Oh My Aching Debts

Financial To Do List for Shawn Michaels & You Too

Posted on December 31, 2008
Filed Under budget, debt, emergency fund | 2 Comments

I wrote a post yesterday on Shawn Michael’s financial issues and thought I would follow up with a To Do list to get him back on the right financial track. These are mostly things that all of us should do but as you will see a few are just for Shawn.

Ditch the cowboy! There are some things that one just shouldn’t do for money. You still have to go home at night and look yourself in the eye. Making more money is certainly one solution for financial troubles but one wouldn’t recommend prostitution, bank robbery, mugging or drug sales or throwing fights. Maybe you can design a new Tshirt that says: “Ditch the Cowboy” with a bucking horse and LBJ in the dust.
Start an emergency fund. Even if you make millions of dollars, you still need to have enough in liquid funds to pay for a few months of living expenses. For the average person, the recommended starter emergency fund is $1000, in your case, you might want to work on $100,000.
Reduce your expenses. Keep track of your expenses and living costs for a few weeks and look for ways to cut out the fat. It may not be as sensational as groveling at LBJ’s feet but it will keep your head above water.
Once you have an emergency fund, start putting money into your retirement fund. Let’s face it in your profession, your career could end at any time and it’s best to be prepared.
Invest wisely in things which you are familiar. Maybe you should think about investing in body building equipment, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, or even a health club.
Pay off your debts. Make a concerted effort to pay off all consumer debt such as credit cards, personal loans, etc. Once the consumer debt is done, start working on the mortgages. Interest will eat your budget up!
Pay cash!! Pay cash for things or don’t buy them. If you don’t have cash enough to pay for it, you probably don’t need it.

Following these steps will have your budget in the black in no time at all.

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Shawn Michaels Brings Personal Finance to WWE

Posted on December 30, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized | 4 Comments

by uacheesehead

Yes, you read it right! World Wrestling Entertainment has entered the world of personal finance. The economy is hurting everyone and Shawn Michaels, wrestling Superstar is no different. Recently on national TV, Shawn revealed that he was broke due to high living and bad investments. Worried about paying his bills and supporting his family, he humbled himself in front of the audience to give his reasons for taking a job from arch enemy JBL.

Aside from a bit of wrestling drama, this is actually a great marketing idea. With so many people facing hard decisions, this confession hit home with quite a few people. Misery loves company and people identify with someone who shares their pain.

Now, is it true? I guess only his stockbroker knows for sure but it’s rumored that Shawn makes over $750,000 a year and is one of the highest paid wrestlers at WWE. It’s hard for most people to fathom being broke on that salary but as most of us in personal finance know, you can be broke at just about any income.

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11 Things You Should Do If You Are Uninsured

Posted on December 26, 2008
Filed Under Health Care, frugal living | 2 Comments

by S.C. Axman

I don’t have health insurance. It is a constant worry that one of us will get hurt or ill and we will not be able to get treatment. I have looked into different individual plans but haven’t been able to find one that we can afford yet. I am not advocating being uninsured but to help the millions of people who are uninsured.

