is opening several investment accounts and depositing several dollars if that's what you have into the accounts. Anything helps. If you invest money into a CD account (certificate of deposit) than there's usually a minimum balance that you have to maintain and you are not allowed to take any money out up to a certain time.

Part of getting out of debt is putting money back into your pocket. You don't have to completely cut out the pleasures in your life just maybe the ones that aren't as significant. This could be buying generic ketchup instead of name brand, you will be amazed when you find out how much you can save on some generic substitutions. You can compare the ingredients and some have the same exact ingredients while some aren't comparable. This will give you more cash to put in your pocket for bills, going out, eating out etc. If you visit clothing consignment shops you can sell old good conditioned clothes and get in store credit or you can even shop there yourself. You will be surprised at the treasures you can find at your local thrift shop. Statistics show that due to the economy the rise in sales at thrift shops is growing significantly. Buying in bulk is another way to get more bang for your buck. You can buy bulk at Costco and other food stores. There are many ways to save and I'm sure you will come up with more!

Good luck!

After you have put money into your pocket you want to invest your money by putting it into a savings account or checking where it will build interest.

Benefits of Investing your Money

Some people may not realize this but investing your money is very important. This is what will help you in times of emergencies. Due to the economy more people are learning the importance of saving. When you put your money into a savings account or any type of investment account you will build interest for the time that you leave it in there. This is money that you just put away and forget about. You want to choose the account with the highest interest rate and check to see if there is a minimum deposit. Make sure to compare rates. Most people have a savings account but other people have other investments to fall back on. In emergencies you can clear your savings account right away but if you have your money invested in several than you have more backups. All it takes is opening several investment accounts and depositing several dollars if that's what you have into the accounts. Anything helps. If you invest money into a CD account (certificate of deposit) than there's usually a minimum balance that you have to maintain and you are not allowed to take any money out up to a certain time.

Interested in Raising Your Credit Score?

If you want to get a home loan, cellphone, rent an apt or get a car loan a credit score determines how eligible you are. In the previous posts we talked about credit score ratings called FICO. In today's society a credit score is very important. In this post I will be talking about ways you can improve your credit score. Yes, it is possible to increase your credit score but the important thing is once you do don't fall back into the debt trap.

Credit scores..some people love them and some people hate them. Can you guess which ones? A credit score is created from several things such as your behavior with spending and being able to pay bills on time. Your occupation and how long you've been employed. The more professional your occupation the higher your score is...messed up I know but that's how they work. Self employed gets rated a -1. Your income also determines how many points you earn and how many credit cards you have.

How to increase your credit score

1. Increase your credit limit on your credit card and keep paying off the balance.
2. Get a secured card that works just like a credit card. Make sure to treat it just as you would a credit card. The thing with a secured card is you have to put a deposit and use that as your available credit. Try to pay off the full amount that you spend, pay on time and keep depositing more and see if you can get a credit line increase.
3. Get a copy of your credit report and check to make sure everything is correct. Make sure that they match and that all wrong information is disputed. If you have a recent collection or negative on your account contact the agency to see if you can work on arranging something.
4. If you get a cellphone, auto loan, etc. Make sure to pay on time some companies report to the credit agencies. Ask if they do.
5. See if someone is willing to cosign apt or car loan for you. Most people do this to establish credit.
6. Get a higher paying job
7. Further your education and get into a professional career
8. Stop paying late and catch up on late payments



Good luck doing these things will increase your credit score!

If you want to get a home loan, cellphone, rent an apt or get a car loan a credit score determines how eligible you are. In the previous posts we talked about credit score ratings called FICO. In today's society a credit score is very important. In this post I will be talking about ways you can improve your credit score. Yes, it is possible to increase your credit score but the important thing is once you do don't fall back into the debt trap.

Credit scores..some people love them and some people hate them. Can you guess which ones? A credit score is created from several things such as your behavior with spending and being able to pay bills on time. Your occupation and how long you've been employed. The more professional your occupation the higher your score is...messed up I know but that's how they work. Self employed gets rated a -1. Your income also determines how many points you earn and how many credit cards you have.

