Change Jars: Your Ticket to Getting Rid of Your Debt

Many people have trouble budgeting - they get into debt, and they just can't find a place that they can cut out the spending. If you're having trouble doing this yourself, consider a "change jar." Get a jar or container of some kind and stick it on the table next to the bed or the door. Every day, contribute something to the jar.

It could be as little as whatever change you have in your pocket. If you think you can stick with it, shoot for something higher. Put in a dollar or two every day, and just don't touch it. At the end of the month, you'll have racked up quite a bit. Take your change down to the bank or to a converter machine and turn it into cash - then, no matter what, use that money to pay down your credit cards. Taking it to the bank probably makes the most sense - you'll already be there, and you can resist the temptation to go spend the money on something else. You can get coin rolls, or see if you can find a bank that has their own machine. If you are willing to roll the coins, do it - it'll save you the ten percent fees machines charge.

What if you feel like spending the money earlier? Don't. It's extremely important to maintain discipline - getting out of debt is just like a chore. You have to do it, and you have to do it every day. If you start to slip, you need to buck yourself up, or you'll be in credit card debt up to your eyeballs forever.

About the Author
Teve Torbes is an expert owner of an air mattress camping site, who knows a whole lot about air mattress woods. He has also created a valuable directory.

Budget Friendly Halloween Costumes

...by observing you, children learn how to create and they learn craft. These powerful memories imprint a more important message. They come to understand the superiority of the creative tightwad method. - Amy Dacyczyn, a.k.a. The Frugal Zealot

Halloween costumes are so different today. Super heroes, wizards, and cartoon characters rule the trick or treat. It was not too long ago.....ok it was maybe a while ago......when I was a small trick or treater that costumes were much more original.

You were not likely to bump into three or four other characters that looked exactly like you. Oh, you might run into a costume of the same theme, but it would be totally unique by comparison. Of course my mom created our Halloween costumes. You can create unique Halloween costumes and save money by recycling items.



Create your own unique costumes. Remember that Halloween costumes exaggerate to be most effective. So the more accessories, the better. Some easy to make costumes using items around the house, borrowed from friends and/or relatives, or purchased for next to nothing at your local thrift store include:

The little old lady or man - dress accordingly in an older man's (a suit is great) or woman's clothing. A hat is a nice touch. If you don't have a real walking cane you can substitute an appropriate size stick. Add some creative face painting with lots of wrinkles of course. Be sure to add the cracking voice and a prominent limp.

The Hobo - Recycle some unwanted clothing. Paint on or put on patches, rip some areas (especially around the bottoms of pants, ends of sleeves, elbows and knees, since these areas show wear first). Use black or brown makeup to smudge the face a little to look un-kept. Blush the nose to look a little reddish. (hobos get cold outside) Sport the oldest pair of worn looking shoes you can find (or even better, two different shoes) and a tattered hat and you're good to go!

Princess - This is a timeless costume. I think every little girl wants to be a princess at least once. But don't rush out and buy the frilliest costume you see. The princess is merely an expression of elegance. As long as your little girl feels elegant she is a princess. If you don't already have a full length fancy party dress, check the thrift store for a low cost floor length party dress. Just pick one that looks "princessy." Even better, borrow one if possible.

A princess wand can be easily made with a dowel or stick and a cardboard star covered with foil. Add frills with duster feathers or ribbons if desired. Make a crown. You can easily make one using a headband and craft materials. Here's a great tip: Recycle a Burger King Crown. You know the crowns they give out to all the little kiddies at Burger King. You can cover with foil or paint and add beads or gemstones to decorate. They also make a great pattern for a crown if you want to create it out of some other material you have.

Animals: For toddlers: Use one piece pajamas as a starting point. An extra bonus: the pajamas are warm clothing for what is typically a cool weather night in many areas. For example.. a fuzzy white, brown, black, or even pink footed pajama can easily become a kitten, rabbit, or dog. Add a home made tail using scrap fabrics (attach with safety pin), a headband with the appropriate ears attached, or if you use a hooded outfit attach ears directly to hood), some creative face painting using home made face paint (below), and you've got a cute little costume that can be used as a comfy outfit after trick or treat!

