Confusing wants and needs...Part 2

I told you about a friend who moved in with family to save money and pay off a stack of bills he had collected.

During his stay with family he had several set backs. One in particular is a common set back when there’s no pain.

I’ve talked about no pain no gain.

Here’s what happened to my friend. He and his wife would spend a few extra bucks on non-essential items to reward themselves. The only problem with this reward system was there was nothing to reward.

It wasn’t as if they paid off a bill and than celebrated. NO. Instead, they would reward themselves with short two-day trips, jewelry, hobbies, and on and on.

It’s not so much that you need pain to gain. It’s about doing without until you can pay cash for it. (see past post about, “I never deny myself anything”)

The reason it’s painful or should be is because you need to break the FREE SPENDING habit. It’s difficult to do (hence the pain). If you make it to easy for yourself (like my friend did) you’ll find yourself in the same boat when everything’s back to normal.

What my friend doesn’t understand is once he leaves the relatives what’s going to stop him from spending excessively? Until you change the behavior that got you into trouble you cannot stay out of trouble.

Here are a few symptoms. Borrowing more money to pay off other money borrowed. I knew of a couple that would borrow money out of there home to pay off all the credit cards. Within six months they would borrow heavily on credit cards in be in the same boat as last time.

They did this 7 times. Eventually their home didn’t have enough equity to borrow out and pay off their credit card bills. They never recovered. The reason they never recovered is because they never stopped borrowing on their credit cards.

It’s like a disease. You absolutely must change your behavior and eliminate borrowing all together. Once the behavior has changed you won’t get into trouble again. That’s why change requires a little pain.

The more pain, the more you’re likely to change your behavior. For my friend who lived with relatives he never changed. He got out of enough debt that he could afford to move out again.

Guess what ended up happening? You got it. He went back to spending more than he made and back into debt again.

Read my posts on how to change your behavior so you to can be COMPLETELY debt free. I call it debt free living. It’s the only way to go.

David…

Are you confusing wants with needs?

I spoke to a couple recently that told me they were going into debt because of a need. Upon further review it became obvious that the need was a want.

In today’s world we tend to get bombarded with commercials telling us we deserve this or that and need this or that. The reality is we don’t really need much at all when it comes right down to it.

On the other hand we want way more than we can possibly use.

Our needs are pretty simple: Food, shelter, transportation, work, love, friends, and family to name a few. Beyond the basics is simply a want. I want a vacation. I want a diamond. I want a newer, bigger car. I want a newer bigger house.

One of the most difficult things we can do is to deny ourselves. I once heard of a woman say, “I don’t deny myself anything.” Clearly, that’s a statement of wants not needs.

I firmly believe you can have anything you want within reason if you’ll just pay cash for it. If you pay cash you might have to wait a little bit, maybe even buy it used, but you can have anything if you’ll deny yourself long enough to pay cash for it.

That’s what debt free living is all about. Debt free living is denying your self long enough to pay cash for it.

What are the steps? 1) become debt free 2) pay cash for everything

It’s that simple.

To debt free living!

David…

Everyone tells me they want to be debt free, but...

One of the most obvious reasons to avoid debt is that you lose your freedom! I remember a creditor I owed that was hounding me to pay up. I didn’t have the money and the guy didn’t care!

He told me to steel it, beg for it, borrow it from someone else, but no matter what PAY HIM WHAT I OWED NOW!

The problem when you owe money is that individual or company is above you, he’s got you pinned down in a way that you’ve lost some of your freedom. You feel bound and gagged and no place to go.

It obligates you financially to another in the same way a servant is obligated to his master. You begin to lose control of your decision making because you have to pay this bill first before you can get gas, food, shelter, or even a vacation.

You are literally bound to your new master! Your new master is MASTER CARD and VISA! It’s one thing to go into debt because you have no choice. BUT, for nearly all of us it is much different when we MAKE THE CHOICE and go into debt voluntarily.

I’ve talked to so many people about this that I’m firmly convinced we voluntarily go into debt because we have to HAVE IT NOW! We just can’t wait. We need gratify ourselves right now right this minute.

See my previous posts on “mindset” and how to change it.

The bigger problem with debt is it creates a situation where we lose our Manhood, or Woman hood. It creates huge amounts of stress. It causes problems with family especially our spouse.

Virtually all the folks I speak to tell me the same thing. The want to be debt free but don’t know how or what to do. In my kit, Debt Free Living I lay out the principles and give you the strategies to go from debt to cash.

It takes hardly any effort on your part to get out of debt. It’s more of a mindset that needs to be changed. That’s why I utilize my monthly newsletter to encourage you, prod you, and push you to not only get out of debt but to get you to LIVE DEBT FREE.

David…

How to Organize yoursef without trying

In my kit, Debt Free Living, is a three ring binder with 12 tabs representing each month from January to December. In the back of the binder is a plastic zippered three ringed sleeve large enough to hold two number two pencils, a blue and black pen and a single hand-held hole punch.

Here’s how to organize yourself without any effort what-so-ever with the above tools just mentioned.

Each time you receive a credit card bill you place it in the inside cover of the three-ring-binder. Remember in a previous post I mentioned to make four copies of the bill. Only make four copies of the bill you’re going to pay off early.

All the other bills are paid minimum payments.

When you write the check or money order for the bill use the hole punch and place the top portion of the bill behind the tab for the appropriate month. For example, if you just paid January’s bill place it behind the January tab.

As you receive a bill slide it in the inside cover until you pay it. Once you pay it punch the holes and place it behind the appropriate tab.

Finally, take a sheet of paper and place it in front of all the tabs. This paper will have the following on each line. Number the line, the amount owed on the bill, the amount of credit you can use, and the payment, and the due date.

In 30 days, without even trying, you’ll have your Debt Free Living notebook totally organized and actually be able to watch your debt disappear right before your eyes.

A toast to debt free living!

David….

Encouragement

Remember when you were a kid and your dad encouraged you and said, “you can do it”?

Maybe it was mom who said you can get an “A” on your report card?

When we’re kids we tend to get a lot of encouragement from parents, family, maybe even teachers or coaches, or friends.

When it comes to paying off your credit cards you’ve probably already discovered NO one is encouraging you. In fact, most are probably encouraging you to go deeper into hock!

Debt Free Living is about doing what most won’t do. Debt Free Living is counter to the belief system of the masses.

You can be Debt Free! Yes, I said, "YOU CAN DO IT!"

Consider me your new Coach, Teacher, and Friend. I’m your new Encourager.

Check in for my daily postings for encouragement and strategies to Live Debt Free.

David…