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This may come as a surprise but if you only ever pay the minimum repayment on your credit card it will take you over 20 years to get out of credit card debt!

Borrowing long term on a credit card not a sensible way of managing money but millions of card holders are doing it every month. Here are seven ways to help you get out of credit card debt fast.

1. Don’t use credit cards to buy everyday things.

In the past I, like many people, have bought my monthly shopping and paid utility bills on my credit card. At the end of the month instead of clearing the balance I’ve paid the minimum or maybe just a little bit more.

Six months later I’m still paying for groceries that were consumed months earlier and instead of working to get out of credit card debt I’m getting deeper and deeper into debt.

Credit cards should only be used to purchase occasional higher value goods and not day to day living expenses. Unless you have sufficient funds to completely clear the bill when it arrives, pay with cash. You will never get out of credit card debt if you use the card for day to day expenses.

2. If you are able to pay off your credit card out of savings do so.

With interest rates on savings as low as they are at present it makes no sense to pay 12 to 18% on a credit card so you can earn 3 to 5% on your savings. If you can, get out of credit card debt today by paying the bill in full.

3. Draw up a budget plan.

If you cannot pay the account in full then it’s time to draw up a budget plan to get out of credit card debt as soon as possible.

A budget plan is a simple income and expenses statement for the week or month. It enables you to work out how much money you have spare each. From this work out how much you can afford to pay off your credit card bills. If necessary work extra hours and use the income to reduce the bill quickly.

4. Switch the balance with a 0% Balance Transfer

To help you to get out of credit card debt quickly move your balances to a new card offering 0% balance transfers. Then pay your budgeted amount to reduce the balance as much as possible within the 0% period. This way every dollar reduces the bill.

At the moment there are some cards still offering 0% without a balance transfer fee but I suspect these will disappear soon. Apply for these, if available, otherwise you may have to pay the 2 to 3% balance transfer fee.

5. Take out an Unsecured Personal Consolidation Loan

If after budgeting you are only able to pay the minimum, or just a little bit more, you may have to consider an unsecured consolidation loan to immediately get out of credit card debt.

Take out an unsecured loan as this will not put your home at risk. Currently is it possible to get some very good rates on unsecured loans so shop around.

Set the repayment term as short as possible and cut up your credit cards to avoid being tempted again.

6. Consider a Secured Personal Consolidation Loan

If you own your own property then the bank or lender may insist on a secured consolidation loan.

A secured consolidation loan simply means that you have to put up your property as security for the loan. The bank can, if you fail to make the payments, take possession of your home and sell it to get their money back.

Using secured consolidation loans to get out of credit card debt is not generally advisable. The interest rate will probably be no less, and is often higher, than the unsecured loan but your home is at risk.

7 . Refinance your mortgage

If you own your own home you may be able to refinance the loan (re-mortgage) for a higher amount and use the surplus to get out of credit card debt.

In many ways this seems an attractive proposition as interest rates are very low at present. If there is sufficient equity (value in excess of your borrowings) in your home your existing mortgage lender or another lender will lend additional funds.

If you can avoid this option I would recommend not to take it as you are converting short term debt to a long term mortgage and your home is at risk.

In the end you will pay more however, if the choice is between continuing with your credit cards with their high interest payments or a re-financing of your home, then the re-financing is an option.

Credit cards are one of the most expensive forms of debt and banks and other lenders are making billions every year from individuals with credit cards.

If you must have a credit card, and I confess I still have one, then use it only for exceptional purchases that can be repaid within a few months.

Don’t use your credit cards for day to day living expenses, do your budgeting and help yourself get out of credit card debt.

John worked for many tears in insurance and finance and now writes articles on a number of topics including debt management For more information go to Get out of Credit Card Debt

What you are about to read may make you reassess your attitude to zero interest balance transfer offers. I will show how these balance transfer offers are pushing more and more people into serious financial difficulties and I will suggest a few ideas on how you can manage your debt better.

Credit card debt is rising at an alarming rate and many people are now getting into serious financial difficulties. One of the reasons is the promotion of no interest balance transfer offers and interest free initial periods.

Like most people, I’ve been tempted by the these offers to change my credit cards. I’ve taken them up on their offer and moved my credit card debt and, for a limited time, had no interest to pay. But “just in case of an emergency” I usually hang onto my old card.

