Fix My Finances

I am getting frustrated this past few weeks for just a simple reason. There are people in here that they see me as a walking money or whatever! Everytime they saw me they kept on asking me some money nor some things, like “buy me a new shirt etc.” I am getting pissed off with them.

I know that they are in need now and so does I am. I may be able to give some but not always. I can share some but not all the time. Infact, they should be thankful if there are times that I can give a little to them but they shouldn’t expect that in just a snap of a finger I can give whatever they ask.

I too had my own family and I have a baby to feed. They should’ve realized that I no longer earn that much just for myself. I have to support my baby’s need.

Im trying to earn enough to pay all my debts and not to feed the entire community just like what they always saw me. I am not Santa Clause! They should know that!

I have written before that one way to save money is buy bring a To Buy list every time we go grocery shopping. This is because if we have a clear view of things that we truly need, there is not much time and energy spent deciding which things to buy. Also, this helps not to go over the budget.

I would like to add that when doing our grocery, it helps if this is done alone, without the kids in tow. I know this is a fun time to be with the kids so that they can take part in the activity too but if one is working on a budget, it might be difficult to say no to the items the kids will put on the grocery cart. Add to this that after grocery, the kids might be hungry and then there will extra expenses for food and other stuff. Sad to say, this will ruin the budget and it will be difficult to come up for money to cover for this.

While it is indeed a fun, bonding moment to do grocery with the kids, maybe this can be done once in a while or maybe if you or your husband just received your paycheck. Think if there is money to spare, if there is by all means, have the kids tag along. Otherwise, it is better to do this alone.

Here’s some helpful information on credit cards… clears up some confusion about using unsigned cards, and extra charges for expected tips.

5) Merchants Cannot Charge A Surcharge For Using A Credit Card, However, They Can Offer A “Cash Discount”
You may have noticed that gas stations are starting to offer a different, higher price for credit cards. This isn’t technically allowed— unless it is marketed as a “cash discount.” In other words, if you fill up your car and find that you’ve been charged more than advertised because you paid with a credit card — that’s not allowed. If, however, you decide to pay with cash because you saw an advertised “cash discount” to the “regular price” — that’s ok. A subtle distinction, but an important one.

(There is something called a “convenience fee” that some institutions are allowed to charge if they do not typically accept credit cards in their normal course of business. The example VISA gives is a utility company where the customary way is to pay by mail or in person. The rules for charging this fee are somewhat complicated and there are loopholes, etc.)

Via Credit Cards: 10 Things You Might Not Know About Your Credit Card

On the high prices of oil and the rice shortage crisis nowadays was definitely a hard time to fix your finances. I myself was on that process and I really find it difficult to do. I have done almost everything that I know just to cut on expenses and save even just a little.

Now I am also trying this very indemand in earning online money. I am now into different sites that promises to earn some money. I already gotten some of my payouts in other sites. I was also hoping that here I can also make it. I also have done doing some buy and sell though it was not online cause I don’t have knowledge on doing it but I still plan to learn about online selling.

Honestly, having an online jobs really helps me to fix my finances. Though it was not that high but it still helps me and my family. I also still have my regular work in here were I earn fixed amount monthly. I was just hoping that I can still look nor dicover some other sites or ways to earn money.

Now that Im the process of fixing my finances I must have double my effort to be more productive in anything I do in order to have enough amount of money on my pocket.

In our present economic situation, it is helpful to the family’s budget if there is a steady source of income. In my case, I have a full-time work and my husband is in the process of getting one too. He resigned from work a month ago and I am hoping that he can find one soon.

In this scenario, it is a good thing that we have savings which we are using until he gets a new job. Otherwise, it would have been very difficult to keep up with the expenses.

For my part, I only earn enough so I surfed the internet for ways to earn money while at home. Since I have a blog, I submitted it to different paid blogging sites and fortunately, got approved by two sites. I started blogging for the other but I do not get many opportunities because of my blog’s low page rank. I plan to improve my site so that I can get a bigger chance of earning more. I’m just starting to do it so I still have a lot to learn. But definitely this is something new to explore to earn extra money. It is a viable opportunity for those who love to write and spend a lot of time online.

