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Newsletter to Your Friends (Use this link only if you receive this newsletter by email) Week of May 3, 2010This is an OPT-IN list ONLY! If you feel that you have received this message in error, please follow the directions at the bottom of this email to unsubscribe. Thank you.Click Here to view this newsletter online. Navigate This ColumnGrandpa Terry's Update Welcome to The Budget Stretcher! Connie, a subscriber, sent me some very valuable information I want to pass on. First is a site where you can get eye glasses starting at only $8: I have found a place online that carries eye glasses starting at ONLY $8!! Zenni Optical :: +Sunshade Models or actual address: http://www.zennioptical.com/ Hope this helps! Thanks for all of your help!! Connie Next is a site where you can get free eye care if you qualify: To see if you may qualify for medical eye care at no out of pocket cost, call EyeCare. America's EyeCare Program @ 1-800-222-3937 (EYES). This year round program is designed for those who qualify, who have not seen an ophthalmologist in three or more years. Eligible patients will be matched with a nearby volunteer ophthalmologist. Particpants receive a comprehensive medical eye examination and up to one year of care for any disease diagnosed during the initial visit, for free. Check it out. See if you or someone you know qualifies. http://www.eyecareamerica.org/eyecare/care/index.cfm How convenient is it to get a payday or title loan when you need extra money. Most of the time you can get the money within 24 hours. Then just pay back the loan next payday. But, have you considered what that money will cost you? I found a web page that shows the interest rates based on various loan amounts and length of the loan. The highest rate is 5475%. That makes your credit card interest rates seem insignificant. Take a look at this chart. You will be amazed: http://www.dollarflash.com/Fees.aspx That's all for now. Remember, I really enjoy hearing from you folks. If you have any comments, complaints, suggestions or just want to say Hi, please send me an email to tre2000@midwest.net If you know someone that may be interested in subscribing to our newsletter just copy and paste the below link into an email to them and have them subscribe: http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/confirmsubs.html Have a great week, Grandpa Terry Sponsor AdvertisementAn amazing collection of 1, 300 organizing tips, ideas and techniques to help you organize your home, your office and your life! Clutter-control tips for every room in the house. Time management systems to help you gain extra hours in your day. Super ways to organize the paper monsters in your life. Ideas and systems to keep you motivated, and so much more! Click Here to check out Get Organized Now Grandpa Terry's Tip of the WeekThe conventional wisdom is that, if you want to know the details of where your money goes, you keep track of every penny in some sort of ledger. This is by far the most effective way to handle this problem. By keeping track of your purchases you will be able to make decisions that could reduce your expenses. You can cut out unnecessary expenses and put your money toward more important things. It is best to keep the ledger with you and write down this information as you make the purchase. Naturally, if you have a family they will also have to do the same thing. Like I said this is a fantastic way to know where your money is going. The problem is that most people don't stick to it for more than a few days. AN ALTERNATIVE Keeping tract of your money is a means toward a goal. You want to control your spending so that you can buy the things you need and some of the things you want. It's as simple as that. Since you already know what your regular bills are going to be each month, the only thing you need to keep up with is your Household Expenses. This includes a lot of things like groceries, car gas, clothes, etc. In order to do this you will need to know how much money you have to use for this purpose. The Budget Worksheet available at Budget Stretcher will allow you to "brainstorm" your expenses to determine what you need to spend your money on each month. You can print a copy of the Budget Worksheet By Clicking Here. Here is how it works: First, you sit down and try to think of everything you spend money on and write it down. If you have a family it's best to get them involved in this process. You won't be able to think of everything at first but you will get a good idea. Next apply an estimated dollar amount to each of these expenses. Here again you are guessing. You have to be as realistic as possible. Now that you have an estimate of what you spend on your Household Expenses each month you need to see if you have enough money to cover it. To do this you simply total your regular bills and savings and deduct it from your net income. If you don't have the money to cover your estimated expenses, it's time to start cutting back. Look at each expense and try to find ways to reduce or eliminate it. For example, if you are visiting the beauty shop twice a month change it to once a month. There are thousands of ways to cut your expenses. The best place to find ways to do this is to visit my Budget Stretcher Partner sites. Here is a list of some of the best money saving sites on the internet: If you have a family your next problem is going to be how to sort your money. When you have your list of expenses you will need to assign the responsibility for each of those expenses to a member of the family. I wrote another article that explains this process in detail and provides specific examples of how to sort your money. You can see this article By Clicking Here. As with anything else you will need to make adjustments. Even if you decide to keep a ledger to track your expenses circumstances change and you will need to adjust these figures as well. Knowing how much you spend is important, however, it is not as important as having the money to cover your expenses. If you