I guess my biggest concern, which I think is a genuine one is being with how simple it is to get Bush to give out money, how many more companies are going to jump on this band wagon before January, and how many more bailouts are we going to let him do?

My fear is that all these bailouts are just holding off the inevitable depression we are heading for and are going to make it worse in the long run.  I really think that all Bush is trying to accomplish is to save face and hold off the depression in this country until after he leaves office.  Then that will make the Democrats look like they are the ones who did it and will more than likely guarantee that the Republicans will be back in control in four years.

1. Make coffee at home rather than buy it every day. You’ll save about $2 a day or $40 a month. This is $480 a year, and that can be money in the bank.  Depending on where you go, it could be a lot more. 

2. Bring in lunch from home instead of buying it. You’ll end up with at least $5 - $7 dollars a day in your pocket.  That is a $25 per week savings at least, and a savings of $1300 per year.  Now that would make a nice vacation don’t you think?

3. Stop getting delivery of magazines and newspapers at home. Most of the content is available online and you can read it everyday—for free!

4. Shop around for credit card interest rates and consolidate credit cards, if you keep a balance.

5. Use cash or debit cards instead of credit cards and incurring interest charges.  Not only will this save you more money on the interest charges, but you will also be more aware of what you are spending your money on, and how fast it goes.

6. Save your stamps and pay bills online, usually for free.  Most companies will allow you to make payments right on their web site, either using a check or debit card, and most banks offer online bill pay services for nothing as well.  This is a very convenient way to pay your bills, and you can also put them on automatic payment, which is great because this way your bills will get paid on time, without missing payments and accruing late charges.

These days every little bit of savings helps.  It is nice to see the gas prices come down, but who knows when they will go back up again and grocery prices are still high.  So be sure to keep a good handle on your spending the rough economic times are not gone yet.

Well, the government has been on this band wagon for years.  They have been looking to rid themselves of the payday loan industry claiming that they are ripping people off.  Don’t get me wrong they do charge exorbitant rates on their loans, there is no doubt that this is true, however I can’t help but wonder if they really are just angry because that is money that they are losing each year, and they don’t want the competition.  Think about it, you can pay $15.00 per hundred to borrow from a payday loan place, or you can possibly bounce a check and be charged $35.00 so really is that so unreasonable.  Plus many of the people who choose to take out payday advances are people who can’t get approved for government loans with lower interest rates, so what are they really losing, if they aren’t providing services to these people.

Now many states have completely banned payday loans making them illegal, but many more states are trying not to completely do away with them, but merely limit the terms, interest rates, and number of loans a person can take out.  One such reform in the state of VA has a lot of payday loan companies scrambling to find new services to provide and new ways to get around the coming laws.  With many people paying them millions in interest every year, they are not sure how they will make it, and many people are worried because a new database will not allow you to have more than one loan at a time.  The concerns are great, but the best advice I can give to you is if you currently hold a payday loan, find out about the changes in your area, and be sure to get the facts.  It is a good idea to begin paying your loan or loans back now, so that you don’t get stuck after the first of the year.  Some companies will change the game in 2009 and others may have to close their doors completely, so be sure you get out of this system before it is too late!

Look on the internet and try to come up with cute homemade ideas for holiday gifts.  For instance, the older relatives in the family always love something with a picture on it, or artwork done by their grandkids, so put some thought into it.  Make a picture collage, Holiday Ornaments, or a tee shirt with the kids hand prints.  All of these gifts will provide treasured memories for the family for years to come, and even better yet, they can be made for under $10 each. Make gifts for the neighbors and teachers at school. Try some homemade cookies in a cute cookie tin.  It is a great way to let people know that you are thinking about them this holiday season, without spending a fortune.

Being creative and smart will help you to shop the sales and clearances, get some great inexpensive ideas, and in the long run not only reduce your amount of holiday debt, but also reduce your stress going into the holidays.

I thought this was some really sound advice, especially since we have learned from past experiences in this country that pulling every dime out of the market will only cause it to further decline, so that really doesn’t benefit anyone.  Pulling out just what you think you will need during the next 5 years, makes some good sense.  After that if things improve you could have a much larger sum of money available to you.  Also, investing in the market now, while the cost of stocks remains low, is a great opportunity to buy in low and make a bundle in the long run.

It is not advisable to watch your stocks everyday, especially during the next few months it will be up and then down.  It is still working on balancing out, however it will get back on level ground before long, and wouldn’t you like to be one of the one’s who come out of this mess making a bundle? I know I would.

