We all know that the real unemployment figures aren’t near 10%, they are really closer to 25% when you count people who have given up looking, run out of benefits, or are other wise not “in the system.” So why not spread the work that is available around to everyone who wants to work?
One way to put everyone back to work quickly would be to cut the work week by that same 25%, or to create a mandatory 30-hour work week. Continue reading “One Way to Cure the Economy ASAP” »
You don’t have to be afraid of your budget. When people think about budgeting, they automatically begin to think about cutting their spending.
Budgeting is knowing how you spend your money and spending it that way on purpose. If you create your budget with this in mind you can relieve your guilt over spending rather than increase it.
Start with what you spend now.
If you don’t know, then track your spending for a month. Organize all your purchases into categories and see how much you spend in each category.
Compare the total spending to your total income.
This is a discovery phase. Don’t worry if your spending is more than you make. Maybe that is why you think you need a budget.
Just look at the US Governemnt though… not all budgets balance.
The main thing is to know how much you are spending and what you are spending it on.
The second step to creating a budget you can live on is to compare your spending to your income. Is it more or less? I’m not going to make assumptions here. You are surviving life so far, so there is a good chance you are already spending less than you make.
If you aren’t, then you have to decide whether you want to decrease your spending or increase your income. Even if you have a balanced budget now, are you able to spend your money on the thing you really want? If not, then look for ways to increase your income. (See the top 10 ways to increase your income below.)
Some people prefer to think of their budget as a “spending plan.”
You will also want to look at how comfortable you are with your current spending patterns. Are there items you want, but put off every month because you don’t feel like you have enough money? Or maybe there are items you buy on impulse, without considering if you have enough money or not?
Once you see what you are spending, you can begin to make your choices more consciously. Moving things around on paper gives you a chance to use the money you have to provide more of the things you really want. Maybe you can cut back on your impulse spending in order to have a little left over for some of the luxuries you’ve been putting off.
The problem is, most people think that declaring bankruptcy is the problem. The real problem is when you are bankrupt… whether you admit it or not.
We are lucky that the founding fathers of our country were aware of the problems that come with bankruptcy. Back in England there were debtor’s prisons where they put people who couldn’t pay their bills. Instead of creating a system like England though, they provided for laws to discharge debts when they got to be too much to handle.
While it’s better to avoid going into debt in the first place, sometimes it’s not possible. There are people who have unavoidable circumstances… especially with medical bills. How do you avoid going into debt if you are injured in a car accident, taken to the hospital, and treated while you are unconscious. When you wake up, you find out you owe more than you make in a year, maybe even more than you make in a decade!
Not everyone who is bankrupt is so totally bameless though. Most of us are tempted by offers of credit at one point or another. We buy houses, cars, go to college, need to replace a broken freezer before our food thaws out and spoils. It seems like a good deal at the time. We have plenty of income to make payments when we get into the debt. But then something happens to that income. We get laid off or fired. Our next job only pays half what the last one did.
The only way you can be 100% sure to avoid becoming bankrupt is to avoid going into debt in the first place.
If you have and debts at all, then there is always a possibility that some change in your life circumstances will make it impossible for you to repay them. If you don’t want to go bankrupt then get out of debt as quickly as possible and make every effort to avoid any future credit.
According to the US Debt Clock the average consumer debt per person in America is over $52,000. The average household income is only around $45,000 and many of those households have more than one person in them! This would suggest that most Americans are probably bankrupt, even if they haven’t filed any legal documents to make it official.
I hear too many people complaining about the deadbeats that file bankruptcy. It seems to me like and alcoholic complaining about someone who goes to AA. Most of us normal folks are just one accident away from being forced into bankruptcy ourselves. Not everyone can be Bill Gates of Donald Trump. And I’m not going to be suprised if we see one of these big names in bankruptcy either.
There is something fundamentally wrong with how our economy works.
People “need” to go into debt in order to survive. They pay for their education with loans so they can get a decent job. Then they pay for their groceries with credit cards because the decent job doesn’t quite cover their household expenses. They need a car to get to work, so they take out a car loan. And they need to buy a home of their own to be respectable (or because the mortgage payments are cheaper than rent…)
If someone does manage to keep on top of all their bills then they have a right to feel proud of their accomplishment. It’s not easy to keep up. And many people get depressed and give up because they can’t pay ALL the bills every month.
I wish that we could find a way to fix the system instead of judging the people who fail to keep their finances together, or even blaming them for being the problem.
If you are bankrupt… if you don’t earn enough to pay your bills every month and just keep falling farther and farther behind. Bankruptcy is still an option. It’s better to file as soon as you realize you are bankrupt than to wait until you have used up your last dime trying to get out of debt.
If you aren’t bankrupt yet, then take steps to eliminate debt form your life. Get out of debt and stay out of debt. Keep in mind that bad things happen to even the best people and try to be prepared for personal emergencies.