Break Up

Making Progress - Up And Down

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Sunday 31st January 2010, 8:32pm

The shift change at work has happened, and the department I work in has now been reduced from 5 members to just 2, of which I'm one of them. One of my colleagues has retired, rather than face signing on, and the other two have been laid off.

Finished. The end of a five year chapter whilst I've been there.

That now puts in a "proper" job for the first time since 1987, when I started working nights. I now work days, Monday to Friday, and for me, this is going to represent a massive life and culture change for me. I know, given time, that working days will be beneficial for me, as, as human beings, we are not designed to work nights.

This has been my first designated weekend off for ages. I've finished my membership site now, which went live about three hours ago as I write this, and I now only have to update the site on a weekly basis with new downloads for the members.

I'm sorting out my new schedule now as with only two days off in a row, then working 5, my time is really pushed. I am trying to devote one weekend day to the business only; as I still have to do "normal" things like mowing the lawn, household duties and so on, and I'm trying to re-arrange my life so that I work 5 days in the job, the business for one day, and leave the seventh day for the household responsibilities.

It's hard going fitting everything in. Before I used to work 8 or 9 days/nights straight, then have 5 off. See the difference?

It is even more important now that my business income starts to become residual, repeating and still comes in without any hands on work from me for 6 days a week. That's the idea behind the membership site. Tying this in with my eBay store and Amazon book store gives me 3 streams of passive income.

That's got to be a good start to my 2010 debt free strategy, hasn't it?

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How Supermarkets Get Us To Spend Our Money

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Wednesday 20th January 2010, 7:30pm

Isn't it amazing? For most of us, the weekly shop is just that; buy the food and supplies we need for the week. For the supermarket, it's a major battle for them to get us to spend more more money every time we go in there.

By far, the most prevalent and annoying trick they use is to regularily move their stock - and aisles- around, making it harder for us to find the stuff we want. The common accepted psychological reason for this is simply to get us to spend more time in the store as individuals, as the longer we stay, the more we spend. Moving regular lines to different parts of the store is just one way of doing this, as we are forced to look for what we need - passing many other aisles in the process.

Eye Level Marketing - this technique is where the stores place the products with the highest profit margin at eye level. This conforms with a basic human instinct of saving time - we are apt to choose what we see first rather than physically stop and visually scan the aisles for the products we really want. Proof? The cheapest items are almost always on the lowest shelf - keeping them out of normal vision, and forcing us to physically stop and bend down to buy them when we do find them.

The Man Hater Policy - next time you're in a store, watch out for the men. They'll be 'boomeranging'. Men will buy just what they want or need, they simply turn around and walk back they way they came. The boomerang. The stores countermand this by putting popular mens lines, major items, and high profit items, at the furthest point of the aisle, forcing us to walk all the way to get what we need.

Always eat before you go shopping - the stores entice us with smells of freshly baked bread to make us feel hungry as we walk around. Hungry shoppers buy more food and make the superstore more money by buying snacks, chocolate and so on at the point of sale or the checkouts so we buy even more. Whats more, the point of sale units with chocolate and sweets (candy if you're American) are always low down - just at the right height for children to see and hassle mom or dad for a treat on the way through the checkout. Never go shopping when you're hungry. It's a proven winner with the supermarkets - and a proven money loser for the consumers.

Essentials are never at the front of the store - the idea behind this is simple - it forces you to walk through the store to get what you need - and often, buying things you didn't plan on buying on the way. Impulse purchases are very big business for all supermarkets.

The supermarkets overall strategy is simple - the longer they get us to stay in store, the more we spend. Couple that with the psychological impulse creating strategies they use while we are actually in the store makes it a surefire winner for the supermarkets - and a certain loser for the consumer.

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Using Software To Start An Easy Home Business

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Monday 18th January 2010, 9:54pm

There's never been an easier time, or way, to start your new home business for pennies. And it's so simple.

Everyone in the human race has their own individual strenths and weaknesses, and if you could start a new home business around a common weakness then you're onto a ready made money earner. There's no need to go to college or buy expensive books or courses. These days, you can learn a new skill in the comfort of your own home within hours or days using specialist software programs.

