Search Results for: budget

No One is Going to Save You

March 13, 2014 By Shane Ede 6 Comments

I have some bad news for you. If you’re waiting on someone to show up at your door ala Publisher’s Clearinghouse and hand you a big cardboard check that will solve all of your financial problems it’s not going to happen. No one is going to save you from your financial woes. No one is going to suddenly decide that you, and you alone, are worth pulling from the depths of your financial hole, pay all your bills and set you up for life. No one but you.

In truth, I’m writing this post as much for me as I am for you. I need to hear that message occasionally, just as you do. It’s nice to daydream about winning the lottery, or some sweepstakes and having some of your problems solved. It really is. But, if you, like me, find yourself lingering in those daydreams a little too much, too often, you need to hear those words.

You and you alone can be the savior of your finances.

You (and I) are the best prepared, and the most willing (without fees), to take on the ratted nest of bills and accounts that we call our finances. You (and I) are the most able to figure out how to sort out where our money is coming from and where it has gone. You (and I) are the only ones that can drum up the willpower to make the changes necessary to begin telling our money where to go that it will be most helpful to our finances. No one else is going to do it for you.

No one but you.

If you (and I) don’t do it, do you know what happens? Nothing but the same. Your paycheck comes in (maybe on time, maybe not), your paycheck goes out. At the end of the month, maybe we ask “where did it all go?”. And if we do nothing about it, we’ll never really know. We’ll just continue the pattern; wondering why we aren’t paid more, and wondering why what we are paid never seems to be enough.

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You can make a difference in your finances though.

Uniquely. No one but you.

You can budget your money and tell it where it belongs. You can know where your money is going, and control how it works for you. If you actively manage your money, it can no longer control you. Create a budget, track your income and spending, then take back your financial life.

Put your finances in order; be free. Be debt free. Be free to spend as you choose. Be free to earn as you choose.

What are you doing today to break old financial habits and take control of your money?

California Drought; Food Prices On the Rise

February 24, 2014 By Shane Ede 12 Comments

I’m not sure if you caught this or not. I suppose if you live in California you might have heard quite a bit about it. If you live far from California, like I do, you maybe haven’t heard much about it at all. But, apparently, California is in the midst of one of the worst droughts on record. The California drought is so bad that the governor of California has declared a drought emergency. During what is traditionally California’s wet season… Take a look at the U.S. Drought Monitor.

If you live in another state, you might ask yourself why the dryness of California should concern you. Well, take a look at these numbers compiled from the 2007 Census of Agriculture. California is the primary provider of a lot of the produce (fresh, frozen, and canned) that you buy. They produce 99% of the Artichokes, 90% of the Avocados, 83% of Grapes, 79% of Lemons, 76% of Tomatoes, 73% of Lettuce, 65% of Nuts, 59% of Strawberries, and 59% of Spinach. And that’s just a sampling from that list. They also grow 100% of the Pomegranates. With no water to irrigate all those crops, some farmers are resorting to bulldozing (literally) their crops and leaving fields fallow.

What will happen if 10-50% of the production in California is lost? All those produce items that they contribute so much to are going to get really expensive. This article on CNBC is reporting that prices are expected to rise by 1.25-1.75% across the board. And it’s not even clear if that increase takes into account the drought in California. Even at an average of 1.5% increase, that’s a pretty significant hit to the wallet. Imagine if it gets closer to 5%! What if it gets worse?

The truth is, it’s not just the food cost that might be on the rise. Power could be affected too. Low water levels due to the drought could me a pretty significant drop in power generation at hydro-electric dams. And those power generation shortages could mean power shortages, brownouts, and will most certainly mean an increase in the cost of electricity to users.

While the cost of power might stay somewhat localized, the cost of food is going to be universal across the country. As the cost of produce increases, more and more people will buy less of it, and switch to eating more affordable food sources. Except, there might not be any more affordable sources. If cattle producers can’t water their pastures, there’s less grass for the cows to eat. And if there’s less grass to eat, they might have to start supplementing with grains. Which will increase the demand on grains, and raise the price of grain as well. The price of meat and dairy is likely to rise significantly too.

We’ll see, of course, just how bad it gets as the summer season progresses. Many of us will be desperately finding ways to stretch what produce we can buy, and create extra room in our budget for extra food costs. It’s not going to collapse the economy, I don’t think. At least not yet. But it is very likely that it’s going to create a very tight summer in many budgets.

