Hey guys…because of the resounding   success it has had, I have decided to extend the special offer for my book to my readers and visitors.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, I wanted to spend just a few minutes on why I think it can add value to your life.

Don’t Be a Mule is written in a down-to-earth, easy to understand voice. It is based purely on personal experience.  It briefly details my not-so-wonderful plunge into the depths of credit card debt, and the road I managed to take out.

It offers ways to improve your personal economy in three key areas:

Saving More Money

Spending Less Money

Generating Extra Income

The biggest problem that I had when I was looking for answers about how to get out of debt was that I could never find any real, practical advice.  I either came up against debt consolidation companies who I think were just out to screw me (or at the very least, put me deeper into debt), or I got a bunch of “book” answers from people who had never really been in my situation before and therefore could not relate to it.

Then I thought that if I asked rich people about it (who would know more about money, right?) then I might be able to find some decent advice.  Wrong again.  Most of them had forgotten what it was like NOT to be rich and therefore were not of much help.

Writing Don’t Be a Mule was a joy for me because it made me realize that getting out of debt is so NOT about some ABC list of things to do.  Rather, it is simply about changing your mindset and attitude about how money comes in and goes out of your life.

My journey out of debt was not an easy one and it was not a short one.  But once I got on track with the right attitude, and a true willingness to get out of debt, it was then merely a matter of staying on track.  And there was much less actual “sacrifice” involved then I would have thought.

Once I finally managed to get completely out of debt.  I was at a crossroads.  I didn’t know what to do.  But, after I realized ALL the avenues that become available for generating income for people that are not in debt, and that have good credit scores, I kept the momentum rolling.

I currently own and maintain this blog and have another successful side business.  None of this would have been possible were I still struggling with debt.

My book is currently available here for the recession-busting price of $2.99.  Add shipping and you can get your hands on a copy for $7.  And it ships straight from me, so I promise to get it to you fast!

If you decide to check it out, I sincerely hope you like it and it provides value to you.

As always, comments and suggestions are appreciated below.

The following is a guest post from my good friend Mark Brown.

Mark Brown writes about personal finances for an Australian comparison website where you can find the best credit cards and compare everything from balance transfer credit card offers to cards for frequent flyers.

While the name might sound somewhat silly, if you are on the ball when it comes to your money and you are willing to invest a little time, stoozing can be a lucrative investment strategy. While this doesn’t mean stoozing is for everyone, and not without risk, there are certain benefits to stoozing of which you might be unaware.

Here is a brief explanation of what stoozing is, what you’ll likely need to get started with the process, how to be more successful at stoozing, as well as some potential problems or pitfalls.

What is Stoozing?

Without going into great detail, stoozing is the process of making use of 0% credit card rates to transfer funds from the credit card company into a bank account and earn interest off that money during the term of the 0% rate. Sounds easy, right? Well, not so fast. There are more factors to consider than just sliding some money into your account, making a quick buck, and giving it back.

1. Not every card provides the essential aspects needed for successful stoozing. You’ll have to find a card that offers a 0% introductory rate and determine how long that rate is good for, as well as whether that card pays off existing debt only in a consolidation process or will actually allow you to transfer funds into a bank account.
2. You must be approved for the card necessary for stoozing; otherwise, it does you no good.
3. You’ll need to find a bank account that offers a decent rate of return on your money, which may be easier said than done.
4. You’ll likely need to determine whether you will want to move a lump sum transfer from a card to a bank account, or instead use a 0% rate card to make your usual monthly purchases (being sure to make minimum payments and pay off the balance before any interest is accrued), and take the cash you would have spent on those purchases and place it in an interest bearing account.

So let’s say you find all these precursors to the program. What else do you need?