have what it takes to keep track of every penny you spend I would recommend that you do this for a couple of months and use these figures to help you set up your household budget. If you have tried using a ledger and find that it's just to difficult I would use the method I've just covered. The main reason budgets don't work is that they are just too hard to keep up with. By setting up your budget to be as simple as possible you are increasing your chances of making it work. Sponsor AdvertisementPaying highest-interest debt first is the SLOWEST way out ... You can laugh at money worries - if you follow our simple plan. Discover savvy consumer money secrets your friends don't know and banks won't tell you. Limited time only. ACT NOW: ///////////////////////////////////////// Grandpa Terry's EmailHello Grandpa Terry,Thought this attachment would be of interest to you and maybe you could pass on my error to others who carry this card. I of course didn't read the change of terms they sent in January. I am so angry at myself. My thought is pay the $60.00 and then close the card. But then who wins they do. The now $60.00 balance due this card is all I owe them. I enjoy your newsletter and have paid off all but one credit card the GM card. I was able to Opt out of them keeping my 4.99% interest. If I'm not mistaking I learned from your newsletter to be on the look out for that move. Thanks, Peggy Click Here to see the letter. Hey Terry, I was wondering if you know anything about this National Debt Relief Plan. I have been receiving offers from these companies that promise to reduce my debt without bankruptcy, credit counseling or debt consolidation. They send these ads out on official looking forms but state they are not affiliated with the government. I had to use my credit cards to live when both my husband and I were hospitalized and then out of work for a year. The medical bill are really high. We are not behind on any payments, but we do not have any extra money either. The credit card companies keep lowering the credit lines thus reducing the available credit resulting in a lower credit score. I guess what I really would like to know is if this is a legitimate plan “the National Debt Relief Plan” or just another ploy. If I can use this plan without further damage to my credit it might be worth looking into. We are seniors and don’t have much time to save for later so something like this plan might be a good thing. Any info you have will be appreciated. Thanks, Martha PS. These forms look like a type of1099 Form. My Response Hi Martha, This question is coming up quite frequently. The best I can tell there is no government sponsored National Debt Relief Plan. This is simply a ploy by debt settlement companies to make their offers seem more official. There are companies that you can work with that can help. The one I recommend is http://www.careonecredit.com/ because I've had positive feedback from some of their clients. However, please read and understand everything before signing. Make sure they can help you achieve what you want regarding your debt. Here is an article from the Federal Trade Commission that may help you through this process: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre38.shtm I hope this helps, Terry Featured Articleby Nikki Willhite How saving a little adds up to a lot with the power of compound interest A few years ago my oldest son finished his schooling, and took his first full time job. Thankfully, he didn't move far, and he was able to come to dinner each Sunday. As we sat together at the table, my husband and I felt the responsibility to give him the wisdom of our years :-) We talked to him about his finances, and how he should be saving money. We talked about how old his car was, and how he should be setting aside some money for the time when he would have to replace it. We told him about the tax advantages of owning his own home, and the money he would make as his equity grew. He would need to start saving for that. Then we told him that he should start saving now, while he was young, for retirement - while he had so many years for compound interest to work in his favor. My son politely listened to all of this, and then pretty much asked us what planet we were from. He had enough trouble just making his rent, his car payments, and paying back his student loans. Saving money, especially for the future, can be hard to do. The results are not immediately evident. It seems like you are getting a lot more for your money when you make payments - yet have a shiny, new vehicle sitting in your driveway. I received a publication a few weeks ago that had a great example of how effective saving just a little money can be when you are young. To summarize, it asked, "How much does eating a pizza once a week cost? Would you believe $250,000?" If you were to put the money spent on one large pizza each week into a mutual fund with a 9 percent annual return, in 30 years it would be worth a quarter of a million dollars. Unbelievable! What a great example of the power of compound interest. If you are young, I know things are tight, but try and find somewhere to save a little money each week and set it aside. While money doesn't bring happiness, it does provide for our needs and give us a feeling of security. Most of us who didn't save enough regret it now, and time is no longer on our side. If I had to do it over again, I would live in a cheaper home, save more money on food, clothing or do whatever I needed to do to save and put aside money each week. Hindsight is 20/20, but you are wise if you listen and see the future through someone else's eyes. About the Author: Nikki Willhite, mother of 3 and an interior design graduate, has been writing and publishing articles on the topic of frugal living for over a decade. Visit her at www.frugalhappyfamilies.com - where you will find hundreds of frugal living tips and articles. Frugal Happy Families- more than just money! Article first published at www.allthingsfrugal.com |
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