For older children use tights or stretch pants, and turtleneck shirts, sweaters, hooded sweatshirts all in the desired color instead of the pajamas. Use desired color of mittens or gloves for paws. Bats, lions, tigers, even a skunk can be created in much the same way as the above animals!

Halloween Costume Recycling Tip: Remove the stuffing from an unwanted large stuffed animal (through a cut slit down back), launder, and use sections of fabic for costume. Or, cut a hole for the face and your toddler may be small enough to fit right in and use for hooded costume.

The Big Baby: This is an amusing costume for an older child. Return to the diaper zone! A bottle or pacifier, a bib, a homemade cloth diaper (over tights or pants of course), and a rattle. Add some rosy cheeks and your youngster will be ready to laugh (or cry) his/her way through trick or treat.

The Graduate - Have an old graduation cap and gown? If it doesn't hold too much sentimental value, you can use it to create a very simple, easy, costume. Create a fake diploma and drape it from the waist tied by a string or yarn of same color or wear like a necklace. You don't want the trick or treater to have to carry it. I've discovered these types of accessories usually end up in Mom's or Dad's hands to carry after a short time.

Halloween Costume Recycling Tip: Any discarded or unwanted work uniform (nursing, military, fireman, policeman) can be used as a Halloween costume.

The Witch - A long black dress or all over black pants with black top can be combined with a witch hat and black cape(make your own if you're crafty). Add black boots and make up face to suit.

Scarecrow - cut up some old jeans and a flannel shirt in scarecrow fashion. Cut sleeve ends and pants leg ends in strips to look tattered. Use straw or an old straw broom's bristles and glue or tape along inside edges of sleeves, pants legs, along bottom of shirt to appear as if bursting out of the scarecrow. Add a straw hat.

These are all good halloween costume ideas and I'm sure you get the picture by now. The idea is to use as many items as you have on hand to create these timeless Halloween costumes. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

Don't let that little girl cry because you can't find her the purrrrrrrrrrr-fect cat costume. You can create a much nicer one from everyday items and a few craft materials. Chances are it will look more realistic than that store bought costume. As a bonus, many of the costume pieces (i.e. shirts, pants, tights, gloves/mittens) are reusable after Halloween!

A few other Halloween tips:

1. Use spray paints or craft paints. fabric dye, fabric paints and/or pens, to color recycled items to desired color. One year I used silver spray paint to color and entire outfit for my son's tin man costume. We recycled aluminum foil to use in making the hat and the axe. Some silver body glitter on the hands and face put the finishing touches on this costume!

2. Use regular clothing to create an all-over color effect as with the animal costumes.

3. Consider mittens or gloves when you need hand color

4. A gallon ice cream bucket w/handle makes a perfect trick or treat bucket. I save these throughout the year and recycle for hundreds of other uses. Use neon paint or stickers to add bright decorations. This is a good safety technique to make kids more visible while trick or treating

5. Make your own face paint: You will need Corn starch, Water, Cold cream, and Food coloring.

Use several different cups (custard cups, recycled single serve yogurt or Jell-O containers, a foam egg carton) Prepare 1 tsp cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon each of cold cream and water. Mix different color food coloring in each cup for desired colors

Make your own cream make up:

2 tsp white shortening

5 tsp corn starch

1 tsp white all purpose flour

glycerin (get at drug store)

Food coloring as desired

To make enough for one child's face - Use a rubber spatula, blend the first three ingredients until a smooth paste forms. Add 3/4 drops glycerin for a creamier consistency. Add coloring if desired one drop at a time blending after each drop until you have the desired shade. For easy removal use shortening, cold cream or baby oil.

Remember your Halloween safety. Here are a few, but certainly not all inclusive, reminders of safe trick or treat rules.