You want to know 2 ways to get out of debt? The first way is, promise yourself and your partner that you will only spend what you agreed on and the rest goes to all the other debts that you agreed on. Make a little game out of it; if one person spends when they are not supposed to spend as agreed then they have to, say, make supper for the whole week of next week or cannot spend anything for 2 weeks. It has worked for my husband and I, surprisingly, but since I hate to make supper I don’t spend unless we agreed on it…lol. This way also works as a stress reliever because it’s a fun game. I recommend this idea to others; it’s like budgeting but with a little twist;) The second way is, find a job at home that pays very nice. Why I say a “home” job is because they pay very nicely and you can make up your own hours; therefore giving you guaranteed access to any and all overtime. I am in the process of looking for a nice job to do at home and have not been 100% successful just yet but when I am I will share it with you all:) If you find a job at home that pays nice just imagine how much you could make with all the overtime! For example, you can get paid $5 per post to blog (some sites pay less, some more) and then post as many as you can (if the sites give you the option to post unlimited posts).

So you’re in debt? What do you? I suppose you could sit on your couch with your hands running through your hair worrying but really, what is that going to do for you? It’s actually going to make matters worse. I am speaking from experience. My husband and I have been married for almost a year now and have been dating for 3 1/2 years before we married and have been in debt pretty much since we started dating. You know how dating goes; spend and spend some more! Eventually that whole lot of spending will add up and pretty soon, before you know it you are in a little bit of debt. AND of course the old saying comes back to haunt us all “when it rains it pours!” Boy is that statement true! As soon as my husband and I were in a small amount of debt (I wouldn’t have even called that debt yet) his car decides to conk out for the next 3 years once every year therefore making our debt bill even bigger! So now we are up to our necks in car payment debts and his car is still on the fritz now and then! The way we are handling it is by trusting each other that we will pull through this be it sooner or later and when it’s over we will feel so good! Also…my husband and I threw out all means of Credit cards seeing how they just put you through you debt even more and made a spreadsheet telling us how to do our billing and payments. Believe it or not, after writing it down nice and organized things are finally falling into place. Lesson? Set a goal for yourself on paper and follow it through and through!

heather

The role of money in people’s lives has become very crucial over the past years due to oil price hikes. When the price of oil goes up, everything goes up as well. People become challenged to stretching their budget.

I never thought that it’s gonna be this tough. When I was still in school, I always thought that once you get a job, you will be worry-free, you will enjoy your single life and just do your thing. Now, after how many years of working, I’m still feeling some difficulties in handling my money, probably because the prices of commodities continues to go up, while your salary stays the same It really has become kind of a job actually–budgeting your money on hand vs. your daily expenses.

Ever since I got married almost two years ago, I have been handling our finances and doing the budgeting. At first, it was more of a trial and error as there have been times when I went over-budget and then I have to take note of it to make sure that I don’t commit the same mistake in the future.

It is a challenge to make ends meet especially these days where the prices of general commodities continue to soar. When I budget out finances, I make sure to cover the essentials like house rent, bills, food, etc. It is a good thing that my husband supports me because he understands our situation. When we have extra money, we also know how to have a good time. Usually, we just eat out together with our son. If we would like to go out of town, we save up for it monthly so that we have enough time to raise funds.

Nowadays, I notice that even if we earn a little more than before, our expenses catch up in no time. We even can’t travel in our car often because the gasoline prices go up every week and it’s just too much for us. It’s a good thing we have our good old motorcycle to rely on for short trips around the town.

In time like this when the economy is bad, we have to look for other income-generating opportunities to meet our daily needs. Having a regular job nowadays doesn’t imply that we can already live with it alone. We have to make more, to save more.

I have been in a continous search of income-generating activities online or otherwise. I have been seeing a lot of offers but we have to be cautious about these things. There are still a lot of people who mislead other people with their “business” ideas. Just be careful.

One other tip I learned, find an activity or hobby which you can pursue as a part-time job. Who knows, maybe you can do it full-time in the future