5 Quick Ways to Start Prepping. You’re Already Doing at Least Two of These.

February 14, 2014 By Shane Ede 11 Comments

In my recent post about the state of the American economy, I told you that you didn’t need to immediately go out and become a prepper. And you don’t. But, much like anything else, it helps to be prepared. You don’t have to have a bunker under your backyard, a whole armory in the bedroom closet, or enough food to feed your whole neighborhood for years. You can, however, start making sure that you and your family have a good start in preparing for any disaster. Here’s 5 quick ways to start prepping. And you’re already doing at least two of these!

Stockpiling

You don’t have to have enough stockpiled to keep your family fed for months or years. But, if there’s anything that this winter has taught much of the U.S., it’s that it’s very possible that you could find yourself stuck in one place for several days.

What should you stockpile? Well, food is a good start. Canned and dry goods mostly. Beans, rice, canned vegetables (straight from the garden if you DIY), flours, grains, vacuum packed foods, and canned meats all are good staples that can go straight into your pantry and provide backup food sources should you be unable to reach a grocery store. (also, if grocery stores cease to exist… but let’s not go all extreme just yet.)

Stockpile other goods too. Toilet paper, pet food, matches, fire starters, medical supplies, and even ammunition if you have that armory in your closet. Any essential that you use regularly that won’t spoil is fair game for stockpiling in case of emergency.

Reducing Debt

If the economy crashes, do you know what the worst thing to still have is going to be? Well, if you haven’t guessed it, that thing is debt. If you think your hands are tied by debt now, just wait until the economy is in the dumps, you lose your job, and inflation kills your buying power. Debt is your enemy, no matter the state of the economy. Start with a detailed spending log where you list what you spend every day. Knowing what you spend, and when you usually spend it, create a simple budget. Stick to the budget, and pay down debt by whatever means necessary. Get rid of it. Even if the economy booms, you’ll still be better off.

Become More Sustainable

Sustainability isn’t just for hippies. Being eco-friendly maybe attributed to the earth loving, free love, woodstock-ing people of previous generations, but today, it’s an excellent way to be healthier, and save money on costs. There are lots of things you can do to become more sustainable.

The easiest way to start making a difference in your bottom line is to replace high energy consuming items with low energy consuming items. LED or Incandescent light bulbs are a relatively cheap start, and last for years. High efficiency appliances like on-demand hot water heaters are more expensive, but can save a lot on energy over the long run. Try air drying your clothes too. It takes a little longer, but make it a habit, and your energy savings will grow a lot.

Growing your own vegetables, installing rain barrels, and composting are also great ways to decrease your footprint, while saving yourself money. You can replace that produce at the grocery store with home-grown veggies, use the water in your rain-barrel instead of the electrically pumped water from a well, or the municipal water, and you can save on what you put into the dump while providing nutrient rich compost for your garden.

Learn New DIY Skills

If the economy completely fails, there’s a good chance that your access to many of the services and products that you have access to now will be severely limited, or severely cost prohibitive. Not only will learning new DIY skills (like growing vegetables, canning food, repairing items, building items (like a deck), and the list goes on) save you money by allowing you to not pay for someone else to do it, but you’ll also gain a barter-able service that you can trade for services you can’t do.

There are plenty of ways to learn new skills too. You can just try it and see what happens, although, in my experience, doing so increases the chances that the project you’re working on will take longer or fail entirely. If you look, you can probably find a local class that can teach you some of the skills. Videos on YouTube and instructions on the internet (easily found through a search) are also great ways to learn something new.

Make Your Plans

We all know that we should have a plan so that everyone knows what to do should they wake up in the middle of the night to a house that’s on fire. We give our children a plan should they get separated from us in a crowded place. We create budgets to plan how we will spend our money, and pay down our debt. Having a plan for an economic collapse and the conditions that could arise should it crash doesn’t cost us anything. A little time, and some thought. That’s it. Do you have family that you’d “bug out” to? Are there people in town that you’d want to help? Are there people in town that would help you? How will you get wherever you’re going? Even if that’s just home?

Having a plan, and executing it if you have to is very likely to be the difference between uninterrupted life, and something far more unpleasant.

How many of these things are you already doing? Which are you going to try out?

Original image credit:Robert Benner Sr., on Flickr.