siick
1 month ago
I am in the Coast Guard I have a steady paycheck all the time and for some reason I am always living paycheck to paycheck it’s ridiculous
How to be better with money
It made me 
"Being smart about managing your money is very freeing."
How I did it: I paid a credit card late (back before this was standard practice) and beat myself up about how many things I could have done with the $50 I gave away to Visa. That was 20 years ago and I kept my promise to myself to never do it again.
My husband taught me to make a connection between a purchases and my earnings. For example, a $25 meal would take someone who earns $10 an hour a little more than 4 hours work to buy ($10 an hour is approx $6/hr after taxes).
Here in the US, we are taught to believe that everything should be new (keeps us slaves to consuming & is foolishly using up non-renewable resources), I realize that as soon as you leave a store, what you bought is no longer new. Just something to think about when you're compelled to buy something else you really don't need.
Lessons & tips: Finance is not that difficult. It's nothing more than pluses and minuses--revenue and expense. Read a finance book (the self-help kind) to get a basic grasp of things like budgeting (I love the analogy that a budget is like a map of where you want to go with your money).
Watch some of the money shows on PBS. Suze Orman is particularly good.
Resources: I love Quicken. It helps me see the forest instead of just the trees. Keeps track of what you earn, spend, helps you budget, and you'll always know how much is in your checking account.
Bankrate.com Top-notch education web site. has great calculators to help you determine things like rent vs. buy, how much of a mortgage can I afford, etc.
Suze Orman is excellent & easily explains the fundamentals.
Motley Fool helps explain stocks. Vanguard is the only place to buy stocks that doesn't eat up your earnings in fees.
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Untitled
1 month ago
I overdrew my debit card a week ago, and don’t get paid until the 20th. This is the final straw, I need to be better with my money. No more buying on impulse!
mmefaucon is now two score and seven years.
This would be so much easier
17 months ago
if we could lay off the credit cards!!
Save money
17 months ago
I tend to spend lots of money on lost of little things and not realize how it adds up.
Being Better with Money
19 months ago
I seem to spend so foolishly. My husband is great with money and I always seem to be robbing Peter to pay Paul. I’m working on an amount of money and hope it is approved. I need to make some things right, and this is my chance. Hope it works out!
Stop spending so much money!
20 months ago
Just stop for 60 seconds before you buy that candy bar or soda. Take that $1 and put it into your back pocket.
That’s the first step. Then move that philosophy to bigger ticket items. After thinking it over for at least twenty minutes, you will probably realize you don’t need it.
mmefaucon is now two score and seven years.
Before too long
21 months ago
We’ll have our car paid off. I’m looking forward to channeling those funds so we can pay off some of our other bills.
This has been hard
2 years ago
I could not succussfully do well with my finances so I made a decision. I have allowed someone I trust to oversee my financial affairs. The feelings I feel for doing this are not very nice. I know I did what was best. This may even be temporary. I use this to fight with my negative thinking.
