You may think you have cut your outgoings to the bone. This is exactly what one family, as the following report states, felt but after scrutinising it with help, they were amazed to find that they could save £4000 a year.

Is it possible that you too could do this with your own household budget?

Translating this into dollars, can you imagine what you could do with the extra money?

With that figure in mind, surely it is worth concentrating on sticking to your family budget plan for at least one year. The following year you will find other ways to either generate more money or at least other ways of saving money.

“We rarely have any money left at the end of the month for family treats but with these savings we may even be able to afford a holiday this year, which would be brilliant.”

We’ve put more than £300 each month back into the Dudleys’ pockets by simplifying their bills, paying some by Direct Debit, switching to better deals for energy and mobile phones, bringing in a few energy saving measures and a bit of planning for family meals and lunches.

Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/advice/money/2012/01/25/make-the-most-of-your-pennies-by-giving-your-budget-a-makeover-115875-23718868/#ixzz1kTFYGdok

Household budget and free holidays!

Yes, its possible. The family mentioned above, felt they could now afford a holiday but they have overlooked the fact that they may even be able to take advantage of any of the opportunities for free holidays which are available.

The fact that you can start saving money and also clear debt is very heartening, however, you also need to have some family treats along the way. The last thing you need to feel is miserable about saving and so as not to be discouraged with watching every cent or penny you spend why not look around at what is available to enjoy yet spending the minimum of money.

There are lots of ways that you can have great memorable times, or evenings out with the family, without spending a fortune and, in some cases, just transport costs.

Looking through the archives on household budget news, it almost makes me smile to see that this was a problem back in 1942 and no doubt way before that.

What does that tell us?

For me alone, it tells us that budgetting is just a way of life. Simple as that. People are going to be concerned about budgeting for many years to come, if they are responsible!  Teaching our children to budget can only benefit them in their own futures too.

I remember an older person telling me about the war rations and how people managed on next to nothing. Of course, it did’nt hurt them and it was a way that they quickly leaned to budget daily. Many have some wonderful stories of how they managed in that period. If you get the opportunity to speak to people who have been through the 2nd world war or the 1930′s recession, I am sure they would love to pass those stories on to you.

Related Household Budget articles

http://debts-challenge.com/budget-plans-with-free-special-treats/

http://debts-challenge.com/electricity-prices-spiral-upwards-5-ways-to-save/

Don’t think that because we are into another year and you have not started the year with a budget plan, that it is too late. It is never too late to start a household budget.

Filing Bankruptcy

The fact that Kodak is filing for bankruptcy protection is a positive measure for all those who rely on Kodak for a living, as well as the shareholders who have invested in the hope that they can build up their nest eggs for their futures.

Too many long standing companies have disappeared already and Kodak’s 131 years of business should surely be helped for the financial success of previous years.  Who does not know someone who was or is employed by Kodak?  I, for one, have memories of Kodak events with my friends and was very impressed at the way they treated their employees.

The Recoil of Filing for Bankruptcy

When a company goes down the route of filing for bankruptcy it can inpact smaller companies in such a way that they too could find themselves going down the same route, which in turn leads to personal bankruptcy for many of their employees.  Sadly even suicides and sometimes due to their potential home repossession distress.

The vicious circle has no benefit to anyone and therefore, when a company is having marketing problems, they should have a strategic marketing consultant with implicible creditials of business success to turn to.  This specialist advice, I feel, should be supplied by each government and eventually paid back when the company is in profit position again, thus ensuring that each government has the funds available for highly qualified marketing speciliasts.

Filing for Bankruptcy Protection – Kodak News

Let’s hope the following is true  …

“Kodak did not announce job cuts as part of the bankruptcy protection filing. The company’s payroll has plunged below 19,000 from 70,000 a decade ago.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501363_162-57361610/kodak-files-for-ch-11-bankruptcy-protection/

Should it not be the case then we are looking at personal bankruptcy for many in the local community of Rochester NY.

To read more about the amazing history of Kodak … http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodak

Related posts on

Bankruptcy Advice

Filing for Bankruptcy

Baby Boomers Retiring

Baby boomers retiring is a day which a lot of people nearing retirement age are not looking forward to. A large percentage of them are filled with concern of how they are going to manage financially once their last salary payment has been drawn.

Baby Boomers Retiring Facts

The combination of living during one of the worst recessions in history, coupled with their home value having depreaciated out of all expectations,  have left baby boomers retiring with the concern of whether they will be able to even find a part time to balance their expernes, in view of the high jobless rates now common worldwide.

The baby boomers retiring situation which has left many others wondering, given that they have the opportunity to stay on in their jobs, if they will ever be able to retire due to their retirement fund mistakes of the past.

