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Newsletter to Your Friends (Use this link only if you receive this newsletter by email) Week of August 31, 2009This 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! It's been a while since I mentioned that subscribers receive a free calculating Budget Form. This is a simple for that will allow you to see how your money is distributed. There is also a sample and instructions with the form. Use this link to download the form in Excel: Free Budget Form If you like the form you can find more at http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/calcforms/screenshots.html I mentioned this a few weeks ago but my daugher just showed me her credit card statement and it's worth mentioning again. With a balance of $2584 it showed a minimum payment of $21. However, last month's finance charges were $35.61 and would be just a little less this month. If she paid the minimum payment she would owe about $14 more next month than she does now. This is just one more reason why it's so important to actually look at your statements each month. 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 Advertisement\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ THE FASTER YOU CAN PAY THEM OFF! Paying 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: How To Own Your Paycheck Again! \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Grandpa Terry's Tip of the WeekFor anyone that is familiar with The Complete Budget and Bill Organizer, you already know that I recommend that you use your checking account to pay bills and cash to cover your household expenses. With all of the different items that the average individual or family spends money on, it can be difficult to keep it separated. You have to have money for groceries, car gas, school lunches, Groceries, Dining Out and Entertainment just to name a few. You could buy a box of envelopes each payday and sort the money on payday and stuff the money in an envelope until you need it. Of course, then you would have to have a safe place to keep it. If you like the envelope method, then by all means use it. However, the entire purpose of The Complete Budget and Bill Organizer is to simplify things. Sitting down at the kitchen table each payday and sorting cash is far from simple. It would be much better to try storing it in your wallet or purse. You would have the money when and where you need it. There is an element of risk that the money could be lost or stolen. If you don't feel comfortable with having that much cash in your wallet and don't have problems handling your checking account, you could deposit the money for groceries in your account and write a check for your normal grocery shopping. I wouldn't write a check for just a milk and bread run. For a family, a budget keeper should be assigned to sort the money. They would be responsible to distribute the money to other members of the family. To do this you will have to clearly define who in the family is responsible for what expenses. Let me give you an example: A family with a working dad and a stay-at-home mom with three teenage kids may distribute their money like this: Household Income after money for bills is deposited in checking: $500 Mom is assigned as budget keeper and keeps $355. Out of this money she is responsible for buying the groceries, health items, cleaning supplies, the families clothing, school lunches, pay the paper boy and other expenses around the house. Mom takes $50 out of this money for herself that she doesn't have to account to anyone else in the family for. Mom gives dad $100 of which he is responsible for paying for his expenses to get back and forth to work including car gas. Dad can use $50 of his money that he doesn't have to account to anyone else in the family for. Mom gives each of the three kids an allowance of $15. This money can be used any way they choose. By sorting your money this way, each member in the family can keep the money in their wallet and all of the responsibilities are covered. No, you won't know exactly how much you spend each month on groceries, car gas, etc. The main point of a simple budget is to make sure you have the money to pay everything without the hassles like sorting your money into envelopes and accounting for every penny. Mom, as budget keeper, would also be responsible for keeping the budget, paying the bills and depositing money in their savings. This does seem like a lot of responsibility for just one person in the family but, to ensure that their finances are organized and everything is covered, it is absolutely necessary. It is also important to make sure dad knows how mom is handling things so that he can step in if the need arises. While developing your budget using the Budget Worksheet you will know what your household expenses are. Simply take that list and assign it to a member of the family along with the money to cover it. If you run into problems and somethings aren't being paid, you will probably have to review your budget and reassign these responsibilities. Sponsor AdvertisementAre you frustrated trying to get by on the money you make? Would you like to get a good view to where all your money is going? Would you like to start saving your money, or save even more? Looking for something easier then software like Quicken or Money? Would you like to teach your children about finance? Click Here to check out My Budget Planner Today Grandpa Terry's EmailI'm Karen one of your Premium members. I have a couple questions I hope you can assist me with...Im trying to purchase a home for the first time and my credit score is not high enough. I have a credit card that is almost maxed out at $15k and a couple smaller one owing approx $2000. I have the means to pay down the smaller debts and approx $7000 on the higher one immediately...I know that wont be reported to the credit reporting agencies asap but