Tell your health care provider. In this area, there are doctors and clinics that provide health care on a sliding scale to patients that don’t have insurance. They can also often help you out with sample medications.
Start an Emergency Medical Fund. You can only open a Health Savings Account (HSA) if you have a high deductible Insurance plan but there is nothing that says you can’t put money in a savings account for medical expenses. You can use your regular emergency fund but you have to take into consideration that if you are seriously ill, you will probably not be able to work and you will need your emergency fund to pay for living expenses.
Add up last years medical expenses. This will not only help you determine what you need to have in your Emergency Medical Fund but it will also help you determine if paying for an insurance policy would be financially feasible. If you had medical costs of more than or even close to $150 per month, you might be better off spending that money on a health insurance policy.
Check Medical Schools. If there is a teaching hospital or medical university in your area, they may offer free clinics or sliding scale medical care.
Call your local Social Services Office. While you may not qualify for benefits through them, they can tell you of any free clinics, state programs or lower cost clinics where you can receive treatment.
Check with Pharmaceutical Companies. If you cannot afford your medication, it can be worthwhile to call the manufacturer. Pharmaceutical companies sometimes will offer reduced rates to people who cannot afford their medications. You can also ask your pharmacist and doctor.
Check High Deductible Health Insurance Plans. If you have a healthy emergency fund and can pay some of your health care costs (most of the uninsured already are) high deductible plans can be very affordable.
Look into Limited Benefit Plans. There are two types of limited benefit plans and they are very controversial but they may be better than nothing. The first type is the Discount Card. This plan offers a discount on services at in-network providers. The second type is the Mini Med plan. This plan only pays a set amount for a limited number of benefits. With either of these plans make sure you understand the small print and how the plan actually works.
Major Medical Plans. These are extremely high deductible plans usually with deductibles of over $10,000 per accident or illness but they are also much lower cost. It seems like a huge deductible especially per illness but if you look at the costs of having a single accident, it begins to make sense. My daughter was in an accident 10 years ago and had a skull fracture. She was medevac’d to the university where she was in a coma for 3 days in the pediatric ICU. Ten years ago, the bill was over $60,000 for the hospital alone not including the physician’s bill and the helicopter fees.
Auto Insurance Medical Payments. Almost every auto insurance company offers medical payments with their policies. Medical payments is a no fault coverage for the insured and anyone in the car or involved in the accident. It is not a replacement for health insurance but it is a low cost hedge against the possibilty that you might be hurt in an accident and need medical care.
Shop Around. We don’t normally compare prices for our doctors but if you don’t have insurance, it can help. There can be vast differences in the cost of health care and prescriptions. Check around and see which end of the scale your doctor is on and the same with pharmacies. Pharmacies can offer different prices on different types of medication. Walmart offers $4 prescriptions and Walgreen’s does also.

I hope that these will help a few of you. I have had to learn them the hard way and it has been a costly process in terms of both my help and my budget. If you have found additional ways to save, please feel free to chime in with a comment.

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Gift to My Readers: Garden Planner Spreadsheet

Posted on December 22, 2008
Filed Under Daily Flake, Homesteading, carnival, frugal living | 3 Comments

It’s Christmas time and I wanted to give my readers a special gift. I know that it’s a bit cold and wintery to be thinking about a garden but it’s my favorite way to beat the winter blues. I start thinking about what I want to grow in the garden and searching seed catalogs in January and especially this year when vegetable prices are so high. I was surprised to see how many vegetables I could start to plant on March 1st.

Garden Planner

This spreadsheet will help you determine when to plant which vegetables. You just enter the estimated last frost date for your area and it automatically calculates the dates that you should plant each vegetable. You can find your last frost date at your local extension office or you can check here for more general dates by states.

automated Garden Planner

Click here for the garden-planner Spreadsheet.

How Much Do I Need?

When I start purchasing seed for the garden, I am never really sure how much to buy or plant . I still have bean seeds from 3 years ago and luckily they still seem to germinate. I bought enough to feed the entire county. This automated spreadsheet makes it easy to estimate how much you really need. You simply plug in the number of people in your family and it will tell you how many 10 ft rows that you need to plant and how many ounces of seed or seedlings to buy.

How Much To Plant

Click here for the how-much-to-plant Spreadsheet

I hope that these spreadsheets will help you to start planning your garden and that they will save you money in the coming year. Merry Christmas to all!

