If you're knee deep in debt, cannot pay your bills and wish to avoid collection calls, you may consider debt settlement..
I just closed two paid-off Visa accounts. One has an annual fee of $75, so I can practically feel the money back in my pocket. We had kept this card around a long time because it was linked to a favorite airline and we got a $50 companion fare annually as a benefit of being a cardholder. This year they eliminated that benefit and incidentally, it came up in our snowball, so we just nixed the thing.
With the approach of Spring comes the gift giving occasions of Easter, graduations, weddings, Mother’s Day, etc. If you love giving gifts as much as I do, you’ve learned to take advantage of all of the inexpensive gift ideas you can come up with. After all, the point of giving a gift is to tell a friend or family member that you’re thinking of them on their special occasion. No one expects you to blow your family’s budget on a gift. Giving a thoughtful, but inexpensive, gift is always a better idea than spending a ton of money on a gift you can’t afford.
Inexpensive gifts don’t have to be cheap, though. You can learn to get as much bang for your gift-giving buck by carefully selecting the items you choose to give. Here are some of my favorite ideas:
This is another great recipe for the crockpot. Very tasty (basically it’s a soup that tastes like pizza!) and a snap to put together.
What You Need:
1 lb Italian sausage
1/2 C onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (4 oz) pkg. pepperoni slices
1 (16 oz) can dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 (16 oz) can light red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14.5 oz) can died tomatoes
1 (4 oz) can green chilies, chopped
4 t chili powder
1/2 t salt
1/8 t pepper
1 (15 oz) can pizza sauce
If you’ve already completed your tax return for 2009, you may find yourself among those lucky folks who will receive an income tax refund. Tax returns can vary from small amounts to fairly hefty sums. In fact, some people receive returns that are as much as several thousand dollars. No you may find yourself thinking about what to do with this refund. Should you spend it quickly? Should you save it all? There are lots of good uses for your tax refund.
First, you should jump-start your mission to pay off all of your debt. Sometimes, the size of your debt can be so intimidating that you’re too discouraged to start working on your debt. But if you use your windfall to pay off a large chunk of your debt, you can get yourself motivated to continue with your plan to reduce your debt.
This week’s Festival of Frugality was hosted at Miss Thrifty, a UK blog. With a Ration Book theme, this is an outstanding festival this week, with lots of frugal ideas and tips. We are thrilled that our article “50 chicken crockpot recipes” was chosen as an editor’s pick. Here are our favorites from this week’s festival:
How to Afford to be a Stay at Home Wife or Mom posted at Money Help For Christians.
Credit card debt is a major stressor for many consumers. To get out of that debt you either need to make more cash (and actually use the extra money to pay off the debt) or you need to cut your expenses. I think it is actually easier to cut expenses, so I’ve listed 47 ways you can reduce your expenses and put that cash towards your debt repayment. When you’ve achieved your milestone of eliminating that debt, make sure you ditch the card so you don’t find yourself in the same position again.
1. Sell stuff on eBay.
I know you have probably heard this before but most likely you have stuff laying around your place that you don’t use any more, or need any more. Name brand clothing, books, CD’s, etc. Get the stuff listed on Ebay and get some money out of it. Need tips for selling on eBay? Check out How to Sell Stuff On Ebay , My eBay Method: 13 Steps to Profitable Auctions , and another article on How to Sell Your Stuff on Ebay .
The following is a guest post by The Family Wallet.
Decorating the nursery is a favorite part of new baby preparations for many parents. Until it’s done, you just don’t feel like you’re ready to welcome your child into the world. So many moms- and dads-to-be go all out, buying expensive designer cribs, bedding and décor. But if you’re on a tight budget, that’s money that could be better spent on more practical things.
Remember how I said we’re implementing a full-blown, whole-hog hustling program around my house? Well, it’s working.
A few weeks ago I posted about my first experiences with the gleaning co-op that I have joined which resulted in many interesting questions. I thought I’d drop in and update you about how it’s going, how it’s affecting our “bottom line” and if it’s worth it.
