Review Your Finances Now!This is not something that you can put off until tomorrow. You literally need to review your finances right now. I know you probably have a good idea in your mind exactly where the financial problem lies. The unfortunate part of knowing that is; it leaves out what it is exactly you don't know. Your mortgage payment may be the problem, or should I say making the mortgage payment is the problem. But, is it really the cause of the problem? Your problem may start at not having gainful employment right now from a cash flow standpoint, but is it that the entirety of the root cause of financial frustration? Any of these items and a host of others you could think of are definitely in themselves the source of your anxieties. However, this is not the entirety of the situation. Financial despair, does not start or end with simply lost employment, excesses in spending, poorly thought out investments or financing. It encompasses all of these areas which combine to produce the current circumstances you may be attempting to deal with. This means you need a plan. A plan cannot first be formulated if you do not know where you have been, where you are and where you want to be financially. It's safe to say that a minimum you want control again. MoneyAdvise.com provides several simple and easy to use calculators and produces them in Excel format. This is a very complete, and economical system to use, we recommend it. This system also includes credit calculators, etc. and places all this information in a monthly budget. The information gathered is very complete and suitable for just about any situation. You could probably do all this on your own in excel, however time is of the essence right now and your time is money. 
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Start To Plan
By now you should have identified where it is exactly that your money is going. This is good, and for most, a hair raising experience. It surprises me how little most people know about where their money goes. But you should know, how much you spend on groceries, gas, utilities and other household related items. You should have an idea of how much money you spend each week on staples and miscellaneous items. And most importantly, how much debt you have, what kind is it? Unsecured consumer debt or secured debt like mortgages. And finally, most importantly how much are your credit cards costing you? We are not just talking about minimum monthly payments. We are talking about APR's and how each card calculates it's finance charges. So in the "planning" stage of our plan you need to consider financial counseling. We here at Poor Man's Portal do not recommend any online counseling services primarily because your bank most likely does it for free. Use that as part of your first step in stopping the financial bleeding. We will mention debt resolution services and debt consolidation. We are quite leary of many of them and there has been an explosion in these services. So as a result, if any appear in "Google" ads on this site they aren't referred by us. There has been a difference made I am sure by debt consolidation services, we just don't want to take the chance that one person visiting this site would be entangled with one that would be less than reputable. Check into these resources. One or all may provide you with very useful help. They are economical and in our opinion worth the small investment. MoneyAdvise Ultimate Debt Guide Living on a Dime |
Impliment the Plan!
Our finances have been examined, our resolve steeled, time to get down to it. We know now what our options are either cut expenses or increase income, or both. I suggest both. If you have any debt, I mean any, it needs to go! This should be abundantly apparent to anyone right now given the current economic climate. So take stock of yourself. Everyone has skills they aren't capitalizing on, now is the time. Yes working more is difficult, it doesn't have to be, but at a minimum whether you work more at your primary job or take a second, work is the watch word. Don't let anyone tell you there isn't work out there right now. Yes there is. It may not be permanent or have fringe benefits, but there is work and it may involve you swallowing your pride. Do so! It provides character! And if all else fails go back to school!
Poor Man's Ways to Slash Expenses
1. Get Rid of Cable Go Satellite! 4. Borrow Movies Instead of renting 5. Change Cell Phone Plans 6. Car Pool 7. Conserve Energy 8. Eat in, not Out 9. Share and Buy in Bulk 10. Credit Cards with Low APR's 11. Re-Finance Your Mortgage
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