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Last Minute Christmas Budget Blowers

Posted on December 22, 2008
Filed Under budget | 2 Comments

The last few days before Christmas have always blown my holiday budget. I have planned my gifts. I have spent my holiday budget and all I need to do is make it through the next few days. I’ve been patting myself on the back for staying in budget and this year even a little ahead of the curve.

by greeneyedzeke

Now if I can just make it through the next few days. Historically, right before Christmas when I start wrapping the gifts and putting them under the tree. Sorting through what I got for each child or sibling, I start to realize that one person got more than all the rest. Usually just because I found more things that I thought they would want. When I realize that one child has 10 small gifts and the others only have 3, I panic. I end up running to the store just so that they will have a somewhat even amount of gifts to open. Not expensive things, just little things to even out the numbers.

Or I realize that I have forgotten stocking stuffers, maybe some candy canes or coloring books. Or I realize that I have not gotten groceries for Christmas dinner. Or there is a pot luck at work. There always seem to be last minute traps that suck me in and break my budget.

This year I am ready. The kids are grown so I don’t have to worry about playing Santa Claus. I don’t have to worry about gifts for co workers or pot luck lunches. I have my list and I have covered it twice. We are not cooking a family Christmas dinner so I don’t have to worry about groceries.

I have baked cookies all week and I think I completed my 20th dozen yesterday. The cookies are not only for us to enjoy but also to give as gifts to several of our friends. Our single friends enjoy the homemade cookies more than just about anything else that we could give them. Another of our friends has been ill and I know that she has not felt well enough to bake so we are taking several dozen cookies over to her family.

I think I’m safe. I think I have covered every possible temptation. Do you give in to last minute budget breakers?

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Christmas Confessions

Posted on December 19, 2008
Filed Under budget | 3 Comments

One of the ways that I stick to my budget all year long is by NOT shopping. I avoid the malls, I don’t go to clothing stores or big box stores. When I have to go shopping, I make a list and I am like a guided missile. I go, I get what I need and I get the heck outta there. Thus, I rarely ever see all the really cool tempting stuff that makes you really want to have one.

At this time of the year in particular, I try to avoid the stores. I shop online as much as I can and when I do go shopping I try to have a pretty good idea of what I want to buy. There are traps though and this brings us to my Christmas confession.

I am absolutely addicted to musical Christmas toys. Whether they are stuffed or statues, if they are animated and make noise, I almost have to buy them. They cry out to me. My grandkids have the best time turning them all on and letting them play during the holiday season. They even get a little wild and turn them all on at the same time.

If there is one single thing that I am tempted to buy myself during my holiday shopping season, it’s animated musical toys. Before I started on my personal finance journey, I might have spent $100 or more every year. Since I have been on a budget, I do not have them in my budget but they still find a way to sneak into my cart.

The stores are tricky. They will put them up all over the place and they start reducing the price early on. Then there are the really cool ones that they only have one or two of that I just fall in love with and have to have. I have started avoiding the Christmas section of Walmart so they move them to the front of the store.

I am in control this year. I have not bought a single one. Of course, I am on my way to Walmart this morning.

Is there any one thing that you have bought yourself that wasn’t in your Christmas budget? Do you have a secret holiday confession? Ever bought yourself a Christmas gift?

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7 Day Until Christmas

Posted on December 18, 2008
Filed Under budget, savings | 2 Comments

It’s just one week until Christmas. Are you excited yet? Are you ready? We have actually almost finished our shopping. This has got to be a first for me and I have managed to NOT break the budget. I still have two presents to buy for my grandchildren but that should be easy.

The tree is up and the house has been decorated since Thanksgiving weekend. Now I am ready to start thinking about visiting, cooking and generally just enjoying the holiday. I might even be able to afford to buy a dress to wear to my daughter’s wedding. She is getting married over the New Year’s weekend and I have been sweating whether I was going to be able to afford a new dress to wear.

So looking into the next 7 days, I am predicting an enjoyable and peaceful week. It feels good to be looking forward to the holiday and not dreading it.

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5 Ways To Deal With Holiday Budget Stress

Posted on December 16, 2008
Filed Under budget, frugal living, plan | 1 Comment

No matter how much we love Christmas and the holiday season, there is always some amount of stress involved. When you are struggling financially this stress can grow to enormous proportions. Worrying about buying everyone a gift or giving everyone a happy holiday season can lead to busted budgets and credit card debt.