Then something happens, an unexpected bill, or a wedding or birthday gift I’ve forgotten about. “Never mind” I tell myself “I can put it on the old card - there’s plenty of credit on there so it’s no problem.”

A few months and a few unexpected bills later the interest free period runs out I have to pay interest on both my new card and the old card. Now I’m worse off than when I started but that’s no problem as I can look for another card offering another interest free period and zero interest balance transfers.

It’s so easy and the banks and credit card companies are so eager to lend the money that it becomes routine, until that is, something goes wrong. You could fall ill and be off work, or, you could lose some overtime and your wages fall, or maybe that big deal you were relying on falls through.

It may just be that the credit card companies decide you have too much outstanding on credit cards and you would have difficulty paying the repayments, or simply they spot that you are a regular churner of the debt and they don’t want your business.

Whatever the reason the result is that you have all the interest to pay and you start to struggle with the minimum payments and miss one or two. Because you’ve missed payments it becomes even more difficult to find the next interest free balance transfer offer.

Now you have a real problem but it is one that can be avoided.

I could suggest that you don’t use credit cards but I suspect that would not be acceptable, and I am not going to suggest you ignore the 0% offers - that would mean you paying interest when it is not needed.

The simplest way to benefit from these balance transfer offers, but keep your card debt under control, is to cut up your old card when you switch to a new one.

That way you benefit from the 0% offer but minimize your exposure to higher debt.

Once you have cut your card up though, it is essential that you contact the card issuer and close the account. Until you close the account the card issuer will continue to tempt you with special offers to use your old card.

Another tip is to never pay just the minimum payment. Always pay the maximum monthly payment you can afford. Reducing your payments simply pushes back the time when you have to repay and in the long term increases your payments. Use the interest free period to reduce your debt to the minimum and if possible clear the balance.

Credit card companies don’t offer an interest free balance transfer because they are feeling generous. They do it because, in the vast majority of cases, they will be able to charge you more in the longer term. Use interest free credit to benefit you not the credit card companies.

John writes articles on a number of topics including debt management and finance. For more information on how to manage your credit cards go to www.card-debt.net

Your prosperity is directly related to the flow of energy in your environment. Clutter creates stagnant energy flow and prevents abundance from flowing to you.

Clutter is anything unfinished, unused, unresolved, tolerated or disorganized. Clutter is emotional constipation!

Letting go of something that no longer makes your heart sing, can mean letting go of a person, or something no longer relevant in your life. It can be part of a process of grieving, enabling you to move into your present and future.

Everyone has their own patterns of attracting abundance and blocking it. Do you recognize any of these?

1. Physical Clutter - Clutter is dead, stagnant energy and will block the flow of energy in your life. The energy that flows around your home and office is like a river, bringing abundance and fortunate blessings in all areas of your life. When it comes across a pile or something you are tolerating it will get bogged down.

Ask yourself: Do I love it? Do I use it? Does it make my heart sing?

2. Purchasing clutter - If you make purchases when feeling angry, sad, stressed, fearful etc. youre spending money to to suppress those feelings rather than feeling them and letting them go. This means emotional energy will attach itself to the item and you will experience its vibration, even on an unconscious level whenever you look at, wear or use the item.

These items will not make your heart sing and will not support your prosperity.

Are you ready to let them go? Are you ready to become a conscious shopper?

3. Growth creates clutter - As you make changes within yourself, more of your belongings will fit the definition of clutter. Having the urge to discard things in your home or office is a sign of you stepping more fully into yourself and your abundance.

If you dont address the clutter, it will hold you where you were. If you are growing and changing you are continually creating clutter!

4. Unconscious clutter - Do you have beliefs that create conflict? Do you think you cant be wealthy AND care about people? Do you think you cant be successful working 4 days a week? These beliefs will be affecting your prosperity. Take time to re-examine them.

5. Clutter Vibration - everything has a vibration. If you have a feeling of not enough time, money or love in your life, it sets up a vibration that will block abundance. And, focusing on the fear of not having enough time or money draws more of that to you. On the other hand, the vibration of gratitude is the same as the vibration of abundance.

Create an attitude of gratitude. Keep a gratitude journal and each night before you go to sleep write down 5 things you are grateful for today. Focusing on gratitude rather than lack is one of the most powerful things you can do to attract the abundance vibration.