What You Need For Effective Stoozing

Probably the most important thing you’ll need for effective stoozing is attention to detail. Watching out for and understanding credit card terms and fees is critical to the success of your stoozing. Getting a credit card that enables you to transfer cash to your bank account, only to find the transfer fees are three times the return you’ll get upon your account, probably won’t do you a much good. Sites like Stoozing.com or Whatsthecost.com may provide helpful calculators and information that can enable you to run your numbers in advance of making a decision on certain cards or accounts. Doing so can provide you with a better idea of what your choices will earn you, and this way you can run various scenarios without putting your money at risk.

What to Watch Out For

There are plenty of ways to get burned when stoozing, and snoozing when you’re stoozing can cost you big time. Besides the obvious transfer fees or earning too low a rate on your bank account, there are other potential pitfalls as well. Not paying back the full balance on your card or not making the minimum monthly payments (depending on your stoozing strategy) can make stoozing a loosing proposition. It is also important to bear in mind that if you decide to go the monthly purchase route, if you end up spending more that usual due to having the credit card available, you may be negating the profits you could have made from stoozing.

One of the things that I have been seeing more and more of these days is the teaser offer by banks to open up a checking account with them.

The most effective ones offer you straight cash, but I have seen them offer anything from gift cards to just about anything else you can think of.

Of course, the first thing that comes to my mind is to open up the checking account, fulfill any requirements they have for the free money, get the free money and then forget about the account.  That’s not what the bank has in mind but so what.

Several months back, I went ahead and applied for three separate offers for these accounts, and I just wanted to let you know how my experience went.  I think I ended up making $250 cash from all three of them combined. In short, you can obviously make free money with these deals, but you have got to be careful.

Listed below are just a few of the things you need to be aware of before diving in.  When weighed against the $250 that I made, it is worth it, you just need to stay on top of it.

Here goes:

Affect on your Credit Score:  I did not track this as a before and after thing, but there will be a minor effect on your credit rating.  Sometimes, these accounts can be opened without a “hard pull” on your credit, but those I think are few and far between.  It probably takes six months or so for your score to recover.  In the interim, you may have some difficulty if you try to open up any other new lines of credit, as I did.  No long term and no major effects, just something to be aware of.

Direct Deposit Requirements: Some of these offers require at least one direct deposit to qualify for your cash reward.  I would be wary of these.  I only say this because the process of switching my direct deposit information with my employer was much less than an easy process. You may want to ask your employer about this before doing so.  And if you forget to switch it back, you may find yourself with not enough money in your regular bank account to cover your bills.

Don’t forget about them!  As I said, I opened up my three accounts, fulfilled the requirements, got my cash reward, withdrew most of the money out of the account and forgot about them.  Another requirement may be that you leave the account open for a certain period of time to qualify for the reward.  Forgetting about them can be dangerous.  With two of these accounts, I recently received overdraft notices.  They charged me an “inactivity fee” which put my accounts at less than zero balances, triggering more late fees, and two big messes in general.  It took a lot of phone calls and fast-talking to straighten out.

Ease of closing:  Do not think that these banks are unaware of the people out there like me-who are only really in it for the cash reward.  They know we exist, and they will make it as difficult, time-consuming and annoying as possible when it comes time to close these accounts.  In general, it cannot be done with a simple phone call.  Plan on investing a good deal of time on the back end to close this stuff out.

Overall, I would say it was definitely worth the money I made by signing up for these offers.  I only wish I was a little better informed about a few things, and had stayed a little more organized on the back end.  This would have made my life quite a bit easier.

Had an experience, good or bad, with this type of thing?  Let my readers know about it below…

This article is for those of you who are moving quite well down the road to financial success.

Or at least somewhere close to it.  You have gotten to the point where you pay your credit cards off in full every month and carry no balances-that’s a great place to be in if you’ve recently gotten there for the first time.  I remember it well!

At this point in time, credit cards can still play a very important role in your life.  Used properly, they can keep your credit rating and score strong, they can keep you fairly well protected, and believe it or not, they should be able to also generate some cash for you.

I’d like to go over just a few of the things that I do with my credit cards to make sure they are working as hard for me as I am for them.