Baby Boomers Retiring – 3 Retirement Errors

1 – They were not in a position to save enough money throughout their working life. This can have resulted from the fact of bringing up their children and putting them through education. Marriage breakups can be another reason why a retirement fund has not matched their expectations.

2 – Purchasing a property with a view of using the colateral as a retirment fund, has been the practice of many people  over the years. However, with the property values no longer affording that opportunity, that security has been wiped away for many baby bookmers retiring.

3 – Pension insurance policies. Many have been sold the wrong insurance policies which has meant either they will not have enough funds on retiring or worst still, their insurance company could well have ceased, taking their pension fund with them.

We have all heard of such cases.

What can you do to protect yourself in the future against this happening?

Whilst, we look back at our grandparents and their slow pace of life, we are fortunate to be living in such an amazing age of opportunity, no matter what our ages, as long, of course that we have our health. Health issues can relate to any age, so should not deter the baby boomers retiring from being positive that there is something we can do to earn extra income.

Baby boomers retiring opportunities

Some ideas include:-

• writing a book and putting it on Amazon, an easy option for anyone, even if they don’t write it themselves
• a plumbing service, even general household repair, in other words a Mr, or Mrs, FixIt service
• cake ideas can genertate income
• a photography business
• dressmaking alterations and repairs
• a fashion business can be started at any age because you would need would be some outworkers to create your designs

Looking at that short list, must surely open up some inspiring ideas of your own. In fact the list could go on and on. Why not take the time to list all your skills and interests and see how you could turn those into money making opportunities.

There are many money making ideas for baby boomers retiring and keep coming back for more ideas as the section will be updated on a regular basis.  The more opportunities that there are available, the more choices you will have.

Actually, this is quite an exciting time for all those baby boomers retiring knowing that their  retirement funds can easily be improved with a little enterprise.

Food Recipes

Dreams of turning your food recipes into financial success are abound. Rags to riches stories are everywhere for you to find from the newspapers to the internet. Finding what will make you rich in the first place is easy enough if you look for what is needed by the mass of people.

Food, because one thing we all need is food. Combine two elements of need and solving a problem. People always need food and with your willingness to solve that need, you will have a food receipe for success.

Rags to Riches Food Recipes

How many people have ideas and dreams and decide to shelf them until the time is right or the money is available. That should not be the case because it is a recipe for total abandonment. I even have memories myself of wanting to create a wonderful biscuit which a lady made in Italy and was not being marketed in the world. I decided, the time was not right but looking back, it would have been possible, if I had knocked on enough doors.

Food Recipes Inspirators

On the subject of knocking on doors, there is one particular true rags to riches story which I always use to insire people to go fit it in their own businesses and that is the amazing Chicken Nugget story. I wrote about this particular story in the past and from my own personal debts challenge experience. Here is an extract …

“The idea came to a certain gentleman, in his pension years, to sell his unique chicken recipes to other restaurateurs.

With this in mind, he set about approaching them and travelled all over America. He even slept in his car for many of the nights. He called on restaurateurs, day after day, explaining how his recipe would be advantageous for their businesses. But day after day, he was seen off their premises.

He never gave up and called on 1,009 doors throughout America before his offer was accepted.

What perseverance that man had to follow his dream? How many people would have given up after 3 or 4? But he went on and on until he got his Yes!”

Following is the full article and how it actually applied to my own life story. I hope you enjoy it.

http://debts-challenge.blogspot.com/2008/03/chicken-nugget-story-and-debt.html

What goes so nicely with chicken, when you are not watching your weight, is surely some French frys. Coincidentially, today I found yet another interesting story on this subject and very inspiring for all those who dream of going from rags to riches themselves.

“At Portage la Prairie Rotary Club at the Canad Inns on Jan. 3, Chris Tompkins, the unit director at the local Portage Simplot plant, told Rotary members the fascinating story of how the company’s founder JR (Jack) Simplot first developed his French fries in Idaho in 1946.

It was described as the classic rags to riches tale and one that is sure to inspire anyone who ever had a good idea and a little determination to make it a reality.

Tompkins says JR Simplot was someone who kept looking for the next best business idea, which turned out to be his success.”

http://www.portagedailygraphic.com /ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3427926

Food recipes and business opportunities.

If you have always had the idea of producing a food product from your own food recipes, why not make today the day that you commit to following your dream?

Draft up a plan and go for it. It is as simple as that. Focus daily on what you want to achieve, several times a day, in fact and put action into that plan daily. Time disappears so quickly and rather than living to regret the day that you did not start your own food recipes business, do it.  Even writing a book related to all the recipes you have would be a way of earning money plus leaving a written legacy for you family and future generations.  It’s even possible that you too could be listed as one of the inspiring rags to riches stories entirely due to turning your food recipes into a catering business.

