Gather Little by Little

I personally believe that Cash for Clunkers was a mistake . . . you might disagree  and you are welcome to your opinion – it’s a free country! (at the moment) If you do happen to believe that incentivizing consumer deficit spending through the use of government debt is a good idea, you will be happy to know that the next big thing is on the way this fall: Cash for Refrigerators. The government has set aside about $300 million for states to use to give out rebates to buyers of energy-efficient appliances like freezers, refrigerators, furnaces and central air conditioners.

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I get many emails each month from people asking for financial help and advice. A very common theme in these emails is something along the lines of: “I am very frugal and spend little to nothing, but still don’t have enough money to make ends meet“. My reply? You don’t have a spending problem, you have an income crisis. At some point you can only reduce expenses so far. Once there you are faced with only one option: increasing your income. Surprisingly, that may not be as hard as you think.

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Do you save all your credit card reciepts and then enter them in a spreadsheet at the end of the month?

Do you enter the spending from a particular day every day?

Do you use You Need a Budget?

Are you a cash and envelope user? Once the envelope is empty, your spending stops.

Do you have a particular time set aside to update your budget?

Do you use an Excel spreadsheet to record your spending?

Are you careful to write down every penny?

Are you a Quicken user?

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I don’t even care that he is playing for the Vikings, I love watching that guy play.

Clever Dude had an interesting post about the high mark up of disposable razor cartridges. I have a couple of comments. First, companies will charge what the market will bear. If consumers quit purchasing a particular item because it is overpriced, the price will come down. They are under no obligation to reduce the price simply because their mark up is ridiculous. Second: I have used a straight razor on occasion, but I have found that the convenience of the electric razor is beyond compare. I have a reasonably thick beard that I shave every day. Why do men still even use straight razors?

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Given our current economic trend, people are looking for all kinds of ways to save money and reduce expenses. One such way that is being highly touted by the media is Recession Gardening. Recession Gardening is such the fad lately, that even major news outlets like CNN and MSNBC are publishing stories about it.

We started a vegetable garden this year. We’ve wanted a nice one for years but never had the room. When we purchased our current house in October, we finally had the room the grow the garden we had been wanting to for years. Has it helped cut a food bills? Maybe a little, but its been more fun and rewarding than anything.

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It is a good idea to know your credit score – it is an even better idea to know what is in your credit report. I typically check mine once a year and I checked it last month and found an error. Not a huge one, but on the list of names/aliases, there was a name by which I have never been known – same initials, but completely different name. I am working to get the error changed. You need to check your report for errors – unauthorized credit pulls, incorrect late penalties or missed payments, or even lines of credit that you did not take out.

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Since completing my introduction post, I have received several questions about personal finance. This one is coming from Cindy who is asking when should you file for bankruptcy? This is a very important question as the consequences of bankruptcy will follow you for several years. Therfore, you might want to think twice before choosing this path.

First, understanding what filing for bankruptcy means

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It has been a while since we talked about giving here at Gather Little by Little. The Bible speaks about the subject of money on many, many occasions. Each time that the subject is mentioned we learn a bit more of how God wants us to order our finances. It is a little bit funny, because almost every bit of advice that comes from the personal finance bloggers of today has root in Scripture. Even one of the most revolutionary personal finance ideas of the last ten years, the so-called “latte factor” is just a repackaging of an idea first proposed in the verse that inspired the name of this blog: “He who gathers money, little by little makes it grow.” Proverbs 13:11

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So . . . I always thought that my library fines supported the public library. Mrs. Micah says that such fines do not support your local library. Turns out that they are more like a tax. MM suggested several, more proactive ways to help out your local library.

Do you have chrometophobia? Click over to Cash Money Life and check out Patrick’s description of this disease. If you find that you are a victim of this particular debilitation, Patrick suggests some tricks for coping.

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Making money online, even in today’s economy isn’t difficult. But like anything else, it requires hard work. Here are just a few simple ways you can start making money online:

Start a blog

Contrary to what many say, blogs to make money. If you obtain decent search engine traffic and establish a good reader base, they can actually earn a full-time revenue. The trick to having a successful blog is finding a niche that you’re interested (and knowledgeable) on AND that people are interested in reading about. A great way to find what people are interested in is by using Google Trends. The other important part of building an online community and blog is to be authoritative but be personal.

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