First, choose the right one.  In my opinion, the credit card(s) that you use the most should have one of the top “cash back” options that you can find.  Regarding the credit cards that offer “gifts” or rewards that are not actual cash, I have never really found anything there to my liking.  Also, wouldn’t you rather have cold hard cash? This way, YOU can decide which prizes and so forth you want, and you can probably get them at cheaper prices that what all of those points cost you.  I think the only exception might be for those of you that fly a lot.  The “miles” cards may offer fares at a decent enough rate to make it worthwhile to go that route-if you fly often.  Other than that, stick with the cash!

Second, use them for everything.  I try to keep enough cash on hand or in my wallet for emergencies only.  This is for safety reasons, as well as the fact that if I am getting a 1% discount  every time I buy something, I then I want this discount to be as much as possible.  Plus, by doing so, I think you maintain a stronger credit rating and/or score.

Third, don’t close them.  Believe it or not, you should have a healthy amount of what they call “available credit”.  Meaning, if you only have $5000 in open credit and you use $4,000 of it each month, this is not good for your credit score.  However, if you have $80,000 of available credit and use only $4,000 of it each month, then this again improves your credit score.  Why-I have no idea.  You may want to consider slowly opening new lines of credit for this very reason.

Fourth, don’t close your cards out.  For the same reason mentioned above, it does not make financial sense to “close out” a bunch of cards that you may no longer use.  It may seem to make your life simpler, but you could be negatively affecting your credit rating.  Also, you probably need to get on some type of program for using these cards every few months.  Credit card companies have been known to reduce credit lines or even close accounts for inactivity.

These are just a few of the concepts that I have implemented in my daily life to get the most out of my credit cards.  I generate as much cash as I can from them, as well as using them to keep my credit rating and score as healthy as possible.

Keep in mind that most of this advice is only for those of us who can pay the balances off in full at the end of every month.

Your comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated below.

Starting a second business for yourself has some very powerful benefits in your everyday life. Before I get into those, I‘d like to address a few other things regarding this type of venture.

First, it is not as intimidating as you might think. My side income started with listing some old textbooks and an old digital camera on Amazon. This has blossomed into quite a decent source of secondary income.

Second, you can do it with little or no start-up costs. Mine cost me nothing to start. And I mean absolutely nothing. Currently, my only real expenses besides inventory are mailing supplies, which with a little creativity; I have kept to a bare minimum. If you have an actual talent to sell, the start up costs should be minimal as well.

Third, you don’t need a ton of extra time to do it. I currently work a regular job (approximately 45 hours a week), I have my secondary business, and I am the only person supporting and maintaining this blog. Guess what? I also have a three year-old son at home with whom I have not missed a minute of “play time” since starting these ventures.

So now, hopefully you realize that the phrase “start your own business” should not be brushed off with the thought that “Oh, I could never take on something like that.” Creating a second source of income in your life has some very powerful benefits besides the extra money.

It is a hedge against an uncertain job market. For most, unexpected losing their job could quickly lead to financial ruin. Were it to happen to me, of course there would be consequences, but the first thing I would do is to expand and develop my second business as much as my finances would allow me to, in order to supplant the loss of my primary income. This would be huge if I ever lost my job. The only reason why my second business has not blossomed more is simply a matter of having enough time. Who knows? I may not ever even have to replace my primary income if all were to go well with developing my second business.

It also gives you a great taste of working for yourself. Never having owned a business before, I never knew the joy and the pleasure of setting my own schedule, working my own hours, and putting it all down whenever I wanted to. This is a great feeling! If I don’t feel like devoting time to my second business and I would rather play more with my son, guess what? That’s exactly what I do. Who can say that about their current job?

Finally, you can run your business the way you want to. You have no set of rules to go by except the ones you set for yourself. Think of all the times you say to yourself at your regular job “Well, if I were running this company….” Once again, with your own secondary source of income, that’s exactly what you are doing. You do things and run things any way you please.

Starting my own business has been one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life. Oh, and I forgot probably the best benefit of all. If you do things right and are good at what you do, one day you should be able to walk away from that “regular” job and enjoy full financial and professional freedom.

