How To Survive & Maybe Even Thrive In Our Down Economy
Sunny yellow flower by Sharee Basinger
The economy has been in a tailspin for longer than most people care to admit, but in the past year it has really hit home for people all across the world. While many want to place blame here or maybe there, I think that this may be just what the doctor ordered for this generation of reckless consumers (read the whole post before you go disagreeing, and leave your comments below). I know from reading questions on Mamapedia and Mamasource that many of you or your spouses are unemployed or were unemployed and then had to take a job making so much less than you were earning previously, these situations place a major financial and emotional burden on a household.
How does one get past that and get on with living a life of abundance? How does one get on with anything when bill collectors and mortgage companies have you on speed dial and remind you daily of your problems ?
The first thing that you have to do is accept responsibility for your own debt - whether it be a mountain or a molehill, if you don’t own it now then you will pay it off and just make more more. You made it and now you need to claim it, neither George W. Bush nor Barack Obama took that 7 day cruise for 5 that you put on your Visa card. So don’t blame them, blame yourself and let’s get past the blamng.
Next, you and I both know that the Chrysler Government bailout will not be extended to any of us, heck the plan that was put in place to supposedly help people with their mortgages may never come to fruition for you. There are many small mortgage companies (like Litton) that are flying under the radar and bleeding their mortgagees dry. So the second thing you have to do is accept that you have got to fix your own financial problems.
Third, unless you are facing foreclosure on your home or your car is about to be repossessed, don’t even consider bankruptcy. Filing bankruptcy to solve credit card and other debt issues, is like putting a tourniquet on a paper cut. OK, that’s a bit extreme, but what I mean is that some forms of bankruptcy and “debt consolidation”
- leave you with a higher monthly payment than you had before
- ruin your credit for seven or more years ( did you know that getting into a “credit counseling” program appears on your credit as worse than bankruptcy?)
- are a temporary fix - I know people who have filed bankruptcy more than once, why? Because they did not learn from their mistake!
So, what can you do? Now here is why I say that this economic crisis is an opportunity for the rest of us. Here is our chance to :
- figure out how to get rid of debt
- learn to live within our means
- create wealth for ourselves and future generations
Since you did not create your debt overnight you will not erase your debt overnight. Start by looking for ways that you can create additional income right now from selling things that you do not use to getting into a work at home opportunity or home-based business. I tell you how to handle those harassing phone calls in my post Your Reality Bites - How to Deal With Bill Collectors & Other Blood Suckers .
In my next post I will show you some tools that will help you to create a budget and erase your debt without bankruptcy or credit counseling.
Good and sensible words. Accept and own up to our debts, and cut expenses in order to pay things off. Budget. Spend less than we earn (for a change).
Keep up the good work.
Thanks Jan, yes I think if you don’t own it now - u never will an dwill probably end up in debt again a few years down the road - bad economy or not.
This was a great post. I agree about taking responsibility, facing your debt, and taking actions each and every day. The key is to start small, read some of the top finance blogs, and personal development blogs, and believe and act as though you are going to not just survive, but thrive.
[...] plans will leave you exactly where you are for another 10 to 15 years! In my last post “How To Survive & Maybe Even Thrive In Our Down Economy” I discussed my aversion to credit counseling services - the main one being that they [...]
Should I throw in the towel now and use the money elsewhere. I’m spending on 2 websites that aren’t doing squat, or should I continue plugging away? My heart says not to stop - but my mind says to.
Hi Tammy, it really depends on what you’re doing and how long you have been doing it. Also, how are you promoting your sites? Talk to me
Hi Denise,
I started in 2007 with a dropshipper and have a website that doesn’t seem to be doing much of anything. From hiring a company to do a site-map, to paying to be on an online shopping store. Wrote articles there. On facebook,twitter,myspace. Spent money on an online e-mail announcement where a company sends a safe e-mail to a ton of people. I signed up as an affiliate for 6 to 7 companys including I-tunes and was dropped because of no sales. Plus that wasn’t the only one who ended on me. I started selling avon last October and between trying that and everything else, I’m just not getting very far with any of it. I’ve tried ppc with google and yahoo and cannot get any where with that either. I’ve racked my brain so bad that I’m completely burnt out. This was an attempt to move on with my life after having to make a big time decision to move my husbands daughter out of our house into a home where she can be cared for around the clock, because she has angelman syndrome. Everything has been so overwelming there emotionally on the family. Looks like I’ll end up throwing in the towel because it is just getting to be too expensive.
Thanks for hearing me whine!
Tammy
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