Okay, so we realize that the banks in this country are going under, but how will that effect the average consumer.  Well, it will mean that the whole credit system will need to be revamped and this may or may not be a good thing depending on who you are.  The credit card and loan companies don’t have any more money left to lend and are in the process of actually recalling the credit that they have overextended to everyone.  If you don’t have all your credit used, the bank may close down the credit lines that you have available to you right now.  For some people, this is devastating, while others are taking clear advantage of the system and maxing out all their credit turning it to cash for use later.  Only one problem, you are putting that money where? Of course in the bank, so what you are really doing is giving them the money back anyway.  Now that is not a problem until everyone doesn’t pay back their debts.  Then the banks will be left without money and whose money do you think they are going to use? Of course, your money (which essentially is really their money).

The problem is now, people are realizing that unless they have exemplary credit and no outstanding balances, they won’t be getting any new lines of credit.  This means that they won’t pay back what they have outstanding now because the banks really have no recourse, and there is no more money coming.  Debt collectors are getting desperate, since they really can’t collect on outstanding balances owed and they are going to have to cut enormous deals to get people to pay.  After all, most people are thinking the country just fronted them huge amounts of money, why should we pay them again? The only problem with this, is that our country will never have any type of credit card or loan system again, because if this one can’t be saved and things only get worse, people will only be able to buy what they can afford, and at the wages we are making people it ain’t much.  I personally think that is the way it should have been all along, but the banks and credit card companies decided to get greedy, leaving just about everyone in a hole that they can’t get out of.

I still personally see a big difference from region to region on gas prices and in my travels this past weekend found gasoline prices that ranged from the highest price I saw at $3.39 per gallon for regular unleaded to $2.95 per gallon.  A savings of .44 per gallon is not laughing matter.  Especially when you consider, I didn’t go on a massive country wide trip, I only drove down the highway about an hour and that is how much the gas prices varied on a short drive.  I don’t care what they say in the news, I know that some of this must be price gouging, I don’t mind when the prices vary a little but when I can drive to the next town over and spend .20 less per gallon, something is rotten in Denmark!

Now in addition to the lies we have been telling ourselves and the ones that our government has been spouting, I am now seeing television ads that are again trying to trick us into spending more money than we have to for things.  For instance, I just saw a commercial for Kentucky Fried Chicken last night, and they show a family who is considering buying their complete dinner for 4 people for $9.99.  They go to the grocery store to see if they can buy all the ingredients for making the same meal, and it will actually cost them more than it would to go to KFC, so they just go there instead.  Now listen up, they show these people starting out by buying a $3 bag of flour.  First, it does not take $3 worth of flour to make chicken, secondly, most of us already have flour in our houses, so that cost is over inflated.  Don’t be fooled people, for $9.99 you are getting the drumsticks, which if you are a smart shopper you can get for a song.  Then throw on some instant mashed potatoes, and even some dinner rolls or boxed mac & cheese, or even beans, you can definitely make this meal for about half the price of what they are making it for.  Don’t buy into this type of advertising, they are just trying to get you to spend the money.  Walmart and Food Lion are both trying to do the same thing also, and trying to convince you that buying their premade food is much cheaper than doing it yourself.  Don’t buy it.  Shop the sales, cook ahead, make a meal plan, but don’t give in to buying fast food or prepackaged meals, the ones you make yourself are still more economical and premaking and freezing your own food will save you a lot of money in the long run.  It is time we were honest with ourselves.  We know what we have to do, but are we all too lazy to do it?

In understanding the title of this blog one of the most important things to understand currently is that this maniac is spending through this country’s money for what will require about a 50 year payback period. Now, it is not bad enough to say that we are still spending endless amounts of money on this war which to say the least is never ending in a country whose name we don’t even pronounce correctly. Don’t get me wrong, I realize that these people might have needed our help in the beginning (the verdict is really still out on this fact) but the war is basically killing the economy in this country and still we are fighting it and at home people are struggling just to survive. As if the war was not bankrupting us enough, Bush is now running around and bailing out all the big finance companies to make it look in the numbers that we have money that we really don’t have. He currently has a bill in Congress to allocate $700 billion more dollars to failing companies over the next two years. Well, that’s great people but didn’t anyone tell him his term is up in about 3 months. Realize that he is spending money that we don’t have, and where is it going to come from…US. That’s right we are going to be paying off all this debt because, let’s face it, we can’t spend money that we don’t have right? Is anyone really seeing this besides me? I don’t know but I wish when I was running a little short that I could just print up some more money and go spend it with no financial backing. Oh, that’s right, we can’t just print money that is illegal. Well, I guess it isn’t if you are the President of the US then it is okay to make more money if you need it. Don’t we have enough debt already. Making these companies look better is just making our economy worse. Don’t buy into it, you can’t fix this country’s problems by spending more money we don’t have. Don’t worry though, the bread lines won’t be forming until after George W. Bush leaves office, this way he will still look like the good guy and the poor President who takes over is going to be sunk by Bush’s two year plan to bankrupt us. Keep saving those pennies people, we are gonna need them.