As have done many, I thought I would take a moment to share with you where my financial “head” is right now.  This is usually the time of year when most people are either taking a look back at the year they had in 2009, or taking a peek ahead at what’s in store for them in 2010 financially.   I thought I would do both.

Before I do, I wanted to let you in on a little secret.  I know that I have been a big advocate of financial “goal-setting” and I firmly believe in its importance.  My secret is this:  I don’t set goals.  What?  Are you screaming “imposter” right now?  Calling me a fraud?

Well, hold on just a second.  What I mean to say is that I don’t set goals in the traditional sense.  As I have read the retrospectives and goals of other people out there, it occurred to me I don’t set goals.  Again, just not in the traditional sense.  For example, my journey out of debt.  I basically had no benchmarks, no “six months to do this”; no “by the end of the year” do that, nothing. 

My approach, as with most things, is similar to a bull in a china shop.  I was horrifically in debt, and I knew I had to do something or I’d be suffering for the rest of my life.  So, I stuck my head down (figuratively, of course) and simply bulldozed my way through my entire financial mess, until it was clean and clear and I was ready to move on. 

Then as I have also written before, I was kind of in a funk for about a year or so, because I didn’t know what to do with my newfound financial freedom.   Meaning, I didn’t know how to get my so-called “extra” income to start working for me. Here, I probably could have used a clear set of goals, I just didn’t have them.  Once I figured it out though, I simply put into place the steps that I wanted in order to start building for my future.

An example.  If you think that you will be able to reduce your power bill by 15% in the coming year, then why make a goal out of it?  Why write down “I want to reduce my power bill by 15% in 2010.”  To me, that means you can goof around the whole year before finally doing something about it.  How about this.  If you’ve identified a way or ways to make this happen-put them in place.  Get going.  Do it right now.  This has always been my approach to just about everything.

I know that there are some things that take time, and for these, a set of goals would be good.  But as I read the retrospectives of others out there and also their goals for the coming year, it occurred to me that a lot of the things that I was reading could be put into place on a more immediate type basis.

Having said that, here is my brief look back at 2009, and a concise look ahead for 2010.

2009

This was definitely a year of simply “holding on” for me.  I did not lose my job; however, I did take about a 28% pay cut.  Basically, my bonus compensation was eliminated for the year, and it was/is a big chunk of my monthly income.  It wasn’t eliminated; it was simply that the financial results of my department(s) did not match up with some budget numbers that were generated before the downfall in the economy.

I basically knew it was coming before 2009 started, but it did take a month or two to slash our household’s spending.  Mine is a one-income household, with a three year old son at home, so things were tight anyways.  Well, as I said, there was no time to sit down and map out a set of goals.  I had to slash spending, and slash I did.  We eliminated just about all forms of discretionary spending, and I cut back slightly on some 401k contributions and I did not contribute much to my Roth IRAs this year.  It killed me to do this, but as they say, you have to pay yourself first.  I also paid off our second car this year, which eliminated $250 from our monthly budget.  This could not have come at a better time.

That was part and parcel my 2009 financially speaking.

2010

Looking ahead, I of course hope to get back on track with my bonus potential at my job.  It was a good lesson learned.  This bonus money really just began for me in 2008, and our household did not handle it very well.  I kept less track of spending, and really got a little sloppy with a few things.  It was the first time I had experienced such a windfall (basically, a 2% increase in one year) and to be honest we did not handle it very well.  However, there were no “beat up” sessions, it is simply a lesson learned.

If/ when I do get back on track, I‘d like to return to my 401k contribution percentages, and even make up for what I did not contribute this year.  I‘d like to do the same with my Roths, as long as I stay under the contribution limits.

In addition to this, any savings/spending/investing ideas that I come across in 2010, I plan on putting them into place as soon as I can figure out how.

And, on a side note, I want to get rid of these 10 pounds that have been nagging me for a few years now, and keep them off!  Having a sound body goes a long way to having a sound mind.

