By the Hour

According to Forbes magazine, more than half of working Americans get paid by the hour. So if that is how you are receiving your income, you are in great company. As far as budgeting goes, it is not too different from receiving a salary in that you roughly know what you are going to make each month. However there are some notable considerations with hourly pay and we are going to look at those today. Now I want you to hold on to your seat a little bit, because I am going to be giving you a lot of information …

Simplicity

Albert Einstien once said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” There is a lot of complexity to finances, and sometimes it is difficult to find the simple answer. Sometimes the answer is so simple and obvious that you miss it because of it’s simplicity. My heart in this week, as we begin to get more into the details of setting up your budget, is to help budgeting become extremely clear, simple, and accessible to you. So please feel free to ask questions, feel free to comment. I really want to make this as simple as …

Fishing Lessons

When my husband and I first started dating, he was in severe credit card debt. Through a series of uncontrollable circumstances he was laid off of his job, found himself in credit card debt, and took the first job he was offered in order to pay his bills. The job paid horribly and left him in a position where he was hopeless of ever paying off his debt and in desperate need of a miracle. His testimony of his deliverance from debt is amazing, and I will get him to write it sometime in the future. In brief summary, he …

The Shovel and the Hole

I received my first credit card solicitation when I was still in high school. I remember thinking they had the wrong person before I ripped it up and threw it away. But in college they began coming in earnest. I would get one a week, sometimes one a day advertising low balance transfer rates, and limited time low APR’s. Even then, I was concerned about messing up my good credit (thanks to my parents), and I never applied. However, many of my friends did apply and without a clue of how to manage the credit cards, they soon found themselves …

Highs and Lows – Changing Seasons

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Oklahoma. Aside from being a little windy, the sun was shining, the temperature was perfect and I got to work outside in my rose garden. I love spring for so many reasons. I love the signs of life everywhere, my roses budding, and the whole world going green. I love that my children get to play outside after being sequestered for the winter. I love the excitement and anticipation as summer approaches. And I really love that my utility bills drop to nothing because we don’t have to run the air or the …

Learning for Life

I was watching the news last night and saw a rather alarming report that only %5 of high school seniors in America had passed a financial literacy test. That means that %95 of high school students about to graduate are going into the work force or even into University with absolutely no idea of how to manage their money and what is happening in their financial world. It is no wonder that so many people get into such financial trouble in their 20’s and then spend years digging out from the devastation. The good news is that, no matter what …

Finding the Holes

Have you ever felt like trying to get ahead in your finances is kind of like trying to blow up a balloon with a giant hole? The more energy, time, and air you pour into that balloon, the more frustrated you become because it just won’t get any bigger. And even worse, the second you take a break, it completely deflates and you have nothing to show for your efforts. It all just feels like a mystery because you never know where the air is going. And all of this frustration is simply because you have never taken the time …