Gas is Soaring

With the impact of Hurricane Ike still being felt it is so frustrating to see our gas prices continue to soar. When will we start to see some relief at the pumps, will it continue on, there is some who believe it will continue to get worse and some that say it will begin to get lower. The heating costs are going to be outragous this winter and it might be hard to decide what to do, stay warm, pay bills or put food on the table.

New Tires

Well this is a month I dread, we have a lot of things that all hit in the same month and from a budget point of view it makes it hard. The kids are going back to school so we need to get the supplies, clothes and of course the fees. The oil bill is due, we have payments every month but have to pay off the balance for the year this month. The van's inspection is up this month which means I have to get new tires for sure and there could be some other things too. Next month we will get focused on the upcoming Christmas season....less than 5 months away.

Visit My Perspective

The Debt Parade

I find it is increasingly difficult to manage our household finances, it seems that the cost of everything is sky rocketing except our income is staying the same. I have seen many friends and family decide to declare Bankruptcy over the last year as a result of the hard time we are all facing. Bankruptcy may seem like a good idea to get out of swarming debt but I recently discovered by taking the Bills IQ quiz the true effects of bankruptcy are long standing it can stay on your records for up to 10 years and seriously effect your credit ability over that time frame, and it can also effect your employment if your potential employers ask for clearance and this is flagged, they may think twice before offer you a chance to join their team. After taking the quiz I got a lot of useful information, I thought I was doing OK manageing my debt load but when I looked more closely at the suggestions that were given to me from the quiz it appears that Credit counseling should be part of my plans because I am at times struggling with making all my payments on time. The biggest issue we have in our household is the amount of Credit card debt we hold, we are not good credit card people as we normally will spend up to the limit and then struggle to pay it down. We are working with our lending people on a plan to do Debt consolidation next year when our lease expires on our vehicle and we can buy it outright, that seems to be the best time to do that. It will tidy up our payments into 1 loan and make it easier for us to budget our money. We are getting to the stage where we are wanting to take the kids on trips and begin saving for their education and it is important to get this debt paid down so we can help them when the time comes. It is important to get the Debt help it is available out their for you to find, you don't have to manage all by yourself. If you get a budget and learn to stick with it, it might be difficult to live to your means for a while but I think we can all get used to it and finally feel some Debt relief. I know it is the biggest cause for stress in my life and over the couple of years is going to be the biggest goal for our family, reducing the debt load.