6. Language Clutter - The word want means to desire without having! When you say you want something you are resonating with the vibration of lack, rather than flowing with the vibration of abundance. You are also complaining, at a subtle level. The Universe responds to requests, not complaints. Try using the words choose or desire - they may sound strange at first, but its worth it to create a flow of energy.

7. Does your prosperity area feel abundant? Ask yourself, what do I currently own that represents abundance to me now? Once you have cleaned and cleared the clutter from your prosperity area, place this object there to create the vibration you choose to attract.

To discover where the prosperity area of your home or a room is, See http://www.LifeDesignStrategies.com/BaguaMap.html

8. Try this game. Place a bowl or container you love in the prosperity area of your home or a room. Each day, take a coin, give thanks for the abundance you already have, and the abundance coming to you and place the coin in the bowl. The increasing coins represent your increasing abundance.

At some point when it feels right and the bowl is nearing full, make a decision about what to do with that money and start over. This will work best once you have cleared the clutter and cleaned the area. And remember, what you focus on expands.

Clearing clutter is an important part of Feng Shui. Before you can create something new you need to make space for it. The changes you make in your environment are mirrored in your life and support you in making emotional shifts. Feng Shui can provide a welcome boost in living the life you want.

© 2003, Vicky White. All rights reserved. May be duplicated with attribution and copyright notice intact. http://www.LifeDesignStrategies.com/

Vicky White is a Certified Feng Shui Consultant and Life Coach who works with clients both locally and internationally. Get your FREE 7-part e-course “Your Secret Weapon: Powerful Feng Shui Tips To Give Your Business The Competitive Edge” at http://www.LifeDesignStrategies.com/

Many of us do not consider the underlying belief system about money to be of any importance. You think it does not matter because what matters is what you do now—right at one level but not complete.

All ideas that we have learned about money in the past are coloring our actions today.
These are ideas that you are unconsciously following because you are not aware of them.

It may be: "money is bad," "there is never enough money," "money does not grow on trees," etc. The list is long and painful to read when you realize that this is actually a part of you.

I was thinking: How come these beliefs are so strong? Why am I blocking myself from financial freedom? I have been working on myself for six years now, and the beliefs are still there!

So, I went looking for answers in self-help books, personal development books, New Age books, and financial freedom articles, etc.
I have also done psychokineseology and past life sessions, and I have been talking to a lot of people.

The answer that I come up with so far is that the underlying beliefs are coming in as all other conditioning: from our early years.

Some people also suggest that past life experiences can have an influence. Our childhood conditioning mainly comes from our parents as well as from the rest of our family and the environment around us.

If the idea in the place you grew up is that money is scarce, you can be sure that this idea sneaked into your mind somewhere along the line, and it is probably stuck there without you knowing it.

You are just wondering why there never seems to be enough money around.
So, if you can now grasp the idea of negative thinking patterns about money, I will tell you to move on.

If it is difficult for you to accept this idea and you are now thinking that this does not count for you because you have learned positive thinking, that is great!

But look at the reality and do a little checkup: Is my positive thinking really working?

I am asking you to do this because my experience is that positive thinking and a YES! mentality is not always enough.

The negative thought patterns I am talking about are deep; you can call them "root thought" or "sponsoring thought"; they are thoughts that are lying underneath and behind your conscious thoughts that you are thinking on an everyday basis.

They are very strong&emdash;and strong enough to sabotage your new way of thinking that may be very positive and good.

I point this out very strongly because it is important that you are willing to look at your own thoughts and to work on them to change them into healthy sponsoring thoughts that are healthy for you and will bring you abundance and wealth instead of struggle and suffering.

To change these thoughts, you have to be persistent; you will need a burning desire to train your mind into thinking differently.

You will have to do a little brainwash and afterwards a lot of relearning with your new and healthy thoughts. To train your mind, I will explain to you the concept "Act as if."

"Act as if" works the other way around of the normal creation process, which goes like this: thought, word, deed (action). An idea comes into your mind as a thought and takes shape and becomes clear. That is the first step in creating.

Then comes the next step, which is the word. In the gospel of Saint John in the Bible: "In the beginning was only the word," there is a great truth&emdash;only that in the very, very beginning, there was also a thought; an idea.

The word is spoken or written and makes the idea more strong; more solid. This is already a big accomplishment in the creation process, but the idea is still not physical reality.