I don’t have small children anymore but I know when I did, there wasn’t much I wouldn’t do to see their eyes light up on Christmas morning. I used credit cards and if it wasn’t enough, I wouldn’t pay some bills in December. I would do anything to make sure that they were not disappointed.

This is a list of things that you can do to help reduce the stress and maybe keep your budget intact.

Manage children’s expectations. Ask each of your children this question. If you could only get one gift for Christmas what would it be? This worked really well with my children. If they named something too expensive, I guided their expectations by asking them for the next gift they would want because Santa might not be able to bring that one. When they saw something else they wanted, we would ask them if they would rather have that than the gift they had named. Almost always the answer was no. This takes some practice but it works well to keep them focused on a special gift and not everything they see.

Inexpensive gifts for co-workers. When I worked in an office, giving gifts to everyone who gave them to me would kill my budget. I participate in the secret santa and gave any other co-workers something inexpensive. One of my co-workers gave everyone a candy cane and a Christmas card. It worked and it didn’t cost a dollar.

Keep small homemade gifts on hand. I make cranberry chutney every year. It is a favorite with my grown children and their families. We serve it poured over cream cheese with crackers as an appetizer. It’s not expensive to make and I keep some extra jars on hand to give to friends.

Have a Cookie exchange party. If you want to have a holiday get together and can’t afford to spend an arm and a leg. Have a cookie exchange party. Everyone brings two dozen cookies and copies of the recipe. One dozen to eat and one dozen to share. Everyone enjoys tasting the different cookies and gets to take some home along with a recipe. You could do the same thing with appetizers. This is an inexpensive way to entertain.

Set gift spending limits. This is simply deciding in the family what the spending limit is on each gift. It helps my grown children as much as it helps me. Like a secret santa, we pick an amount that we can afford and whatever gifts we give have to cost less than that. If you have a large family, this can truly save everyone money. By the time I figure up my 4 children, their spouses and my grandchildren, it’s quite a crowd of people. Spending $25 each on gifts would break my budget for the year, but I can manage $10. Using some imagination and really thinking about what each person might like and you can come up with some inexpensive and imaginative gifts that they love.

The holidays should be a time of celebration, not a time of stress. Do you have any additional ways that you manage holiday stress?

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Life in Poverty: What is Poverty in the US?

Posted on December 15, 2008
Filed Under Income, survival | 4 Comments

In 2007, 12.5% of Americans were living at or below the Poverty threshold. What causes them to fall into poverty. The answers might surprise you. With all of the focus on middle class tax breaks and stimulus payments, we forget that we have a percentage of our nation who are living in deep and abiding poverty.

Three years ago, I had a management position with a large corporation and an income over $60,000 per year. I owned a small house and a new car. Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? It is deceptive because the cost of living where I was located was so high that even with my income, I couldn’t afford to live.

This was before I discovered personal finance. Had I known then what I know now, the decisions that I made would have probably been different. Hind sight is always 20/20. I decided to make some changes in my life. I was looking to significantly lower my cost of living and keep my income in the same range. You can read more about the decisions that I made in the post 4 Good Decisions that Brought Me to My Financial Knees.

So here I am, an intelligent, moderately well educated 50 year old woman whose income is at or below the poverty level. I am not however, destitute. I am not living on welfare or food stamps. I eat well and I have heat but I can’t pay my consumer debt. I’m actually fairly happy. Of course there are holes in this situation. It allows no saving for retirement, I have no health or life insurance as my income just won’t stretch that far. I live on the brink of disaster all the time. If I have an accident or a major illness and can’t work, there is very little cushion to fall back on. My tiny little emergency fund is all that stands between me and disaster.