How to increase your credit score

1. Increase your credit limit on your credit card and keep paying off the balance.
2. Get a secured card that works just like a credit card. Make sure to treat it just as you would a credit card. The thing with a secured card is you have to put a deposit and use that as your available credit. Try to pay off the full amount that you spend, pay on time and keep depositing more and see if you can get a credit line increase.
3. Get a copy of your credit report and check to make sure everything is correct. Make sure that they match and that all wrong information is disputed. If you have a recent collection or negative on your account contact the agency to see if you can work on arranging something.
4. If you get a cellphone, auto loan, etc. Make sure to pay on time some companies report to the credit agencies. Ask if they do.
5. See if someone is willing to cosign apt or car loan for you. Most people do this to establish credit.
6. Get a higher paying job
7. Further your education and get into a professional career
8. Stop paying late and catch up on late payments



Good luck doing these things will increase your credit score!

Want to know how to get out of debt? Stop debting!

After reading Jerrold Mundis book I was enlightened when he brought out this point "The way to get out of debt is to stay out of debt." Pretty obvious right? But how come it's so hard to do? How do you do this? Well you have to tell yourself that you will not create anymore debt;meaning you will not borrow any more money. Are you one of the constant borrowers? Do you have someone that enables you which pretty much means they come to your rescue and loan you money? If so, you are debting. Debt is a habit and habits can be broken. You just have to learn self control. Try to eliminate the things which might cause you to get into more debt. Think about how you got yourself into debt the first place and than try to avoid it. If you carry your credit card with you learn self control or don't carry it with you. If you are afraid to carry cash load your money onto a prepaid credit card or a secured card. You cannot get into debt because you can only spend the amount that you have on there and it works like a debit card. Try to not get into debt for today and the next days. Jerrold Mundis says to do this just tell yourself everyday you will not incur any debt for today and only today and that you are okay, still breathing still living life. You owe creditors money not your life and they cannot harm you physically. He also says never to file for bankruptcy because you will still be miserable. You will still feel ashamed and depressed. The reason for this is because everyone knows what Bankruptcy means. Being in debt doesn't mean it's the end of your future. It's the habit of debting that needs to be broken.

Tips to avoid debting

Don't borrow money
Don't buy what you can't afford
Spend only what you have

Example could be signing up for service (cable or cellphone) and having it billed when you know you can't afford it.
Financing a car when your income doesn't cover it
Signing up for an offer when you won't be able to afford it monthly

As you can see you can get into debt many ways. If you really want to stop debting start using cash and spending only what you have.

Good luck!

After reading Jerrold Mundis book I was enlightened when he brought out this point "The way to get out of debt is to stay out of debt." Pretty obvious right? But how come it's so hard to do? How do you do this? Well you have to tell yourself that you will not create anymore debt;meaning you will not borrow any more money. Are you one of the constant borrowers? Do you have someone that enables you which pretty much means they come to your rescue and loan you money? If so, you are debting. Debt is a habit and habits can be broken. You just have to learn self control. Try to eliminate the things which might cause you to get into more debt. Think about how you got yourself into debt the first place and than try to avoid it. If you carry your credit card with you learn self control or don't carry it with you. If you are afraid to carry cash load your money onto a prepaid credit card or a secured card. You cannot get into debt because you can only spend the amount that you have on there and it works like a debit card. Try to not get into debt for today and the next days. Jerrold Mundis says to do this just tell yourself everyday you will not incur any debt for today and only today and that you are okay, still breathing still living life. You owe creditors money not your life and they cannot harm you physically. He also says never to file for bankruptcy because you will still be miserable. You will still feel ashamed and depressed. The reason for this is because everyone knows what Bankruptcy means. Being in debt doesn't mean it's the end of your future. It's the habit of debting that needs to be broken.

Tips to avoid debting

Don't borrow money
Don't buy what you can't afford
Spend only what you have

Example could be signing up for service (cable or cellphone) and having it billed when you know you can't afford it.
Financing a car when your income doesn't cover it
Signing up for an offer when you won't be able to afford it monthly

As you can see you can get into debt many ways. If you really want to stop debting start using cash and spending only what you have.

Good luck!

Key to Get Out of Debt

The key to getting out of debt is having money left over after paying what you owe. This can be done by saving, budgeting and being frugal with your finances. There are many ways to save money such as: rebates, coupons, discounts. One thing I would recommend would be the Entertainment Book the price is usually $25-$30 but the book pays for itself right away. You can get coupons for fast food joints where you buy one meal and get one free. I just purchased mine for 2009 and through a program where I earn cash back and points the total for my book ended up being only $10.00 with free shipping:). The Entertainment book also has discounts on auto services, hotels, restaurants, movies, etc. I would say it's been well worth the money.

Coupons- If you search online you can find coupons for almost anything. You can also find it in your local newspaper, I prefer to use the newspaper. There are many different programs online where you can print coupons and get points or money for it. Some of these programs are: Quickrewards, Coolsavings and Eversave.