This comes in the third step, "deed"&emdash;or the action that you do&emdash;to give your idea physical form. Take a look at this practical example: I had an idea a long time ago that it would be great to have a practical how-to guide on how to create financial freedom; initially, I had the idea because many of my friends and people I met were complaining about the lack of money to do what they want.

As I talked with them, it seemed that the reasons for these problems often were similar, and I had a feeling that there had to be a solution for this. I wanted to find the solutions (step one: ideas and thoughts); write them down and make them clear as well as easy to understand when spoken in a seminar or written down (step two: word); and then in the end to create this article and make it available for everyone who would be interested (step three: deed and action).

As you are now reading this article, you can see the practical result of the thought-word-deed process unfolding straight in front of you! Going back to where we started, with the concept of "Act as if," we have to look at why and how to do it.

Why? It is because the process of creation does not only work with the conscious thoughts you have but also with your subconscious beliefs. So, if your underlying belief system always tells you that there is not enough money, then that is the reality you create.

To train your subconscious to think differently, you first have to become aware of when these beliefs kick in. For me, it works like this: There is a Salvation Army officer standing in the street, giving out a magazine, and collecting money.

When I see him, I immediately shrink and think: I hope he does not see me.
Now, of course, he sees me and gives me a smile, and I think, okay, I’ll give him some money.

After all I know that this makes me feel good. Then, for the same reason that I tried to avoid him, I also start having second thoughts about giving him the small donation.

The thought goes like this: I don’t want to give away the money because if I do, then I will have less, and I do not have much at all. How can I just give away the little that I have (the root thought is that it is never enough money)?

In the short term, I will have less money if I give some of it away. In the longer term, this is not as true.

What I do when I walk pass the Salvation Army officer without giving any money is to reaffirm to myself the idea that I cannot afford to give him money because there is never enough.

So, what I can do to change this root thought is to first give him the money I thought of, I know it is going to make me feel good and then think to myself: WOW!

I can afford to give him money, I know that there is more where it is coming from, and I trust that this will end up in my pocket and on my bank account, so I can happily share it with more people.

This action will then affirm your new thought: There is always enough money! Now you may think, this is a lie, but then take the new thought you have learned by "acting as if" and look again on the thought-word-deed process.

You may think this is extremely difficult and everything inside of you says NO! But still, try it out.
You do not have to give away all your money; that is not the point.

The point is that you give yourself the feeling of abundance and that you can share. If you have very little money, you can give according to that. It is important that you get the feeling so you can start believing in your new thought.

When you say to yourself that you always have enough money for everything you want and need, you will protest and say: "This is not true; fact is this and that and blah blah blah." You are right! Fact may be this or that, but if you want to change, you better start here&emdash;right at the root cause of your money problems.

This is a little bit of "Fake it until you make it." You can make it easier for yourself by thinking thoughts that you can accept, such as: "I know there is more money out there, and right now, I am figuring out how to get it to flow into my bank account."

Then, you give yourself a feeling of security and that it is actually true: There is enough money! When you get your head around this one, you are a giant leap ahead on the road to financial freedom.

Copyright (c) 2005 www.financial-freedom-made-simple.com

About the author:

Oyvind Hennum runs the web site:

http://www.financial-freedom-made-simple.com

Is it possible for someone to fear abundance? Who would not want to live the abundant life?

Polarity is a universal law. The law of polarity contends that everything has its polar opposite. The scales of life assures the existence of polar opposites. In conjunction with the Law of Rhythm, everything returns where it begins. Like a pendulum swinging, this is life. Meaning those things that begin with great expectations manifest greatness. Those things that begin with the purpose for serving humanity and the greater good manifest as beacons of light.

Everyone who researches the field of human potential, human development, personal development, religion, philosophy…at some point crosses the concept of a human emotion often called fear. It is comfortable for us to talk about the fear of poverty, however, we ignore our fear of abundance.

The reality is, if you fear poverty, then you fear its polar opposite–abundance. If you fear poverty you fear wealth and abundance. All these fears congest our lives and we are literally paralyzed.

Fear impacts our expectations. The principle of Expectations is linked to the Law of Abundance hence, “so a man thinketh so he is.” The principle of Expectations contends that energy follows thought. If you fear poverty, then somewhere inside, you believe you will live in poverty. Consequently, energy has followed this thought and in due time, your expectation of poverty actualizes.