1. Small children should always be accompanied by an adult.

2. Use flashlights, bright costumes or decorations to make trick or treaters more visible.

3. Try to frequent the same limited area each year or limit visits to friends and families.

4. Remind children not to eat candy until they get home and have moms and dads check and approve.

5. A safe costume should not block or restrict a child's vision or interfere with mobility. Make sure costumes are of a safe length so as not to trip the child.

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

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Author Bio:
Cheryl Johnson is a mother of four helping herself and others beome and remain debt free. Publisher of Simple Debt Free Living - a self-help plan, ideas, and resources for frugal and debt free living. Low cost gift ideas and a wide variety of other money saving tips.

If a Disaster Strikes, Could Your Finances Weather The Storm?

By Preparing Your Finances Now, You Can Minimize Damage Later

By Steven B. Smith

As the process of healing and rebuilding continues ever so slowly in areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, many of us are taking a closer look at our own lives. While most of us don’t live in hurricane-prone areas, we are all reminded of the possibility of disaster knocking at our door. Mother Nature may provide the most striking examples with hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis, but a house fire, car accident, serious illness, or a lost job could prove just as devastating.

We all hope it never does, but if disaster should strike, money is the last thing you’ll want to worry about. You can make it easier on yourself, and your loved ones, if your finances are in order. Here are a few suggestions to help “disaster-proof” your finances.

Create a monthly spending plan. The US Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that personal savings as a percentage of disposable personal income was negative 0.7 percent in August. That means the average person spent more money than he or she made in August. If you’re on par for average here, you probably won’t need to wait for Mother Nature to create a disaster, you’re creating your own.

Create a budget, and stick to it. Since budgets are in that same category as diets – most of us begin one every January and are done by February – you need to find one that works for you in order to stick with it. For most of us, that means finding a software program that is automatic and able to easily track transactions from multiple checking accounts, debit cards and credit cards. But even if you use cash and the paper envelope method of budgeting, create a spending plan, and stick to it. Make sure you set aside some money for personal spending for those impulse buys. This will give you some freedom without negatively affecting your overall plan.

Back up your financial records, or use a web-based system. If you are not taking advantage of the Internet to track and control your finances, you may be taking an unnecessary gamble. PC-based systems, as well as paper, can be destroyed in a disaster. In his September 8th column for the Baltimore Sun, titled “Flood might destroy your PC, but not off-site backup files,” Mike Himowitz described how even a broken water pipe or a small house fire could destroy your computer, and the records held on it.

“More importantly, with online banking, you can access your account and pay bills from any PC that has an Internet connection,” stated Himowitz. “One of the main concerns voiced by those who fled their homes to escape Hurricane Katrina is that they have no access to their money and no physical way to pay their bills. With online transactions, your physical location - and the location of the PC you're using - no longer matter.”

Himowitz suggests that using a storage company to provide online backup, although pricey, can be a wise investment. However, for far less money, you can also use a secure online spending management program, like Mvelopes Personal (www.mvelopes.com). It will help track and control your finances, and pay your bills from any computer with an Internet connection – and you don’t have to worry about expensive backup storage.

Set aside the equivalent of three to six months’ living expenses in an emergency fund. An easily accessible emergency fund is one of the single most important things you can do for your financial wellbeing. In the event that disaster strikes, if you don’t have enough set aside to cover basic living expenses, including mortgage, food, and car payments, things could quickly go from bad to worse.

If setting aside this much money seems unattainable, start small. Cut out those daily trips to the vending machine. You’ll be amazed how quickly the money adds up. Use cash gifts, tax refunds and annual bonuses to build your fund. When you set up your monthly spending plan, include a contribution to your emergency fund, and make it automatic.

Your emergency fund needs to be easily accessible. That means in a savings or money market account, not real estate investments or stocks. Select an account with no service fees, which can be as high as $100 a year. Also, make sure you are getting a good interest rate – many online banks, like NetBank, EverBank or EmigrantDirect, currently have savings accounts paying three to four percent – that uses an average daily balance instead of minimum daily balance.

This account should only be used for real emergencies, not holiday spending sprees or other indulgences. If you do draw from the account, make repaying it a top priority.

