Don't Do Debt.com

Don't forget...Write it down!

Don't forget to take account of all money outstanding (credit/debit purchases, outstanding checks) to determine your balance when balancing your checking account. Take the current balance of your checking account and subtract outstanding debit and credit charges and any checks- that's how much money you have.

Sounds like an elementary reminder, but too often people forget to write down the checks they've written or the credit or debit charges made with a debit card. Even debit transcations can send you into overdraft status, even if your purchase is approved.

Make it a habit, if you haven't done so already, to write all of your purchases down. This is also helpful in the future when it's time to evaluate your spending habits. You can look at how you've spent your money for the past few months and assess ways to cutback and save money.

Incentive happens: A vision and money

The holidays are now officially behind us. Okay, well actually, tonight marks the end of the holiday season for me as I had one more party to attend this evening. I declined at the last minute as I felt compelled to write about some questions asked of me while travelling around during the past few weeks.

One thing I'm frequently asked after the madness of the holidays comes to a screeching halt, is how to have more money. One person recently expressed concern about her inability to save money, another asked about how to have more money to get out of debt. A mother asked me how to teach her sixteen year-old about money as she recently took on her first part-time job. Other questions have come up, too, but here are a few thoughts I had in response to these questions:

I don't have the perfect answser for anyone. But one thing I live by for myself is this: I have a vision for what I want to do with my life and my money. I have things I want to accomplish:

Quick tips and your money

When I tell people that I write about credit cards, debt and money, I am inevitably asked about any "quick tips" I might have. So, I thought I'd take a minute to share these with others who might have this same question. Below are a few of these "quick tips":

1). Have a vision for your money (see blog entry below).
2). Be aware of the cost of being in debt: It is in fact very expensive to be in debt. When you break the costs down, you can see the incentive to begin seriously eliminating, or at least, reducing the balances on your high interest credit cards (see entry/article- "Quicksand: Debt's impact on budgeting").
3). Get organized with your money: Late/missed payments can be very costly to the cost of your debt-load and can seriously erode your credit report. It’s important to be organized with your money in order to avoid these and other unnecessary and costly penalty fees.