Paying Debts, Productivity and Organization

How you pay your debts can be viewed in your productivity and organizational skills. Part of that is panning ahead for the unexpected. That is the focus of the Money Monk, who wrote about saving and paying your debts recently.

That has been the topic in someway of a number of bloggers recently. Saving Advice, recently posted 44 ways to improve your productivity. Below is part of Jeff's list and my comments on them.

TV - Jeff suggests watch very little TV. His advice is perfect. If you turn the TV off and get up off that couch (or easy chair) you can focus your attention to actually being productive.

Carry a pocket notebook - This something Jeff suggests, so he can write down ideas, when the thought hits you. Again a great idea, especially if you are a blogger. It doesn't mean, that you have to be a reporter and write everything down. However, when you get an idea, just write it down so you remember to research and write about it when you get home.

Lists - Like Jeff, I love lists. They help me to remember what I have to do, and I can check it off as I finish each task. It is invaluable to me at work as well. Remember, making a shopping list is the best way to shop, when on a budget.

Another blogger, known online as Money Monk, wrote Paying off all debts before saving is foolery.

The monks opinion is that saving is boring, but necessary. He suggests that it is foolery (Dave Ramsey would agree) to pay off your debts first. For me, I am so eager to get rid of my debts, I have focused more on the debt repayment, then I have my emergency fund.

What would happen, if my car were to break down? Or my water heater were to blow up right now? Answer, I would be in a world of hurt, because I haven't been proactive of building my savings. That is the danger of not saving. We can make all the excuses in the world that we want to, but that's what they are, excuses.


I have to be better about saving. I have to be prepared for the unexpected. Which really isn't unexpected, because we know that eventually they will happen. I do like to see my debts getting smaller, but I also need to get excited about seeing my savings grow as well.

Finally, I and a number of my readers need to be better organized. A person who is organized (everything has its place) and has a clean abode and car, will also have an organized financial life. Not only that, but the savings and productivity will also fall into place because they are all part of being organized.

Larry Winget says that he can bet these people he sees on those "clean my home," type programs that their finances are also a wreck. Especially, those people whose homes can't be gotten through, except for the small path in the room.


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go ahead share your thoughts with me now.

You're Broke Because You Want To Be

I recently finished reading, "You're Broke Because You Want to Be: How to Stop Getting By and Start Getting Ahead," a new book by Larry Winget. Winget, whose other books include "It's Called Work For A Reason," and "Shut Up, Stop Whining & Get A Life." He is probably best known as the star of A & E's "Big Spender. Winget is sometimes called the the pitbull of personal development, for his harsh, abrasive, in-your-face style towards personal finance.

Perhaps it is important to say, that in the introduction to his new book he makes a clarification between broke and poor.

Poor is a condition I find very sad. Sad, yet inevitable. Jesus Said, "The poor will be with you always." And they will....I didn't write this book for the poor people of the world. I know it is going to take a lot more than a book to help truly poor people....Broke is NOT a condition like being poor. Broke is a situation you find yourself in because you are either under earning or overspending. I can't fix poor, though I would love to. I'm good, but I'm not that good. I can fix broke....I will show you how, step by step.

I wrote this book for the average person who has a job, makes a living, and still can't seem to get ahead.

He points out what I have tried to say in this blog numerous times (even about myself). We may say we want one thing, but our actions contradict those words. Until we actually decide to make sacrifices and to actually but some real action behind our words, we are just talk. The idea that we must have all our fun now, without planning for our future is a great example of not putting our words into action.

Now before you get the wrong idea, this isn't positive thinking, instead, it is a nose to the grindstone, no excuses accepted and get it done. Exactly what I have been trying to say and encourage readers of my blogs to do.

The book was a hard-hitting no-holds-barred read. He says what needs to be said and doesn't except any excuses.

I quickly found myself described in several spots, but I didn't let myself be offended. Instead, I wanted to learn. I found the book hard to put down and eagerly filled out the workbook sections in each chapter. Admittedly, I could do without some of the language he used in the book, but it wasn't so over used that it was too much of a problem.

It is a book I would strongly encourage anybody who really wants to get out of debt to read. It will be an invaluable tool to your financial life and peace of mind.

I know, that he will be someone that I will be quoting as often as I do Dave Ramsey and John Cummuta.



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go ahead share your thoughts with me now.

Can people tell your financial fitness by the appearance of your home?