Give to those less fortunate. Don’t overlook the importance of this one. Overspending all too often comes from our desire – not our need – for more stuff. Giving to charity helps keep those needs and wants in perspective, and in the right category. And if disaster strikes your door, won’t you be hoping others are doing the same? If you are unable to give any money, donate some of your time. Call your local government, or check www.unitedway.org for opportunities in your area.

Create a trust and/or a will. This is one that most people avoid, but by doing it now, you will be taking care of your loved ones. Most people should have both a trust and a will, but you should talk with an estate planner to see which is right for your situation.

Most people believe that a will is all they need. For some that may be true, but it can also force your loved ones to go through a costly and difficult court proceeding, called probate, to get your wishes carried out. A trust usually avoids much of the expensive legal mess, and makes the transfer of assets relatively simple.

To save money, you can purchase software to help walk you through creating a valid trust document, and then simply have a lawyer review it. It will still cost around $200 in lawyers fees, but that’s merely one tenth of what it could cost for a lawyer to draft the document.

Review the documents often, and update them whenever any major changes take place. Make sure your loved ones are aware of the documents, and where they can be found. Always keep copies of all important documents in a separate, secure location such as a safe deposit box.

Preparing now will allow you to take care of what matters most. As we look at the pictures of the damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, and hear the tragic stories of the individuals whose lives have been affected, we are all reminded that what is truly important in our lives doesn’t have dollar signs attached. But by getting our finances in order now, if disaster does come our way, we can focus our attention on taking care of the things that matter most.

Steven B. Smith is president and CEO of In2M Corporation and author of Money for Life: Budgeting Success and Financial Fitness in Just 12 Weeks! www.in2m.com jeff.stevens@in2m.com

Personal Budgeting Software is Money Magic

Personal Budgeting Software is Money Magic

Does your money seem to pull a disappearing act each month? Does your credit card statement continually leave you wondering when and how you could have spent that much? What about that cash you took out from the ATM the other day - could you possibly have spent it already?

Let's face it. Managing your personal finances (even with personal budgeting software) can be a difficult task - especially when on a tight budget. Every time you turn around, there's another bill to pay, and before you know it, your entire paycheck has been spent - and then some! Soon, you find yourself drowning in the financial demands of everyday life, and the vicious cycle of living paycheck to paycheck - or worse yet, living on credit - has begun. You ask yourself, 'How did this happen to me?'.

If you are finding it increasingly difficult to juggle the many different financial aspects of your life, you are not alone. The fact is, in today's modern society, the average consumer is forced to allocate the money from one stream of income to more than 30 different sources! From mortgage payments and health insurance to childcare services and credit cards, it's no wonder money appears to continually vanish before our eyes. But what if there was a way of reducing the invisibility of your spending? Away of budgeting your money in a simple, pain-free manner while still achieving that so-called state of 'financial freedom' once and for all? Thankfully, now there is. There is a great new online personal budgeting software system that solves these problems and makes it easy.

I found a great online personal budgeting software system called Mvelopes Personal. Mvelopes Personal is the new affordable and easy-to use online personal budgeting software system sweeping the world of personal finance. It is the answer to all your budgeting woes. Mvelopes' unique budgeting concept offers a straightforward method to manage your finances. It enables you to spend your money more efficiently and still enjoy what matters most to you in life. The secret is to know where your money is going and eliminate spending on things you don't really care about.

Here is what Reporter, Jane Bennett Clark of Kiplinger's Personal Finance, said:
'If you don't like keeping lots of cash round the house, you could set up an online system with Mvelopes, a service that links up with your bank and uses envelope icons to apportion your paycheck and keep track of spending. Mvelopes avoids much of the data entry of other personal finance programs and gives you a visual cue of how much money you have left in each category. When you're over budget, the line item turns red.'

Isn't it about time YOU take control of your finances and embark upon the path towards financial freedom?

To learn more about how Mvelopes can help you to start making better spending decisions, or to sign on right away for your one month free trial offer, visit the Mvelopes homepage at www.mvelopes.com