Josh Elledge - Chief Executive Angel
In nearly every poll published, the top three New Year's Resolutions in the U.S. are (in various orders):- Save more/spend less/get out of debt
- Lose weight / Get Healthy
- Get organized/get more time.
My mission is to give readers real tools to accomplish #1. It's one thing to have good intentions on getting out of debt and save more money. It's another thing entirely to have a road map to commit to and accomplish great things over the next twelve months. Sadly, most New Year's resolution-makers will never achieve the latter – staying instead at the level of wishful thinking. This goes for resolutions made in category #2 and #3. There are, however, a percentage of people who break through and achieve remarkable things. What is the difference? I believe it boils down to one essential skill:
Learn all you can about the achievers and commit to modeling their behavior for an extended period of time.
Statistically, half of all readers will stop reading right here and not bother reading the rest of what I'm saying. Why? They are looking for the quick fix: the miracle pill, the lottery winnings, the wishes granted from the magic genie. Once they've read my solution, they'll see that it involves work and look for an easier path.
Having lost 50 pounds a few years ago, I can tell you that losing weight (for me) involved a LOT of hard work and sacrifice. (I'll be sharing my weight-loss secret next week, btw).
I'll be running my second marathon next week. I can tell you that I have worked ridiculously hard at that. I've sacrificed personal and family time. Will it be worth it? Short of the birth of my three beautiful children, there has been no feeling like completing a marathon. It's not because crossing the finish line meant the end of a 26.2 mile foot race. It's because the finish line was the culmination of a year-long journey of hard work. In all honesty, I cried my eyes out when I realized that I had done it and that all the work got me there.
I've also climbed that mountain with my darling wife of getting out of debt. It was a climb of sacrifice, pain, and prayer. There were so many hard decisions that we had to make. We canceled everything. We ended “˜going out to eat.' We downsized wherever we could. It wasn't pretty and it involved a great deal of humility. I also read every book I could on the subject of frugality starting with The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason – which was a life changer for me.
If you are serious about getting out of debt, let me start you off in 2012 with a few tips:
1. Get educated. Read blogs, articles, books, listen to podcasts and radio programs, and attend workshops on getting out of debt. Money and time invested in education on this subject will pay you back many times over. Your focus should be on personal growth – not services like debt consolidation. If you'd like counseling assistance, please start with The National Foundation for Credit Counseling www.nfcc.org.
2. Do a serious inventory of how you spend every dollar. Yeah, yeah. I know you know how you spend your money. Do this anyway. Look at the past 3-6 months and use free tools like Mint.com to visualize where everything is going. Only after you can see everything, should you make realistic decisions about how you will attain your goals. You can only get ahead from reducing spending or increasing income. In my experience, it is far easier to save $200-$400 from a grocery bill, for example, than to earn that month after month from a part-time job. No. You don't have to become a full-time couponer to see that kind of savings any more. Take a look at SavingsAngel.com if you'd like some assistance with your grocery savings.
If this is a husband-wife budget, a successful give-and-take to get the spending plan right can really strengthen your relationship. It's smart to budget some flexibility each month. There will always be emergencies and unexpected expenses. Plan in advance for them. Similarly, events like summer vacations, birthdays, back to school, and Christmas all require a bit of money set aside. Do not plan on paying for Christmas in December. Christmas should be saved for each month of the year. Many friends I know actually buy Christmas presents throughout the year when they happen upon really great deals.
3. Have a long-term plan. When you see the pain of credit card interest all mapped out over a lifetime, you'll see why it's so important to commit to a debt-free life. It can be done – but it may take a season of austerity. (I like that word!) Live financially proactive for a time and you will come out so far ahead in the long run. It will make the difference on when and how you can retire. It will make the difference on what your children will do after they graduate high school. It will make the difference on how you enjoy next Christmas. All of these seasons of harvest require a season of planting and caring.
I know it may be stressful to even think about saving for retirement if the current bills aren't even being cared for. Changes need to be made in order for the cycle to be broken, however. If you'll commit to positive changes each month in 2012, you'll be in such a better position for 2013 and you'll be so grateful to yourself as you cross those finish lines along the way. When you finally achieve that day when you are debt-free you will feel that elation not just from that final payment but from the satisfaction of many months or years of discipline.
As you see yourself making small achievements, do not “˜celebrate' by going off-plan. Stick with your plan for the long haul. Surround yourself with friends who will influence you for good. Find mentors who will inspire you to create all the abundance you'd like. I'd consider it an honor if you'd join me here each Tuesday as I give you new tools to fight debt and help you keep more of your own money through smarter shopping and spending.
The easiest way to cut your grocery bill in half is through using manufacturers coupons combined with the best sales at local stores. Normally, this takes a lot of work to create a winning shopping list for your family. Each week, SavingsAngel.com combines over 2,000 products on sale at local grocery and drug stores with their enormous database of manufacturer coupons ““ which are found in Sunday's paper and throughout the Internet. This combination results in access to over 300 products each week for 50% off or better. Here are a few examples of deals that are available until Saturday at midnight. Please check out blog @ SavingsAngel.com/blog each week for tips on how you can easily start cutting your grocery bill!
Josh Elledge (husband, and father of three) is the Chief Executive “Angel” of SavingsAngel, Inc. ““ launched from his home in January 2007. A husband and father of three, he now appears each week on television, in newspapers, and a number of radio stations across the country teaching families how to cut their grocery bill in half using the Internet. Elledge created the technology found on SavingsAngel.com through the need to save his own family's money. Successfully able to cut his own grocery bill from $600 a month to less than $300 a month, his message has reached hundreds of thousands of families. SavingsAngel.com is now growing rapidly throughout the country. You can watch a short video athttp://SavingsAngel.com that will explain more information about how to cut your own grocery bill in half with the help of SavingsAngel.com!