Agree with my mindset?  Disagree?  Have your own plan you’d like to share?  Let me know-I love your comments.

I wanted to spend just a few short minutes discussing the idea behind the title of my book. As you will see if you ever get a chance to read it, I do not refer back to it very often throughout the book. I had come up with several other working titles for the book before I decided on this particular one.

The reason that I decided on this title for the book is because I felt that it is the overall piece of advice that I am trying to impart to you, the reader.  It basically means what it says: “Don’t Be a Mule.”

Some quick examples-

When you are doing your grocery shopping-Don’t Be a Mule. Don’t mindlessly wander through the aisles picking up the same overpriced items that you always do when you could take off the blinders, open your eyes, and start saving yourself some money (Chapter 3).

When you are paying your bills-Don’t Be a Mule. Do not robotically open up the envelopes, look at the amounts due, write out your checks, lick the stamps, and send them off. Check your utility bills for accuracy, really really check your credit card bills for mistakes, and if you find something wrong with any of them, then REALLY don’t be a mule; stand up and fight for the money that’s rightfully yours (Chapter 4).

When you get home from work at night- . Instead of sitting down in front of the TV for a mindless three hours of boob-tube watching, actually think about what you are passionate about and what you can provide value to in someone else’s life. This is the key and the beginning to being able to generate extra cash, without even getting a second job (see Chapter 5).

And there you have it, an explanation of what the title really means….

I would like to let you all know of my gratitude and appreciation for your support and readership over the last several months. I know that we are all very busy with our lives and I appreciate you taking the time out of yours to read my words.

I am finally took a major step towards reaching some of my longer term goals. My first book was recently published and is now available for sale at Amazon.com

It is called “Don’t Be A Mule: A Common-sense Guide to Saving More, Spending Less, and Generating Extra Income in Your Everyday Life.” It s based purely on my personal experiences. Namely, the journey that I took from the depths of financial debt to the modest successes that I am experiencing now.

This journey was not a very long one and it was not as hard as I thought it would be. Once I got my mind straight on how I needed to deal with the money that was coming in and going out of my life, it all became pretty basic. Sure, there was some hard work and some sacrifice along the way, but for anyone who thinks that getting out of debt involves years of suffering and foregoing the basic pleasures of life is simply wrong.

The basics that I learned are that it is mostly in your mind. You don’t need huge raises at work to get out of debt; you don’t need to hit the lottery. Honestly, you don’t even need an organized long-term plan. I certainly didn’t have one. If you are deep in debt now, there is a very good reason for it. For most, I would imagine that it is nothing more than living beyond your means. Well, guess what you need to do to solve this? Stop living beyond your means until you are out of debt. Then, you need to live AT your means. Then, you need to work on increasing your means.

If you are in the UK  www.ThinkMoney.com is a useful resource for help and advice on debt.

All of this and more is outlined in my book, and I hope you decide to at least check it out. I think it can provide value to the life of anyone who decides to read it. This journey was the best learning experience I’ve ever had in life, and I think that you can benefit from it too.

Thanks again for your support.

Don’t Be A Mule

To me, there are three basic ways that you can improve your personal economy. You can save more money, you can spend less money on the things you spend money on, and you can generate extra money in your life. And by generating extra money, I am referring to things that you can basically do with your free time to make extra cash, not by going out and finding a second job or anything.

There is a website out there that I recently discovered that to be honest with you, I have no idea how I even got by without it before I found it. It has helped me tremendously in all three areas that I mentioned above, and you could probably go so far as to say that I am addicted to it.

It is called Fat Wallet. Maybe you have heard of it, maybe you haven’t. Before I go any further, I want to be clear about something. I am in no way affiliated with Fat Wallet and I am not paid to promote it or anything like that. It has simply had a huge impact on my ability to impact/improve my personal economy.

If you go to their “Hot Deals” section, you can find discounts/great deals on everything from batteries to diapers to electronics to everything else in between. You can find a variety of mail-in rebates there too where you can get a lot of items for next to nothing.