I am probably more representative of American poor than the unwed mother living on welfare or the drug addict who is homeless and unable to hold down a job. Over 37 million people live below the poverty threshold. Paul Harris writes in a 2006 article for the Observer:

A shocking 37 million Americans live in poverty. That is 12.7 per cent of the population - the highest percentage in the developed world. They are found from the hills of Kentucky to Detroit’s streets, from the Deep South of Louisiana to the heartland of Oklahoma. Each year since 2001 their number has grown.

He has some interesting stories on a few people who are living in poverty. I don’t believe that they are the norm but it made interesting reading.

What Is Poverty?

Officially the poverty threshold is determined by the US census and the full tables can be seen at the census website. According to Wikipedia “This measure recognizes poverty as a lack of those goods and services commonly taken for granted by members of mainstream society.”

Poverty Guidelines are issued by the Department of Health and Human Services and are a simplified version of the poverty thresholds. They are used largely for administrative purposes in determining benefits for citizens.

Most industrial nations use a relative measure of poverty (income of 60% of the median income) and this actually increases the percentage for the US. Our national median income is $50,233 and 60%

The following table is from the US Census bureau website.

Poverty Thresholds for 2007 by Size of Family and Number of Related Children Under 18 Years
Size of Family Unit	Weighted Average Thresholds	Related children under 18 years
Size of Family Unit	Weighted Average Thresholds	None	One	Two	Three	Four	Five	Six	Seven	8 or more
One person (unrelated individual)	10,590
..Under 65 years	10,787	10,787
..65 years and over	9,944	9,944
Two people	13,540
..Householder under 65 years	13,954	13,884	14,291
..Householder 65 years and over	12,550	12,533	14,237
Three people	16,530	16,218	16,689	16,705
Four people	21,203	21,386	21,736	21,027	21,100
Five people	25,080	25,791	26,166	25,364	24,744	24,366
Six people	28,323	29,664	29,782	29,168	28,579	27,705	27,187
Seven people	32,233	34,132	34,345	33,610	33,098	32,144	31,031	29,810
Eight people	35,816	38,174	38,511	37,818	37,210	36,348	35,255	34,116	33,827
Nine people or more	42,739	45,921	46,143	45,529	45,014	44,168	43,004	41,952	41,691	40,085
Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Stop for a moment and imagine that you had to support your family on this income. One factor in determining the poverty thresholds is the amount of money that a family spends on food. The Department of Agriculture found that families of three or more spend one third of their after tax dollars on food so that the threshold was determined by multiplying the cost of food by three based on the Thrifty Food Plan.

Now stop and think about how much you spent at the grocery store last week. A family at the poverty level would be spending approximately $35 per person on food per week. In fact, this is the amount that food stamps are based on. It differs based on sex and age but according to the Cost Of Food for September 2008, you should be able to feed a family of 3 a nutritious diet for approximately $110 per week. This amount differs based on the ages and sex of the family.

And if you think that you will never be “poor” statistics may prove you wrong. Interestingly enough 58.5% of Americans will spend at least one year living below the poverty level between the ages of 25 and 75. Why and how does that happen?

One Example of a Fall Into Poverty

David was a 55 year old man. He had a good job with decent benefits. He wasn’t rich but he wasn’t poor either. Two years ago, he was diagnosed with cancer. When his doctor told him what his treatment schedule would be, he was concerned about taking that much time off work. His doctor informed him that he would never work again.

Just that quickly he lost all his income and soon after his benefits. His savings was eaten up by medical bills and living expenses. He was thrust rudely into the disability nightmare. He was lucky, if you can call it that, because he had a terminal illness and recieved disability quickly (less than the two or three years that it sometimes takes). He receives medicaid because he now has no property and little income.

He exists now on under $1,000 per month. That pays for his food, rent, electricity, tv, phone, gas, and believe it or not, child support. He is frugal with his money, he has to be. He schedules his doctors appointments early in the month because by the end of the month, there is no money to pay for gas to get to them.