Buy what you want! Get everything … xBox, iPad and even a second Christmas tree for all the goodies with your MasterCard.

Obviously, this is just for laughs … why not? Who said being in debt should be so serious anyway.

Clear one credit card at a time and before you know it, debt will just be a distant memory.

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What is a SIP?

A Sip is a savings plan and is short for Shared Incentive Plan.

They have been around in the UK since the early 2000′s but not widely known about by employees. Smaller companies have the option to offer these to their emplooyees and due to the fact of their success rate, this may soon become a more popular way of saving.

Those working in the public sector or self employed workers may not be able to become involved due to the ‘share’ factor.

3 Types of SIP

Free Shares + Partnership Shares + Matching Shares

1. Free shares
Employers can give free shares worth up to £3,000 a year to employees, free of income tax and National Insurance (NICs).

2. Partnership shares
Employees can buy shares from their pre-tax weekly or monthly wage, up to a limit of the lower of £1,500 a year or a tenth (10%) of salary.

3. Matching shares
Employers can match each partnership share bought by employees with up to two free shares.

SIP – Information

The above information was an extract from …

http://money.uk.msn.com/make-money/the-uks-best-secret-savings-scheme

“More tax breaks
As well as the tax relief on contributions, SIP savers enjoy a few more tax breaks.

Any dividends paid out on shares bought via SIPs can be reinvested into more shares, but these dividend shares are limited to a maximum of £1,500 a year. Any dividends in excess of this limit are paid to the shareholder and taxed in the normal way.

All free, partnership, matching and dividend shares must be held inside the SIP for at least three years or the tax relief granted on purchase will be clawed back. If withdrawn between three and five years, income tax and NICs are due on the lower of the salary used to buy the shares and their market value at the time of removal.

However, after being held for five years, then all SIP shares become completely free of tax. From this point, they can be left to grow, tax-free, inside the plan or be withdrawn, also tax-free. Also, there is no Capital Gains Tax liability when shares are sold inside, or withdrawn from, a SIP.

Therefore, for the maximum tax breaks, you should keep hold of SIP shares for at least five years. Also, if you’re forced to leave your employer due to disability, redundancy, retirement or death, then all SIP shares can be withdrawn tax-free.”

Benefits of starting a SIP

Had you invested the maximum of £1500 a year, in ten years you would be receiving a payment in the region of £45K. Surely there are not a lot of places where such an investment over this recent recession would have been so successful.

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Teaching English overseas

Teaching English Overseas in Saudi Arabia

One location which requires people for teaching English overseas right now is, Saudi Arabia.

“The Middle East rich list has just been published and the top 5 spots are taken by double digit Saudi billionaires. The overall wealth within the Middle East is staggering and therefore it should come as no surprise that the country is such a heavy …”

http://www.recruitment-agency.eu/latest-news/esl-teachers-high-demand-saudi-arabia-0687

If you already have the necessary criteria, then there are excellent opportunities for teaching English overseas.

In Thailand, learning English is being being promoted and more opportunities will certainly be arriving in that location in readiness of 2015.

“At least one day per week, teachers and students must use English in communications through various activities,” Education Minister Woravat Auapinyakul said last week.

The project will kick off on December 26 with cooperation from foreign embassies and other institutions, said Sasithara Pichaicharnnarong, permanent secretary of the ministry.

Woravat said the project would prepare Thailand for the advent of the Asean Economic Community in 2015.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Teaching-of-English-to-be-ramped-up-30172151.html

Retraining to become a teacher later in life is certainly worthwhile considering as a career change, as teaching English overseas will be one area that will be growing. Once you have gained a teacher qualification to teach adults, it will be relatively easy to take the next step that would enable you to gain the TEFL qualification.

Teaching English Overseas Resources

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2011/dec/07/tefl-update-december?newsfeed=true

For more information on TEFL and ESL … check the above website which will give you free resources, updated data and ensure that your are armed with all you require to be in a position to start teaching English overseas.

http://debts-challenge.com/category/money-making-ideas/

Teaching English overseas is just one way that you can generate money and for more money making ideas go to the links above.

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And though many older men may be looking for wives to take care of them in their old age, some women don’t want – or need – that responsibility. Elmer sees herself in a committed relationship in her future, but not as a wife.

“I see myself as single, but with a significant other, someone you can do things with,” she said. “It could be dinner; it could be travel; it could be the arts festival.”

