Archive for June, 2010

How to Control Your Spending Habits and Avoid Debt

The following is a guest post by Kevin Craig

Bad spending habits are something that every spend-thrift American is addicted to. Easy availability of credit cards and quick access to loans has fanned this fiery practice all the more. And the result is deep debt crisis faced by almost every second person in the US. Though there are several debt settlement companies across different states in the US your own endeavors can save you and keep out of debt.

Does your careless spending habit take a toll on your finances every month and leave you at the mercy of creditors? Why not start taking a little initiative to put a check on reckless expenditures and avoid unpleasant debt problems? Breaking bad spending habits is not a Herculean task. It is all about imposing discipline on your expenses.

Just check out the following three tips to kick-start your cost-curtailment plan:

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Starbucks, Blockbuster and Friday Round Up June 25

IMG_1646 by whatleydude.

By Kevin M

Random musings from this week…

Free Wi-Fi at Starbucks but you have to sign up 6700 Starbucks coffee shops are rolling out free Wi-Fi beginning July 1st. Don’t tell anybody, but you can sign up right now and get the free service immediately. I took advantage of the change late last week, and though the service is free, you do have to go through a fairly cumbersome sign up process. You have to purchase a Starbucks gift card (minimum $5) to get the card number and activation code, which become part of your permanent entry codes. A pamphlet is available to walk you through the process, which is establishing a Wi-Fi account through AT&T. One tail though—the free service is limited to two hours per session, after which charges will apply. Still, that’s a minor limitation in exchange for having access to free internet at thousands of outlets.

Healthy snacks. When we take our family to the movies, we stop at a store and buy any candy that we want, since the same stuff they sell for $3.50 to $6.00 at the movies can easily be had for about a dollar a box on the outside. Walgreens is offering a new and healthy twist: right there with the movie sized candy boxes are snack sized boxes of dried fruit.

Wow, snacks that look almost like junk food but are actually good for you. On my last trip in a got a box of raisins for a dollar—and somehow it just tastes better coming out of one of those candy sized boxes. Whoodda thought? I guess someone did—brilliant idea!

Is alternative energy impossible? In light of BP’s Gulf oil crisis…we often hear that alternative energy is impractical, unworkable, too costly, and too far into the future to help us now. Yet Denmark has been making quiet but steady progress in generating electricity from windmills, most of them privately owned. Despite being oil rich, Denmark now generates nearly 20% of its electric power from windmills. It’s something to think about as crude gushes into the Gulf of Mexico or the next time oil/gasoline prices spike to uncomfortable levels…

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How to Make Money with an “Authority” Blog

This is a guest post by Brian Garvin, a commenter here on OutOfYourRut.com. He runs an online business so I asked him to write a post describing what it is he’s doing to make that happen.

If you’ve worked in the Brick & Mortar world for any length of time, chances are you’ve picked up a skill that could be applied to the internet to start your own blog. Basically an Authority Blog is a large, content based blog lots of other bloggers and the Internet Community at large visit and respect as one of the larger blogs in that particular niche.

Most people think of Authority Blogs as being run by just large companies, but that’s not the truth. In fact many single people are running some of the largest Authority Blogs in some of the most competitive industries, such as Internet Marketing, Real Estate, Forex, Health & Wellness and Dating. So the main question to be asked is if building this type of blog is right for you. We’re gonna go over a list of questions you should answer. Answering the questions below will determine if setting up a blog is right for you.

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Manage Your Distractions to Take Control of Your Time

Better control of your time means more control of your income and your finances

By Dave Kelly

So, I have been thinking about this… wait just a minute, someone is calling me on my cell phone. “Hello, this is Dave Kelly. Yup. Um-huh. Real World: Motivational Speakers? I like it. Send me an email. Thanks.”

Sorry about that. Anyway, I was going to say… wait, now my phone is buzzing. A text message. Oh, that’s good. Gotta text back. “U R kidding. LOL. HA!”

So, the thing with distractions is… A tweet! Let me see, what is my friend, who tweets his every move fifty-plus times a day, up to?

Getting the point?

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How Much Student Loan Debt Is Too Much?