Cash back programs- These are good programs where you spend and earn, there are participating merchants that will give you points or cash back for using the program to purchase from them. For instance, at Upside if you use your card you can get a certain amount of points for each dollar spent. Once you reach 1,000 points you get $10.00 cash back. Mypoints is the same and you can really save there. You get points and can redeem them for nice gift cards.

Rebates- Many companies offer rebate programs, especially cellphone companies.What you want to do is always check to see if the product or service you are interested in buying offers rebates.

Good luck and Happy New Year!

The key to getting out of debt is having money left over after paying what you owe. This can be done by saving, budgeting and being frugal with your finances. There are many ways to save money such as: rebates, coupons, discounts. One thing I would recommend would be the Entertainment Book the price is usually $25-$30 but the book pays for itself right away. You can get coupons for fast food joints where you buy one meal and get one free. I just purchased mine for 2009 and through a program where I earn cash back and points the total for my book ended up being only $10.00 with free shipping:). The Entertainment book also has discounts on auto services, hotels, restaurants, movies, etc. I would say it's been well worth the money.

Coupons- If you search online you can find coupons for almost anything. You can also find it in your local newspaper, I prefer to use the newspaper. There are many different programs online where you can print coupons and get points or money for it. Some of these programs are: Quickrewards, Coolsavings and Eversave.

Cash back programs- These are good programs where you spend and earn, there are participating merchants that will give you points or cash back for using the program to purchase from them. For instance, at Upside if you use your card you can get a certain amount of points for each dollar spent. Once you reach 1,000 points you get $10.00 cash back. Mypoints is the same and you can really save there. You get points and can redeem them for nice gift cards.

Rebates- Many companies offer rebate programs, especially cellphone companies.What you want to do is always check to see if the product or service you are interested in buying offers rebates.

Good luck and Happy New Year!

What is Debt?

Debt, in the Merriam dictionary is defined as "A state of owing."

In order to owe someone we would need to borrow from another party which usually means monetarily. This could be student loans, car loans, mortgages and the most common one; credit cards. How do we get in debt? We get in debt when we spend or borrow more than we can pay off. It becomes detrimental when payments are being missed because every time we miss a payment we receive a mark on our credit report and a ding on our credit score.

FICO Scores-(Fair Isaac & Co. Credit scoring) Scores that are given to determine your worthiness of being responsible and paying off your bills and debt on time. How many credit cards you have and whether the balance is high, charge offs etc. In this economy credit is used for everything.

Credit scores-
700+= Excellent credit
680-699=Good
620-679=OK
580-619=On the verge of bad
500-580=Bad
499 and Below=VERY bad

Where do you fall?

You might be saying, I don't need to pay off the debt or I'll just get another credit card and transfer my balance onto there. Well my friends doing that still makes you in debt and if you don't pay off your debt your life will be miserable with harassing collection companies calling you at home and even at work, letters to court, isn't it time to start paying off the debt? Even if you don't pay off your debt, it will haunt you for life and your children's lives and your children's children's lives and well, you probably get the picture.

The first step to getting out of debt is to be determined and willing to make whatever changes need to be made. Ask yourself,"How willing am I to do what it takes to get out of debt?"

Debt, in the Merriam dictionary is defined as "A state of owing."

In order to owe someone we would need to borrow from another party which usually means monetarily. This could be student loans, car loans, mortgages and the most common one; credit cards. How do we get in debt? We get in debt when we spend or borrow more than we can pay off. It becomes detrimental when payments are being missed because every time we miss a payment we receive a mark on our credit report and a ding on our credit score.

FICO Scores-(Fair Isaac & Co. Credit scoring) Scores that are given to determine your worthiness of being responsible and paying off your bills and debt on time. How many credit cards you have and whether the balance is high, charge offs etc. In this economy credit is used for everything.

Credit scores-
700+= Excellent credit
680-699=Good
620-679=OK
580-619=On the verge of bad
500-580=Bad
499 and Below=VERY bad

Where do you fall?

You might be saying, I don't need to pay off the debt or I'll just get another credit card and transfer my balance onto there. Well my friends doing that still makes you in debt and if you don't pay off your debt your life will be miserable with harassing collection companies calling you at home and even at work, letters to court, isn't it time to start paying off the debt? Even if you don't pay off your debt, it will haunt you for life and your children's lives and your children's children's lives and well, you probably get the picture.

The first step to getting out of debt is to be determined and willing to make whatever changes need to be made. Ask yourself,"How willing am I to do what it takes to get out of debt?"