Abandon Nest

In this week’s Sunday speed linking we have:

• Does an Elite College Really Pay? - I think it does, but maybe that’s because I’m attending one. Read the article to learn more
• Bargain for Better Living - Ask and ye shall recieve. Some say it still works in today’s world.
• Weekend - I always look forward to it, how about you? Read what you can do to make your weekends exciting.
• The Tortoise Diet - Looking to lose weight? I’m going to start commenting on health and fitness here soon. Get a head start and read Patricia Church’s story.
• Stay Away From the Mall, Hallelujah! - What’s Sunday without a little proclamation? See what Reverend Billy Talen says about personal finance and avoiding temptation.

That’s it for speed linking this Sunday. Enjoy the articles and check back tomorrow for a continuation of the Beginner’s Personal Finance series.

Credit card debt can be a killer financial burden. You pay interest if you carry a balance from month to month. If you miss a payment, you’re hit with a late fee (which is basically throwing money away.) Finally, if you start to fall behind and near the upper boundary of your credit line, your credit score will start to drop. This makes it harder to get the best interest rates on loans and credit in the future. So how do you avoid all these things? Follow my three top tips for avoiding credit card debt, and you should be fine. Here goes:

1. Don’t spend more than you make - This may seem completely obvious to most people, but I know of some individuals that consistently rack up credit card bills that they can’t pay with their current income. I don’t know why they do this, but it’s not a very good practice. Keep track of your receipts and monitor your credit card balance so you know how much you’ve spent during the month. At the end of the month, you should have enough to pay your credit card bill completely.
2. Use credit for things you need, not things you want - I find the best way to do this is to stop and ask yourself, “Do I really need [blank]?” If the blank is something like groceries, then the answer is probably yes. If you find yourself filling the blank with Sony Grand Wega Plasma TV, then I would say your credit card needs to stay in your wallet.
3. Don’t use your credit card at all - Now this may not be very popular with some people, but I find it works for me. My credit card is a backup. It sits in a drawer in my kitchen unless I plan on going out of town or have a major emergency to take care of. If I don’t carry my credit card with me, I can’t use it on a whim or for something I don’t need. See how simple that is?

Obviously these three things won’t work for everyone, so what other suggestions do you have for responsible credit card use?

Technorati Tags: Credit Cards, Debt, Money Management

Do you do any volunteer work in your community? If you do, why do you do it? There are a lot of great reasons to volunteer. You can meet people and make contacts, support an organization that you love, and build skills that will help you in the future. Those are all tangible benefits that you can measure or see. What about the intangible benefits of volunteering?

Yesterday I helped throw a party at a residential facility for troubled boys. The young men there come from broken homes and sometimes suffer from mental and psychological problems as a result of years of mental, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. I was worried about this event, but felt that I should see what these boys were really like before passing any judgment.

The party started with a couple of rousing games of dodgeball. I introduced myself to my teammates and tried to listen to as many of they boys as I could. They were very talkative. It seemed all they needed was a willing ear to listen, and I was glad to lend one.

After the games of dodgeball, we had some pizza and sat around talking with the boys for about 45 minutes. Once again, I was mostly a listener, but I could see the joy on the boy’s faces that came from just having someone to talk to. Now how does this all translate into any kind of benefit?

It ends up that this volunteer experience gave benefits both to the boys that I was helping and to myself. The boys got someone to talk to and play with for a little while. I received a feeling of psychological satisfaction after having influenced other human beings in a mostly positive way. After I left, I felt like I had done some little good for the world, and I was pleased. Do you volunteer and feel this way? Do you recognize the intangible benefits of volunteer and unpaid work that you do?

Technorati Tags: Volunteer Work, Psychological Freedom, Happiness