I have been reading recently about how clutter is a sign of what your personal finances are like. Larry Winget says that when he see people on those "clean up my place," TV shows, that can't get through a room, except for a small trail. He can bet that their finances are horrible as well.

Still others talk about feng shui (pronounced in English as "fung shway"). Something that when I hear or read it, the little voice inside me says, "New age crap." I mean I am a Christian and don't get into all this stuff. My religious book (the Bible) says to stay away from astrology charts, seers, fortunetellers and the such. So when people start talking about sleeping and working facing a certain direction. Not accumulating so much stuff and adding the numbers of your birth year, to figure out according to your stars what is the best positioning for all this stuff to set up your house and rooms, then yeah it sounds pretty new age. If it was just the clutter, then feng shui might be OK. The problem I have with it is when it starts delving into Chinese Astrology. Still though I am fascinated with it. Is there anything I can learn from it? Perhaps. Maybe, I could learn to have less clutter. Keep my house tidier. My home isn't the most cluttered home, but still there isn't much question that a bachelor lives in my house. In fact, I know a lot of bachelors with much cleaner pads then mine. So if cleaned my home up, would I also be more organized in other areas of my life? That is the question. And how far do I carry this feng shui stuff? I mean, I currently sleep on a futon in a very small bedroom, facing the east. The problem is, according to feng shui (more feng shui info here)for me facing east is one of my inauspicious directions. A direction that supposedly brings mishaps. When I was working nights, I slept facing west, so that I wasn't facing the windows, however, when I returned to days, I switched so I would face the windows and the rising sun. Do I turn back around so that I am facing west and bringing supposed health to myself?

Really, I don't know how that affects my finances nor do I see how that focuses on the real need to clear my life of some of the clutter. I think, I should be more concerned with becoming more organized and in turn less cluttered, in both my home and my finances. I can see how those two are intertwined. I can see, how Larry would see the cluttered home as an indicator of a persons finances. Simply because if someone isn't organized in house cleaning, then they are probably disorganized in all the other areas of their life as well.

Besides as they say, "Cleanliness is next to Godliness."

One of the first steps in clearing the clutter, was to get a filling system for tax papers and receipts through my local freecycle. In this way, I could file my bills, receipts etc all in one orderly place. Then I began with my bedroom/office to get the clutter off the floor. Once I am done with this room, I will move into the living room, then the dinning room finishing with the kitchen and bathrooms that are in the rear of the house. Once I have the whole house done, I will need to maintain it. After that, I will need to move to the shed and get that organized. I can do it, but in order for my finances to get a total makeover, so does the rest of my life.

Wouldn't it be nice for one of those make over shows come here to my home and help me? That is probably not going to happen so I need to get started on this today. Starting as I said with this very room, my bedroom/office.

The Secret to Get More

How many times have you heard someone say or perhaps said yourself, that if the boss paid more money then they/you would give him/her more work? It is a common theme I have heard numerous times. In fact as a shift manager, I have heard it more times then I care to count. My usual answer is what several financial writers and bloggers seem to be witting in the last couple of weeks.

The simple fact is, you will get more when you give more. Make yourself more valuable to your employer, s/he will in turn give you more. It simply does not work for you or anyone else get more, if you unwilling to give more. So if you want to earn more money, then give more to your employer.

Show up early and stay late. Take the initiative to write that report, instead of passing it off to someone else.

Maybe, you just need to give up more time to take a second job, so that you can earn more. Notice that I am saying earn, rather then make, only the treasury department can make money legally without going to jail.

Also give to charity. I know, I have repeatedly said to save your money, but some reason this actually works. When you help someone else, and put them before your own needs, your remaining money seems to stretch further. As I said, I can't explain it, but it seems to actually work.

Larry Winget tells of a time when he was bankrupt and he had the urge to give $100. After he put in the mail, he wondered how he would explain this to his wife. That night, his attorney stopped by his home. Wondering about the unusual house call, he invited him in. The attorney explained that someone had forgiven a huge debt in his practice and he wanted to pass on the good fortune and handed Larry an invoice and said that it was forgiven. As Larry looked at the invoice in disbelief, he noticed the bill (now forgiven) had been $100.

However, the principle doesn't stop there or with finances. Give up TV time or time with your buddies and spend more time with your family and your relationship with them will grow. No matter what it is, you have to give more to get more.