Love More. Live Better. A Southern Couple's Guide to Successful Living

I know it can be hard to think ahead to the cooler months when it’s 9000+ degrees outside, but now is the time to start planning for your Christmas/holiday spending! We have 19-20 weeks until the holiday season, and that gives you plenty of time to save up (although, you know we prefer for this type of thing to be a line item in your budget)!!!

I always start talking about and planning for the Christmas season around this time. Although we save for it all year long, I like to start planning early, to give me plenty of time to decide what gifts I want to give to loved ones and have plenty of time to find deals on those items I want to purchase!

What if you haven’t planned ahead like us? Well, even $10 a week from now until Christmas will give you almost $200 to spend on a nice dinner and some small gifts for your family, that you didn’t have to put on a credit card!

I know we all get busy, but it’s no excuse for using credit cards to buy gifts for family members because you “forgot” Christmas was in December! It’s like I always say; No one wants you to go into debt to buy them a present. So, what do you do? Take the initiative. Start saving now if you aren’t already. Make this year the year you pay Cash for Christmas!

Today, I’m not going to talk about any article, I’m just going to talk about the problems in Washington DC regarding the FAA.

So, as most of us know by now (unless you live under a rock), congress passed the debt ceiling bill, and avoided some tough decisions of who and what to pay. What did they do next? Went on vacation of course! They’ve all left for a 5 week vacation, which normally I only make fun of, but this year I can’t laugh, because they never finalized a temporary measure to keep funding the FAA! Why is this bad? Because those people cannot get paid, not until the government hammers out a deal, but until congress has had a vacation! Absolutely ridiculous!

This is why we want everyone to have am emergency fund! If, because of something like a congress vacation, you couldn’t get paid for 5 weeks, could you cover your bills? Or would you have to be selling things and looking for a second job, in the hopes that congress cuts their vacation short so you can get back to work?

What are your thoughts? We want to hear them!

Well, we’re closing in on the debt limit default. It’s just a few days away, and, this article is some of the latest information coming out of the media and out of Washington DC. Currently, house Speaker Boehner is putting another bill to vote, but, just like the Cut, Cap & Balance bill the house passed previously, it will likely get voted down in the Senate.

This situation is indicative of the problem in Washington DC. Polarized views and no desire to work together can’t keep our economy on track. Looking on this the way I would if it were my finances (crazy, messed up finances, haha), and I had the worlds largest credit card debt ever (government spending) AND millions of children and foster children that I had to feed and take care of (welfare, food stamps, and yes, social security) then I would know that I not only HAVE to spend LESS but also HAVE to raise my INCOME! It’s the only way to balance my budget. Now, most politicians agree on this, but are polarized on how much spending they want to cut or how much taxes they want to raise.

What do you think? Do you think we don’t need both? Do you think Washington DC is doing a good job?

Today I wanted to share a sad little article I found on CNN money’s website about a 12% tuition hike in California this upcoming semester.

Tuition hikes. This situation isn’t limited to California. All across the nation this happens. I can’t remember how often it happened while I was in college, but, it was relatively often. The disturbing part is where some of the money goes. A SIGNIFICANT portion of the funds go to financial aid. Now, I’m all for people getting help and assistance to get a higher education, but, I believe it shouldn’t be passed on to other students as part of their tuition! If they want to opt in or donate, that’s their choice (a good choice), but, why should higher tuition demands be placed on every student to fund additional financial aid?

The fact is that while we hope that higher education will be available to everyone, no matter their socioeconomic status, it just isn’t the case. Not everyone can afford college, the same way not everyone can afford a yacht, or a pricey car etc., and, when you pass the cost on to the student the way California is, you make it less accessible to middle class prospective students in the process. My problem isn’t with philanthropy(I believe donating to charity is essential for us all), my problem is with FORCED philanthropy. Maybe you don’t agree. That’s ok with me. We’re all entitled to our opinions, but, I think we can all agree that higher tuition costs stink.

Today I read a great blog post about ways to save money while on a road trip in the U.S. This post, on Forbes.com, has many good tips for the cash strapped traveler. My favorite tips were:

1) Pack a cooler- this is a must for a road trip, but I would go a step further. Check out sales tax rates in your state and the other state(s) you’ll be traveling to. If your state’s tax is cheaper, stock up on snacks and drinks there, to save money. If the tax is lower elsewhere, get the bare minimum before you leave, then stock up in the cheaper states! And don’t stock up at the gas station if you can help it, cause you’ll pay double.

2) If you have no kids or young kids, plan your trip for late summer, when many places drop their rates to fall prices. This will save you a bundle.

3) Don’t eat your vacation. Many of us Americans think vacation calories don’t count and we should indulge. While I agree that a little indulgence is ok, overindulging all the time not only packs on the pounds, but also eats into your vacation money. Buy the experiences, not that second dessert for the day!

Check out the Forbes article for more great tips!

For many of us, these last few years of uncertain financial and job security have helped to open our eyes. We’ve started paying more attention to our finances and the nation’s economy as well. So, what’s one thing many of us have noticed? The government monkeys with the economy and business markets TOO much! Their involvement has not helped. In fact, according to this article on the Wall Street Journal’s website, it’s involvement has likely made things worse!