Now the connection between the fear of poverty and the fear of abundance. Lets just end this debate right now. No one wants to live in poverty. Poverty means you have very limited options, and no assets. When you live in poverty, you struggle and have limited options. Moreover, poverty means your basic needs are at threat, limited, or diminished. Even those who take a vow of poverty for religious or spiritual purposes have there basic needs met.

So why would anyone have a fear of abundance? Some people believe that abundance and wealth would only lead to corruption and destruction of the human spirit. Not one person who is corrupted or on the path of destruction is living the abundant life. NOT ONE. Abundance is not just about material wealth, however, it does not exclude material wealth!

Abundance is about living healthy, vibrant, with purpose, resources, meaningful relationships, and a strong sense of our true self. Material wealth is a manifestation of mental and spiritual wealth that lies within the individual. We should not concern ourselves with the fear that material wealth will corrupt us. Material wealth, including money, will only make you more of what you already are.

Therefore, if you are kind, giving, loving, and creative, you will be even more kind, giving, loving, and creative while enjoying a life of abundance. If you are insecure, selfish, hoarding, and deceitful, you will be even more insecure, selfish, hoarding, and deceitful while living a life of discontent, sadness, and self-destruction.

There is yet another group of people who fear abundance. Some individuals fear abundance because they believe that abundance will require hours and hours of hard work. The principle of Economy of Force or the Principle of Least Resistance contends that this is just not true.

To many of us are spending 16 hour days at working hoping and praying that soon all our “money” troubles will be over and we can retire in the Bahamas when we are 60 years old. Hah! Dont mean to burst anyones bubble but it just aint so.

We are not suppose to work hard. What? Thats right. We are suppose to work creatively. Thats what the human Spirit desires. During times of stillness and quiet, the Universe whispers plans, inventions, and ideas. These witty plans, inventions, and ideas are a part of the creative energies of the Universe waiting for our higher consciousness to receive it.

By stilling the mind in meditation, we discover this knowledge and wisdom. When we act on it. We create wealth. We create freedom. For each of these plans, inventions, ideas are serve a purpose and that purpose in to help humanity in some form. Therefore, it is already a demand for it. There are millions of people wanting it. All you need is the faith and courage to execute.

Your execution will seem effortless when you take the time to meditate and determine how each step should be carried out. Before long, you have tapped into the field of infinite possibilities where anything that is possible is possible. You have opened the flood gates to wealth and success and you are living the abundant life.

Now what is so fearful about that?

While this group would be classified as a fear of success, there are those who have a fear of abundance because they just know they will fail. Again, the Principle of Expectations contends that energy follows thoughts. Therefore, keep thinking it and it will happen. Heres a novel thought. Practice the Law of Detachment. In this law, you go through the process doing all you can while the Universe handle the details.

All you do is what you know how to do. You stay in meditation. Asking the Universe to show you what you should do next. After you have done it. You step back and let the Universe handle the rest. If the Universe says write a book. Learn what you need to learn to write it. Then, write it. You dont worry about “how many copies will I sell or if the audience will like it or maybe it wont sell and Ill have to file bankruptcy.”

Simply do what you know how to do. Meditate. Remain detached. Expect the best. Gain wisdom in what you are doing. Take each step expecting the best and the best will come. Thats abundance in action.

You can learn more about abundant living at: http://universalclass.com/i/crn/14056.htm

Carmellita Brown is Wellness and Success Coach. She is the instructor of the Online course entitled: “Abundance Training 101: The Universal Law of Abundance” available at: http://universalclass.com/i/crn/14056.htm and the online Course entitled “Lose Weight While Becoming a Wellness Coach” available at http://universalclass.com/i/crn/9478.htm.

When you hear the words “abundance” and “prosperity”, what immediately comes to mind?Is it money, fulfilling relationships, a lovely house to live in, peace of mind, a career/vocation that expresses your gifts?

It may be all or none of those things. It may mean something else to you. But if you want to attract more prosperity and abundance into your life, no matter how you define them, then this articles outlines 5 key ways to do so.

1. Understand Attraction Law

This is better known as the Law of Attraction, as defined by Abraham Hicks, states that “you attract whatever you give your attention and energy to, whether wanted or unwanted”.

So, if you’re curious about what youre putting out there, look at what you are attracting, the visible results in your life. Knowing about and working with the the Law of Attraction will help you in manifesting, creating and attracting more abundance and prosperity in your life. Once you understand it, theres no turning back.