The good news is that his cancer is in remission. He still takes chemo therapy but there is no sign of cancer. Once his chemo is over, there is the chance that his disability and medicaid will stop and he will be faced with trying to find work as a 57 year old man in a poor economy.

Poverty can happen to anyone and does happen to over half of the American population.

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Have a Frugal Holiday Season Round Up

Posted on December 12, 2008
Filed Under carnival | 5 Comments

by Mrs. Gemstone

Tis the season when people are spending money on Christmas right and left. I have been touring the web and reading all of the Frugal Christmas posts. Wow! There are some frugal, thrifty and great ideas out there for every phase of the holiday season.

Frugal Gift Giving

by chatirygirl

Squawkfox not only has some frugal gifts but also some ideas for frugal gift wrapping. I love the shopping bag idea and have been recycling gift bags for years. She has some other inventive ideas too.

My Two Dollars has 5 Golden Rules to Follow During the Holiday Season. I put it under gift giving because several of his rules have to do with gifts.

Moolanomy reminds us that there is more to giving than just gifts to friends and loved ones in 6 ways to give. No matter how tight your finances are, there is always someone who has less. Let’s not forget that charity is a part of the holiday season as well.

Frugal Dad has a list of his favorite frugal gifts. Some might surprise you and a couple I have added to my own personal wish list. You might want to note that some of these are more frugal for the receiver than the giver.

Get RIch Slowly has a list of 34 great gifts you can make yourself. This is a DIY dream come true. I especially like the teacup candles but then I have a soft spot for pretty tea cups.

Broke Grad Student has a recipe for the best frugal Christmas gift. It might turn out different for you but I love the ingredients.

MoneyNing has 32 Sensible tips for the holiday shopping season. In the rush of the hoiday season, we often forget the simple, sensible things that we need to do.

Mrs Micah has some tips and warnings for giving the gift of a gift card. In these trying economic times, it may be wise to heed her advice.

Bible Money Matters gives us 50 Frugal Gifts You Can Give This Christmas. It’s a great list and includes something for just about everyone.

Holiday Finances

Which is what this whole article is about but these posts are specifically about finances over the holiday season.

Gather Little By Little has a post on 4 ways to be better prepared for NEXT holiday season. The key to saving money is to plan ahead and it’s never too soon to start.

The Simple Dollar has a guest post by JD Roth from Get Rich Slowly about What children really want for Christmas. This is a great reminder of what the really important things are during the holiday season.

Bible Money Matters has Christmas Budgeting Tips to help you avoid overspending. These are simple things that you can do that will save you money in the long run.

FruGal has some tips on how to Have Yourself A Very Frugal Christmas. I especially like her suggestion to spend more time thinking and less time shopping

Frugal Holiday Decorations

by krisdecurtis

Pecuniarites has the most gorgeous Christmas decorations made from eggshells and if you have some left over and you need to wrap a small package, you can use the leftover shells.

Frugal Babe has the cutest homemade Christmas decorations. These small pillows are made from scraps of fabric.

Frugal Upstate has a list of articles on holiday decorations, crafts and gifts. It’s quite a list. She also has a list of frugal holiday traditions. The lists are growing and you can add your own.

Not Made Of Money writes about how to keep the glitz but spare your money. I am a big fan of candlelight and I have seen centerpieces made of shiny ornaments, a beautiful idea.

Christmas Traditions

by clspeace

Being Frugal has a video post on her favorite Christmas Tradition. If you have children, this is an awesome idea for spending some quality time with them during the rush of the holiday season.

Frugal Right Here Right Now shares her family’s holiday Tradition of December Fridays. It sounds like a great way to spend time with the family and keep the kids focused on the real value of the holiday season.

The Knit Farm incorporates a Christmas Elf in her holiday celebrations. It seems like the kind of holiday tradition that her children will remember forever and pass down to their kids.

If you have a frugal holiday post and would like to have it included, just leave a comment below. I will add it to the list.

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