Im being told by the mortgage people that it wont make any differenc in my debt to income ratio so I can qualify for the loan. The purchase price is $169000 and I havwe $25000 downpayment and I earn $60k/yr. Second question: I have 4 old debts left on my CR equalling $400. One is an old TMobile Cell phone bill $194.00. An atty has the debt and sent me a letter with a payment option...I went to his website as I was going to pay it in full and when I entered my reference number...the site said it didnt exist. I googled Michell McKay and there was pages and pages of complaints against him from othe consumers whose debts are with him. Should I contact Tmobile directly? Should I file a complaint as a dispute with the credit reporting agencies? How do I get him to stop making monthly reports to the credit agencies, when I cant even get to him to clear the debt. Any advice you have will be greatly appreciated. Thank you Karen My Response: Hi Karen, On the first question, I assume you need to buy the house soon or lose the option. Paying off your credit cards will take a couple of months to show up on your credit report so it may be a good idea to try getting the mortgage with your current credit. With the current climate on the mortgages I would recommend getting a fixed rate mortgage if you can. If you haven't already, you should go to your Premium site and obtain your free Credit Score. It's located at http://www.budgetstretcherpremium.com/paiduser/credit.htm Buying a home can have a lot of hidden costs. You may want to hold on to some of your money just in case. After you have closed and know what the costs are going to be you can always pay on your credit cards with any money you have left over. Be careful about paying on old debts especially if someone contacts you to make payments. If you want to pay the debts contact the creditors directly and get them to send you a final bill. If you don't feel you owe the debt you can contact the creditor and they are required to send you an itemized bill for all charges. You may want to check to see if the Statute of Limitations for your state has expired. You can also do that at the above page. I would like to use your email and my response in the newsletter. Please let me know if you will allow me to do so. All the best, Terry Hi Grandpa Terry, I have been reading and sharing your newsletters for many years and always enjoy them. In your opinion is MoneyStrands.com a good, safe and easy to use system? They say they are free but I wonder if there is a catch? Thanks for your advice, Kathy My Response: Hi Kathy, I checked the MoneyStrands.com web site and it appears to be legit. Although I didn't sign up I believe they can offer you some good money management tools. The only thing I didn't find is how they support the web site. There doesn't appear to be any advertising. I would recommend signing up. They may do their advertising after you join. I hope this helps, Grandpa Terry Featured ArticleBy Darlene Arechederra "Live so that when your children think of fairness and integrity, they think of you." -- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.-- We think of integrity as doing the right thing when no one is looking. Does this hold true for money, too? Share with your children the money values you'd like them to carry into adulthood. We have opportunities to teach our children, even in unexpected ways! Consider a few quick scenarios. 1. You find a $100 bill as you enter a local grocery store. Would you ask Customer Service if anyone has reported losing any money recently, and what amount it was? 2. You arrive home and discover a puppy sitting on your front doorstep. He has no tags on him. You bring him in out of the cold and keep him for the night. The next day, you discover his particular breed is worth $1800. Would you attempt to locate his owners as you might if he were a mutt? 3. You place a health & beauty order through a coworker, and she mistakenly thinks you've already paid her for it. Would you give her the money you owe anyway, or would you keep quiet? 4. You and your family have just eaten a meal out. Due to several factors, it was not as enjoyable as you had hoped. The bill arrives, and you notice some items were left off the bill. Would you pay it without saying anything? 5. You're living a frugal lifestyle. You agree to join family members for a meal out to celebrate mom's birthday. Do you order frugally, yet chip in a fair share for mom's meal? Or do you skip contributing to mom's meal and have others cover the entire portion? 6. Your last paycheck was $600 more than it should have been. While deciding whether to notify Payroll at work, your spouse spends the entire $600. Do you call Payroll anyway, knowing they'll probably deduct the money from each of your next few paychecks? It will leave you no money for several weeks. 7. You're selling your old clunker. Do you disclose any problems you're having with it? Does your answer remain the same regardless of whether your buyer is male or female? 8. You discover that someone you dislike at work received a much bigger raise than you. Do you share the amount of his/her raise with your friends at work, hoping to *get even* somehow since you don't care for him/her? 9. You purchase an ebook online -- it was exactly what you were looking for. A week later, you're feeling a money pinch. Do you ask for your money back on the ebook, even though it more than met your needs? Children notice the decisions we make on a daily basis. Why not teach them how to develop money integrity -- through your own interactions and decisions! Do you have a scenario you'd like to share? Please email it to me. I'd love to hear from you. Darlene Arechederra, author and ezine editor, inspires busy working people to become debt-free and fulfill their dreams using quick, down-to-earth strategies. |
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