Additionally, if you check out their forums section, you can find advice and “how to” kind of stuff on topics ranging from beneficial credit cards to mortgages to just about anything else dealing with money.

In my opinion, for the smart shopper, Fat Wallet is a must have in your “Favorites” list. I cannot even begin to add up the amount of money that I have saved going through this site. And I really only discovered it maybe eight months ago.

Check it out, if for nothing more than curiosity’s sake. I wouldn’t bet the farm on it, but if you can’t find at least ONE way to save more or spend less or generate extra money, I’d venture to say that you’re just not looking hard enough.

To learn other great ways to solidify your path to financial freedom, stay tuned for my soon-to-be-published book, “Don’t Be A Mule: A Common Sense Approach to Saving More, Spending Less, and Generating Extra Income in Your Everyday Life.”

Over the past year or so of all the economic uncertainty, I have had discussions with quite a few people who hadn’t lost their jobs, weren’t in any sort of dire financial straits, but were simply looking for ways to supplement their income in some fairly decent fashion.

They didn’t need or want to change careers (nor did they have the time to invest in such a project), they were already living fairly “frugal” lives, and they didn’t have all the spare time in the world. Sounds like they were just out of luck, right?

Actually, no. What I have below is a list of three ways that you can make more money at your current job. These steps really shouldn’t take any extra time, and obviously, they don’t require starting a new job or taking on a second one. They are things that most people could implement on an immediate type basis, and could bring a substantially larger chunk of cash home to your wallet each week. These steps may seem elementary and basic to some, but in my twenty some years in management, it seems to me that these are things that many people simply do not have in place in their professional lives.

Number 1-Show Up On Time. Whenever one of my employees comes to me asking for a raise, do you know what the first thing that I do is? I don’t check their performance history, I don’t check the last time they got a raise, I go and look at one thing-their timecard. And the majority of the time, I can always find some room there for some money that they are simply leaving on the table. If you want to give yourself a raise, and punctuality isn’t one of your stronger points (of course this refers to hourly employees only) why not try showing up for work on time? A quick example. Let’s say you make $15 per hour, and on average you arrive to work 15 minutes late, three times per week. That is $11.25 that you are not paying yourself, each week. Start showing up for work on time each and every day, and you just gave yourself a $585 annual raise.

Number 2—Try. Again, it seems to me that most employees that end up having to come to me (or management in general) and ask for a raise could probably solve this problem by simply trying a little harder. These people typically fall into the category of middle-of-the-road performers. Think about it. The worst performers at any particular company will usually either quit on their own or get terminated. The best performers never have to worry about anything, because management will typically always make sure they’re taken care of. That leaves the middle-of-the-roaders. If you can simply try to get yourself closer to that top performing group, you may find that the raises will make their way to you automatically. And to be honest with you, in a lot of cases, it is not even necessarily about “performance.” I guess a better word would be “effort”. Maybe you’re not the greatest dishwasher in the world, but you show up on time every single day, you give your very best effort each and every day, and you are always there to do what management asks of you. Employees with this kind of track record rarely need to ask for raises.

Number 3-Brown Bag it. I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about, so I won’t go into a detailed explanation. Let’s just do the math. Say you go out to eat five times per week, and spend an average of $5 per lunch (a very conservative estimate). Let’s also say that packing leftovers or some other kind of simple lunch will cost you $1 per lunch (really a pretty accurate figure). So making the switch will save you $20 per week, $80 per month, and just under $1000 per year. Need I say more? Factor in the gas you don’t have to burn going to and from the restaurant and your savings go up even more.

There you have it-three simple ways to increase your earnings without taking on a second job, and without starting your own business. You can adopt these steps into your professional life with virtually no extra time spent and not a whole lot of extra work.

To learn more about ways to improve your personal economy, stay tuned for my soon-to-be-published book, “Don’t Be a Mule: A Common-sense Approach to Saving More, Spending Less, and Generating Extra Income in Your Everyday life.”