Manufacturers have caught onto this need in the market and are releasing new software programs to fill the need in the market. To get a quick, effective and successful new home business up and running quickly, all you need to do is identify a common weakness in the local skills market, learn that skill using easy to obtain, relatively cheap to buy, software and you're away. More so, if you can learn a new skill that can be sold to businesses under a business to business basis, which will help your ensure your new income will jump start your business quickly.

So, what skills can you learn? Concentrating on the business to business niche, there are regular weaknesses which are key skills for you to learn. Examples of such skills are Excel database, web server applications, such as databases, php, web page design & building, spreadsheet applications such as Lotus, sales techniques, book keeping and accounts, motivational presentations and so on.

Every single weakness - your new income opportunity - is available on easily obtainable learning software. Software has distinct advantages over books as you can learn the program on a practical basis using simulated software and learning environments on your home PC, valuable, first, hands on experience, that no book can ever give you.

Once you learn your new skill, you don't have to physically work using the program itself to earn money. You could, for example, set yourself up as a consultant and pass your new skills onto others by teaching them your new found skills.

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Ultimate Quick Start 2010 Debt Clearance Plan

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Wednesday 13th January 2010, 9:40am

January is the year's only five week month, this report is designed to help those in debt crisis start to make headway in clearing their debts quickly and start to make a real improvement in their financial status starting today.

To start off with, here’s a way to stretch out your finances to start this new year. January is this years only 5 week month, but February is this years shortest. So if you must, access a little of February’s cash now.

The easiest way is to spend on an empty credit card then repay it IN FULL next month to avoid interest. If you’re worried that your debts are spiralling out of control, now’s the time to draw up a strict household budget. Make sure all your essentials are included in your budget, such as the rent or mortgage and all utility bills.

With immediate effect cut all out ALL luxury and non essential spending. Immediately. Make savings where possible, especially when you’re doing the weekly shop. Consider switching utility suppliers. Switch debts to cheaper suppliers where possible, for example, become what’s known as a ‘Card Tart’, switching balances to alternative, cheaper cards.

There are still a few zero percent interest deals availablem, and if you’ve got a good credit rating, then this should be an obvious step for you.

If you have alot of really expensive debts, consider moving them all onto a single low cost personal loan account. in the Uk, rates are now under ten percent for those with decent credit ratings. Look for a second part time job to raise extra income. Pay all extra cash you earn directly to pay down debts.

Making the minimum monthly payment on cards will not clear debt quickly and you obviously end up paying much higher amounts over the long term. Never take on more debt. Stop spending on all credit cards, dismiss, outright, all expensive credit offers in shops. If you have serious debt problems, seek advice immediately. I know that this is much easier said than done – and that’s from personal experience.

If you are struggling to make repayments, renegoiate the terms of your credit agreements where possible. Ignoring the problem now will store up much bigger problems later

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Why It's Not Worth Working A Second Job To Clear Debts

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Wednesday 13th January 2010, 9:35am

I've just turned down a second part time job, or at least, decided not to apply for it. The job pays £6.50 an hour and I would have worked every weekend, making my working week seven days weekly.

This flies against my self imposed debt management plan, and it's a decision I haven't taken lightly. So why did I turn it down?

Its a conscientious decision. Working 8 hours two days weekly, less half hour for a dinner break (lunch as some people call it here), would give me a total of 15 hours weekly. 15 hours at £6.50 equates to a weekly wage of £97.50 a week, which on the face of it is good. Take off tax and national insurance though, which I've worked out to be £22.43 a week (at 23% - which would probably be more as it would be classed as a 2nd job) leaves me with £75.07.

The job's in Taverham, which would cost me £7.00 a day diesel to get there, so that's another £14.00 off the grand total, which means that I would only be £61.07 in profit, or a total of just over £30.53 a day. The £61 weekly pick up pay is still a good sum, but the truth is, I can get that from a car boot in one day, especially if I back that up with ebay sales.

But, even more than that, I'd get more than that staying at home, booking my weekends off as holiday from my job, and working the car boots and ebay. I'd double my weekend take home pay by working my holidays and adding car boots and ebay to the equation.

That's why it's not worth working a job to clear my debts. I can do far more myself by leaving myself free.

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