Second Week

Well, we did much better in this second week of the pay period. We started the week with $28.00 to last until Friday. One movie and a breakfast out and we are down to $19.00. I think we should be able to end the week with $15.00 left in the bank to put towards credit card debt. Now I know that you think, why do you even bother, what is the point in paying an additional $10 - $15 every two weeks. Well, this is exactly how I got out of my first credit card debt. It's baby steps that grow into children steps that grow into teen steps that grow into adult steps. What that means is this $10-$15 will grow and eventually become $20 - $30, then $40 - $60, then $80 - $120. You see as you pay off, even minimal amounts, of your debt you stop paying interest to the bank which gives every dollar you pay more leverage. It may take awhile for my big debt but by my next paycheck I will have one debt paid off and will start working on the next one. Every time one debt is paid off, there is a sense of relief and excitement that you can do it even on the little salary we make. Try it, you may find financial freedom in the little dollars you add to paying off your debt.

Bailout Idea

Every where one turns these days there is yet another story on the bail out plan. Another $819 billion has been approved by the House and is going to the Senate floor. This got me to thinking, $819 plus $734 (previous bill) is $1.553 trillion. I can't even fathom the amount of zeros on that number. Then I read that we will need billions more for a full recovery. My mind started thinking, how can this money come directly to the American people. How many American people are there? I googled it, $384,505,000 people in the United States. Could we give the money directly to the American people?

So now here's where it gets tricky because I'm not really great at math and this is a lot of zeros to play around. If everyone in the United States got a check for $100,000 that would be $3 Trillion. So that would be more than we have allotted already. What if it was $50,000? That should be $1.5 Trillion so less that we already have allotted. If we give the money to the people, they could spend it, save it, invest it or pay off debt with it. All of these options will help to stimulate the economy while creating a "feel good" atmosphere.

1) If every single American spent the money our economy would spike and therefore the world economy would spike. If during this spike, companies continued to get lean we would emerge a world leader with lean companies who had money in the bank from the spike in sales.

2) If every single person saved the money, this would be quite an influx of money to our banking system which should open up their ability to lend again. Credit scores would rise because borrowers have the ability to pay back debt, banks would have excess cash reserves to borrow and the American population would feel like they have a safety net to catch them if this happens again.

3) Could you even imagine Wall Street if everyone invested these dollars? They would be going crazy trying to buy all these under valued $10 stocks before their prices rose. The market would rise again as everyone determined their buying strategies. People would be in control of how the money is spent. I wouldn't be investing in Citibank because I don't believe in how they have handled the money thus far however I would invest in Ford because they have a great management team that prepared the organization for a day such as today. I would invest heavily in American stocks because I believe in putting our money back into the society in which we reside. Yet I would still invest some in foreign stocks because in the end we are all connected in one big life circle.

4) I have a lot of debt. There is less than I had before however it is still there. To get an influx of $50,000 would pay off all my credit card debt and my small mortgage. Right now I can only dream of what this would feel like. The freedom to do what I want because my debt load is relieved. I continue to pray for this day and in this blogs fantasy world I can almost taste the victory that would be. For the economy, even if everyone paid off their debt, the disposable income this would provide families would be enough to spark the economy again.

This is all a dream but could you even imagine what our country could do if this amount of money was actually given to the general population instead of business as usual up in Washington. It will be interesting to watch our new President and how he handles this money. The first test will be if there are stringent checks and balances on the spending of our next bailout plan.

God Bless.

Spending Monday

So, I'm writing about financial and debt management and you may wonder why in the world is this titles Spending Monday? Well, even as you go through your financial budgeting process and your debt management cycles, one must always have a spending account. My fiance and I are working through this process. We are living off one salary and trying to make ends meet, pay off the last of our debt, save for retirement and still have fun...oh yeah, also plan a wedding. So today I'm going to tell you about our spending plan. So I get paid bi weekly and that paycheck must last us through two weekends. What usually happens is the first weekend we have fun, and the second weekend, we hang at home. It seems to be a vicious cycle in that by payday, we are ready to get out because we have been shored up at home for a long seven days. This week we started a process where I got paid on Friday and we each got $100 to spend however we want with the balance at the end of the week going into a "fun" pot for vacations and future long term purchases. It was pretty amazing that since we had the money in our pockets we didn't spend it. Something had to be truly justified for us to purchase it because once that money is gone, we can't replenish it. So even through our savings and budgeting, we are still spending however we are spending much more wisely these days. I wonder if God is thinking we got a little greedy here on earth and now we need to show Him that we are truly good stewards of the money He has given us.

Well, happy spending on this glorious Monday. May your days be filled with health, wealth and laughter!

God Bless,
K.