That scenario – lots of old people, single or living together but not married – raises serious issues as to who will take care of them when they do become ill and infirm. Traditionally, care for the elderly has been the duty of the spouse.

http://blog.marriagedebate.com/2011/12/elder-divorce-drives-rising-rate-among.html

Now that is an interesting point. Who is going to care the the elderly now that they won’t have a spouse to take on that ‘duty’. I guess it is left to the children of the baby boomers. Not a happy thought for any baby boomer, being a burden to their own children later in life.

So, the alternative has to be divorce insurance, if such an insurance exists. Baby boomers are to find the way to save for this insurance so that they will be able to have nursing care if they should need it.

I have met many people who have cared for their partner when needed and never regretted one moment, just as I cared for my mother myself and grateful to this day that I was in a position to be able to do so.

Are you a baby boomer and if so, what plans could you make in the way of insurance for your own nursing care in the future?

Sadly on a similar subject …

Baby Boomer’s Scammed

“Baby boomers are still looking out for their parents, even as they have fallen into the crosshairs of financial con artists themselves. It’s a bona fide boomer nightmare: they are becoming their mom or dad-at least as it concerns being vulnerable to fraud.”

Read more: http://moneyland.time.com/2011/12/16/financial-scams-target-boomers/#ixzz1gidqYUGv

What can baby boomers learn from these situations other than they have to be extra vigilant of their financial security and their health.

Related Baby Boomers articles

http://debts-challenge.com/baby-boomers-are-leaving-big-houses/

http://debts-challenge.com/how-to-retire-and-clear-debt/

Rags To Riches

Rags to riches or just sheer guts and determination?  I wonder what you think.  I believe it was sheer guts that drove this company through all the obstacles it had to overcome to reach the point of succes it has achieve now and are now looking forward to in the future with more success.

Following is an extract from the report …

Rags to Riches in the Clothing Business

“IT BEGAN as a one-man business, selling polo shirts at country shows.

But 17 years on, Harborough success-story Joules is celebrating its third appearance in The Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 – a list of this country’s fastest growing businesses over the last three years.

The family-run business was ranked 82nd in this year’s list, published at the weekend, with a sales growth of 54 per cent a year – from £14.1m in 2007 to £51.2m in 2010.

The company has come a long way since chief executive officer Tom Joule began selling polo shirts at country shows in 1994.”

http://www.lutterworthmail.co.uk/news/business/clothing_firm_s_rags_to_riches_story_1_3320596

I was particularly interested in this acticle because of the date that the company started.  It started just a few short years after the last major recession and therefore had a good run of financial stablity for a few years, thus giving it a chance to survive.  At least until the farming disaster of 2001.  With that event, it surely belongs to the rags to riches category?

It appears, that no matter what business you go into, there are bound to be times when you think it would be best to jump ship before you sink with your business.  This is a story which survived and as such, always nice to read about.  The more rags to riches stories that we can find, the better, for the inspiration that it gives to up-and-coming companies.

Surviving through a recession is a major feat and when I look back at the last recession, all the designers of my time and at my level of business disappeared because of the financial restraints and also because of the change in the fashion trends back then.   It my case it was designer knitwear.  Seeing the return of designer knitwear in such a big way, during this recession almost tempted me to take out my knitting machines and start designing again.  Instead, I am now happy to see others get the opportunity that I had and am doing this in the form of education.

If you know anyone who wants to start a fashion business and export worldwide, from their kitchen table, please direct them to my  link on fashion business and who knows, maybe one day, they will be reported in the news as a rags to riches story in fashion.

Related Rags to Riches stories.

Self Help Debt - image via Wikipedia

Self Help Debt Solutions can be found everywhere. Not only on the High Street but also all over the internet and in various media.

Depending on your preference, you could read and take notes of the information from the many books available or you could sit and relax whilst watching your own video, over and over again until you had all the information your needed to take action.

Self Help Debt Solutions Are Everywhere

With all the concerns about loss of jobs and the ongoing recession debt problems which people are dealing with today, there is self help to be gained not only in books online but also DVD.

You could also look in your library as they will be able to locate any book on any subject, in the main.  Educating yourself with self help debt solutions is surely the first and most important step of discovering how to get out of debt and fast.

Please check through some of the articles on this site as it has been set up mainly to help you get out of debt fast and also lots of information to inspire you to move on to a better standard of living that you are living right now.  The main thing you have to bring to the table is your determination and this can be massively shifted with the right frame of mind and most definitely with a transformational change through mentoring.

Self Help Free Videos

You will find a few to get lots of free videos at Brian Ridgway Level 5 Mentoring and that is a program I would definitely recommend to anyone want to make a shift in their daily and deep rooted life patterns.

Self Help + Action

With all the self help tools that are available online and in the bookstores, action is required because without a consorted effort in your self help efforts, you will constantly be looking for information on debt solutions!