2. You get what you focus on

One of the key concepts in the Law of Attraction is that you get what you focus on, whether that be money, relationships, employment etc). So when you focus on having less, that is the experience you create for yourself.

Saying that “I hate my job” will just draw even more attention to the aspects of the job that you dont like. Even if you look for another job, itll be with that negative energy.

Just wanting something isnt enough, because you will still continue to think about what you dont have. Always focusing on what you lack means that you dont see the present and future opportunities, or begin to realise your true desires. Youre getting in your own way!

3. Clear your head

……….to allow you to focus more effectively. Our minds are full of “stuff”; old, tired and limiting beliefs, which dont reflect who we are now, or who we want to become.

Set aside quiet time for yourself on a regular basis to get real clear about what you really want to attract in your life.

Use this opportunity to ask yourself questions. Ask yourself: “how can I create more prosperity and abundance in my life?”.

Once your head is clear, you will allow the answers to come to you. Meditation is a great way to start clearing the mind.

4. Appreciate lifes abundance

Appreciating lifes abundance is another way to opening yourself up to accept more abundance and prosperity in your life. When you fully appreciate what you have in your life, the Universe has a way of giving you more.

Keep a gratitude journal and at the end of each day, write down everything that you appreciate in your life. Youll begin to change your energy and vibration and become more internally aligned with what you want to create in your life.

5. Use prosperity affirmations

As you write your gratitude journal, it is an opportunity to write down prosperity affirmations as well. Affirmations are statements of acceptance that you use to manifest your destiny or what you want to create in your life. They are powerful, positive thoughts and words sent out to the universe.

If you want to use affirmations to create positive changes in your life, then you must first BELIEVE that this is possible. It shouldnt be a half hearted “well, Ill give this a go and see what happens”.

To make affirmations more effective, put as much positive energy in writing and saying them as possible. Visualise what you want to create and let this inform your prosperity affirmations.

When you cease operating from a position of lack, you start to create the fertile conditions to make more informed decisions, identify greater opportunities and attract more abundance and prosperity into your life.

Julie Plenty is a Personal and Business Coach who helps self employed creative professionals develop a strong personal foundation and therefore increase the success of their business. For more self growth articles, resources and free ecards, visit: http://www.self-help-personal-development.com

We’re stressing two parallel streams of content on this site.

1. Nuts and bolts details about debt reduction, credit cards, budgets, and so on.
2. Equally specific information about the mental and spiritual habits and exercises that open your life to abundance and prosperity.

I know that many folks tend to concentrate on the first without paying much attention to the second. They think they’re being “practical” rather than “head in the sky.” I think it doesn’t work that way. When you ignore the effects of your thoughts on your circumstances, you’re creating a divided life, one where you’re apt to be confused about why things just aren’t going according to your plans.

I found a helpful perspective on this on Julie Plenty’s blog. She writes about the pitfalls of just trying to be a positive thinker.

By the way, if you aren’t convinced that the mental and spiritual dimension is important to your financial well-being, how do you explain the work of Suze Orman, the successful financial author and TV host? She (among many others) has not hesitated to emphasized the importance of mental and spiritual discipline in order to make sure that we aren’t sabotaging our own abundance and prosperity. I highly recommend Suze Orman’s books in this vein, particularly 9 Steps to Financial Freedom: Practical and Spiritual Steps So You Can Stop Worrying, The Courage to Be Rich: Creating a Life of Material and Spiritual Abundance, and The Laws of Money, The Lessons of Life: Keep What You Have and Create What You Deserve.

She sat there dumbstruck.

Here we go again, I thought.

Suddenly a high pitched cackle came from her mouth as the ride went sharply up…then back down again.

She was only four - and she loving every single minute of it. Where else could you pay only a dollar to get a reaction like that, I wondered?

It may have only been one of those little child rides in a shopping mall, but to Katie - it was the most exciting thing she had ever done!

Now - two years on - and her laughs come from repeated viewings of Harry Potter. She knows exactly who’s going to say what next - and yet she still covers her eyes at the scary bits and cheers as Harry Potter wins!

Isn’t it a shame that we can’t bottle the enthusiasm we have as children?

When was the last time YOU got really excited about something?

For most of us it seems such a difficult thing to have to recall, doesn’t it?

It shouldn’t have to be that way.

You shouldn’t have to go through life without being really enthusiastic about what you’re doing, should you?