By Kevin M

The state of the economy over the past few years has called into question on our cultural love affair with debt of nearly all types. The once unassailable notion that home mortgages in nearly any type and in almost any amount were “good debt” has all but crumbled. A mailbox stuffed with credit card pre-approvals—once seen not only as evidence of a sterling credit rating but also as a symbol of our status as solid citizens—is now considered a temptation on a magnitude not seen since the infamous apple caper in the Garden of Eden—resist we must!

But reversals in the job market and collapses in asset values have all served to bring home a point that seemed to be virtually ignored in recent decades: debt has to be paid back!

As had become our happy little way, debts were seldom extinguished outright by full payoff in the time honored way, but rather by rollover, consolidation or the sale of the securing assets. When those avenues are exhausted we’re left with two unpleasant options—payoff or default. OUCH!

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8 Ways to Buy Your House For Less

By Kevin M

Despite hints and statistics showing a somewhat improved housing market, now is not the time to merely assume that the market is teeming with good deals and that a return to the real estate price spiral will soon cover any mistakes made in the purchase. The market remains sluggish in most areas, and if it remains this way for several more years, getting the best deal is more important than ever.

The most important moment in the ownership of a home is the purchase. A good deal at purchase can reap big rewards in the future—especially if prices don’t rise appreciably in the near future. You only have one shot at making a good deal, so make it the best you can.

But how do you get the best deal on a home in this market? The same ways you would in any type of market.

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Can Higher Energy Lead You to Success?

Success requires high energy level

By Kevin M

Of all the traits that make a person successful I think the most underrated is energy level. You can be brilliant, you can be a master salesman, you can be an inventor without equal, but it takes energy to convert those talents into success. Many talented people achieve nothing more than average success and I think that for many the missing ingredient is inability to take their ideas and talents and drive them forward. That’s where energy comes in. That’s how important it is.

How many good ideas have you had that you never acted on? High energy people can act on many ideas—often simultaneously—taking full advantage of the numbers game. They may fail at many more attempts than the average person, but ultimately find success through their relentless forward motion. They become the preverbal “irresistible force”.

How to become a HIGHER energy person

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Consider an Online Degree For a Change of Career

By Katheryn Rivas

So perhaps you’ve been in the same line of work for several years, and you’re craving something different. While throughout most of the 20th century, it was considered perfectly normal to stay the course with a specific company or career path, now, job mobility and flexibility is standard.

Changing careers has become much more accepted, so the only thing holding you back is probably self-imposed thinking that dictates you can’t change tracks. But if you play your cards right, you can indeed make a complete jump into something different.

Online education has grown exponentially in the past few years precisely because it meets the needs of today’s mobile and flexible workforce. It’s generally less expensive and it teaches key skills that align with whatever field you wish to enter. And what’s the best part about it all? An online degree can be completed in the comfort of your own home.

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Should You Borrow Money to Start a Business?

By Kevin M

Right now a lot of people are either unemployed, underemployed or working in a career or job where promotion opportunities are close to non-existent. In such times, thoughts often turn to cutting a new path by starting a new business.

Many of today’s business models are based on the Wall Street principle of OPM—Other Peoples Money. Whether through the sale of stocks, bonds or by obtaining bank financing, large companies and well publicized start ups seek to open new ventures and expand through leverage.

But what works (sometimes at least) on Wall Street can often be business poison to the would-be small business owner.

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Fitness For Free (Or Close To It)

Action needs to precede acquisition in the quest for health and fitness

By Kevin M

Maybe it’s a cultural thing here in America that when ever we need to strike out in a new direction we impulsively believe that it requires spending money to make it happen (see the National Debt for tangible confirmation). That might actually be necessary in some cases, but fitness is really more about motivation than it is about gym memberships or fitness equipment. Yet many people join health clubs or buy expensive fitness equipment precisely to give them that motivation.

I believe that thinking is putting the horse before the cart. Shouldn’t we first prove that we have the motivation and energy—and can make time in our schedules–before spending any money?

Here’s a fundamental fitness reality: before there was exercise equipment, there was plain, old exercise. Exercise equipment (and the gyms they occupy) is higher level stuff; before moving onto them—and the money they cost—first prove that you’re committed to plain, old exercise.

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