Take a minute if you will and think back on what the government has done since this crisis hit a few years ago. Bailing out banks and auto workers, bailing out mortgage lenders, the stimulus bill etc. Should they have been allowed to fail? Maybe. Could they have restructured so that collectively everyone took large benefit and pay cuts, making these companies solvent again? Probably. Did anyone DARE consider taking a pay cut (that includes everyone, from janitors to executives)??? I doubt it. They’d rather get a government hand out and pretend that the company they work for will magically become solvent. It won’t. And the problem is this; the government stepped in and gave them some cash, but cash doesn’t fix it by itself. They needed to make major changes, and yes, maybe some needed to close their doors. I hate it for those workers, but when you expand too much too soon, you end up in a risky position.

Here’s an example:

The stimulus bill gave lots of money to the school systems to create new jobs for both classified and certified school workers. The problem? Well, they hired all those people, and yes, for a couple of years that helped boost the economy, but now that the stimulus money is running out, those positions are being eliminated because the schools can’t afford them! That means most of those people are out of work again, and we as a country took on all that debt for temporary jobs for those people. Im not sure, but it probably would’ve been cheaper to keep them on unemployment for a few months until they found a job that didn’t have to be created for them. A job that wouldn’t disappear in a couple of years!

I could stand on my soapbox all day, thanks to our government, but I’ll just let you guys go read the article and fume about it with me. Some day, we’re all going to have to fume aloud though, if we want Washington to take notice.

If you want to keep your fiscal house in order (I’m pretty sure we can all do a better job than Washington), check out our checkbook and budgeting software here!

We all have moments where we worry whether or not we’re saving enough money. Even the least responsible person must have misgivings about it on occasion (at least I tell myself that; it helps me sleep better!). This is why we suggest a bi-annual budget committee meeting. It’s a great way to “tune up” your finances! This article on CnnMoney was a great little find, with some general guidelines on where you should be financially for retirement. I’d like to add to it a little bit though. Some things to keep in mind after reading it:

1. This article assumes retirement at 65, so if you want to retire before then, you need to save more aggressively and in a shorter period of time because you’ll need more money because you’ll work less over your lifetime!

2. I agree that saving and investing at least 15% of your income will get you to a great retirement, but if you’re behind because you’re getting out of debt, paying off your house etc. don’t worry, you’ll make up a lot of it on the back end. And by the way, getting out of debt is the first thing you should do. Saving your money when you owe somebody else is irresponsible.

3. His yardstick asses you’ll collect Social Security. If you’re a Gen Y’er or younger, you shouldn’t assume that Social Security will be around for you. Yes, you’re paying into it. But forget about it. Consider it a government stupid tax. I don’t count on it. If I want to stop working and still have money, I have to save for that day. Period. Therefore, you need more than 12 times your income.

Where do you fall? Are you saving enough? Getting out of debt? If you’re just starting, get moving!

I know a lot of times younger people (or just people in general) like to skip watching the news and keeping up with current events (probably because they’re generally depressing), but you should be paying attention to Greece.

So, put in simple terms, what’s going on in Greece? The people and the government of that nation have spent beyond their means and defaulted on their loans for decades, and are officially not able to “borrow on their name” anymore. Why should this matter to you? Well, it’s very similar to what’s been happening in the U.S., with the exception being that our lenders have more confidence in us. However, if we keep borrowing and not paying down our debt, they may lose that confidence. This is what is being debated in congress right now. The way I see it, it can’t be fixed quickly. It took us YEARS to get this far gone, it will take years to fix it, but with spending cuts (lots of them) and yes, higher taxes, and YES, American assets values adjusting downward even more, it can get right. The problem wasn’t that our economy grew, it was that it was projected to be growing faster than it was! So yes, everything you own is really worth less than you paid for it. The good news is that should really only matter to you if you are planning to sell those assets!

So, you should be watching Greece. We all are going to have to saddle the burden of correcting our economy (although I know many of us would like to pass the burden on to someone else, we all overspent, we all suffer the consequences) if we don’t want to end up with many of the same problems plaguing Greece right now!

WordPress is flaky today, so sorry for any typos and for the long links (check them out below)!

http://www.moneyweek.com/news-and-charts/economics/global/bill-bonner-the-us-is-in-worse-shape-than-greece-12408

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/16/ba-markets-forex-idUSN1617624320110616

Hello readers!

Today I found an article that both made me happy and made me cynical. This article, which I found on CNN Money, tells how schools are getting creative and posting their yearbooks online, for students to purchase them, as a way to save money. I think this is a fabulous idea! It’s great to see people coming up with creative ways to save, but, I have to wonder what the sacrifice was made for? Was it made to keep teachers employed? Excellent! Was it made to get better textbooks or supplies? Fabulous!

As much as I hope for this, I’m sad to say I don’t believe it. It certainly wasn’t going to improve school lunches from the deep fried, high fat, French fries count as a vegetable system they have in place. It will probably be used to build another parking lot.

Thoughts? We’d love to hear from you!

Today I wanted to share a website with our readers that I discovered thanks to an interview the website author gave on CNN, about his money saving trips to the grocery store! The website, WeUseCoupons, has access to all the big coupon providers, along with a TON of virtual classes on how to use coupons (which, for most people, there is at least 1 thing about Couponing that is a little confusing)!

This could be a great tool for you to be able to lower your grocery bill without sacrificing the quality of food and goods you buy, thereby enabling you to get your grocery budget (are you using our software? It helps you create a budget! Check it out here!) in check! Give it a look and come back and tell is what you think, or leave some feedback on how you’re creatively using coupons!