It’s not always possible to just quit your job and spend all your days enjoying your hobby - but you should at least aim for some time during the week that you can look back at with a smile!

It’s no use going through life worrying about the ‘if-onlys’.

Dale Carnegie (the author of the classic ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People) once said:

“Today is life-the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto.”

Don’t struggle through life without at least trying to achieve something that you can be proud of. To quote Carnegie - “Shake yourself awake” - and find something that you can get excited about!

The most successful people get enthusiastic about what they do. They look upon their lives as a series of challenges to their skills and ingenuity.

- What really excites you?
- What would you be really proud of if you achieved it?
- What excuses are you finding to put off doing what you’d really like to do?

This isn’t about money.

You might be able to make a living out of what you love if you work really hard at it - but don’t ever turn your passion into a job. Make sure that you do really love what you do before you have to rely on it totally.

Get excited about something - at least once a week. Life isn’t all about becoming wealthy, or famous - it’s about making the most of what little time we really have.

Too much importance is placed on money in our society - it may ‘make the world go round’ - but remember that you can never buy happiness at any cost.

Be enthusiastic at least once this week - and you’ll be surprised how much more creative and happy you will be!

To Our Success!

Do you have a manageable debt problem? Maybe a life event, like temporary job loss or sickness, may have put you a bit behind on your payments. Or maybe you just let your small debts add up to the point that you feel they may be getting out of control.

If this sounds familiar, then you need to take action now. Follow these four easy steps, and you’ll soon be back in control.

Step 1. Stop accumulating new debt!

This is the first and most important step. If you keep charging, you will dig yourself a deeper hole. If you can’t take this step, you may as well stop reading now. The rest of this article will not be helpful.

Step 2. Prioritize your payments.

Make a list of all your monthly obligations. Then arrange them in order of priority. Start with those that you can’t do without, like your mortgage payment and your utilities.

Next are the credit cards and store cards that charge the most interest. By paying off the cards with the most interest you can reduce the amount of interest calculated on your next bill. This means you will pay off your entire debt as quickly as possible.

If you can get a balance transfer offer to another card with a lower interest rate, and if there is no transfer fee, it may be worthwhile to transfer your credit card balance onto another card. If you can get an introductory 0% rate, great. This allows the full monthly payment to be deducted from your balance without incurring any interest. But most of these offers are for a limited time, like 6 or 9 months. After that, the rate may go up quite a bit. If you can’t pay off the whole balance before the rate changes, you may be better off not making the transfer.

Keep your list handy so you remember to make your debt payments with any available money you may have at the end of each week or month. Doing so prevents any arrears and a build-up of interest on credit cards and store cards. Resist the temptation to take the excess cash and splurge.

Step 3. Find ways to cut back on expenses.

You will be surprised at what you can save when you cut back. Make a list of all of your current expenses. This includes all your shopping, hobbies, magazines, newspapers, treats, everything. Then take a look at the list and remove all non-essentials. No cheating! A cup of Starbucks latte is not an essential expense. If you buy one each working day, you can save roughly $100.00 a month by stopping. (That’s $4.50 per latte times 22 working days in a month.) That’s quite a lot of money when you’re swimming in debt. Maybe it could make the difference between swimming and drowning.

Be tough-minded over this. After all, it’s to your own benefit. You may feel a little lack in the short term, but imagine your future prosperity and keep prosperity at the forefront of your thoughts. You will be surprised to see how much you can save from this technique and how little pain it will cause when you keep your ultimate goal in mind.

Step 4. Contact your creditors.

If you just can’t keep up with your payments, don’t be afraid to contact your creditors. They will try to help you. It costs them much more if you default than it does to work with you, so they have just as strong an incentive to work something out as you do. If you’re having trouble meeting your payments, tell them. Be realistic about what you can afford. You may be able to negotiate a new payment plan that you and your creditors can live with. It’s much better if you contact them first.

Before contacting your creditors, make a comprehensive list of your income and expenses. This lets you calculate a realistic amount that you can pay each month. After you have completed a list of expenses, make a list of all creditors, remembering to prioritize from most important to least important. Then prepare a formal letter to each creditor explaining your situation and proposing your payment plan.

When you and your creditor agree on a plan, be sure to stick to it and to keep in touch. This will earn you the trust of your creditors.

By following these four easy steps, you will once more be in control of your debts, and well on the way to being debt-free.