paranoid!

I'm not paranoid! Which of my enemies told you this?

Trying to Clean Up the Mess

I recently wrote about some trouble I was having with a company that socked my account for the their full membership fee, instead of just the monthly fee. I did not mention the company, although one person assumed it was from late night TV. I will continue to not mention their name, but will say that I have done business with them in the past (2 or 3 years ago) and it was a great part-time job. They are a warehouse, and most businesses that use a warehouse have to pay a membership fee, unless they own the warehouse themselves.
At any rate, I went to Bank of America and asked them to please put a few of the fees back. I was told that their computer wouldn't let them do that in most cases. She then typed into her computer the request and the computer came back with an authorization to replace $43 of my funds. Geez, thanks, I am trying to end the cycle, and my bank doesn't have any mercy. I tried to to talk to the customer service people at their 800 # about filling a claim and they told me it was a billing issue and therefore has to be taken care of with the business that I am having problems with.
Then that evening, three of the automatic drafts for car payments and such, hit my account again, and Bank of America charged my account overdraft fees again ($35 each) for a $105.
This weeks check has hit the account and is setting there as pending until Thursday morning. However, when it is fulling deposited, I will have a whopping $19.50 in my bank account. At least it will be positive again, as long as nothing else tries to automatically charge or recharge my account. I still will have trouble paying for anything, until I can stop this cycle.
Something, I have also been considering, is going to my Edwards-Jones guy and selling my $125+ mutual fund (auto savings) to help with this problem. I really don't want to, but I think I may have no other choice, as my emergency fund no longer has any free money it (the minimum balance is $100 or $25 if I close the safe deposit box). What few (sharebuilder) stocks I have are so small, that commission fees would take almost all of them, if I tried to cash them out.
I would love to get a second job, if I can find a job that would not interfere with my current job, where I am a member of the management team. One person suggested going back to school, so I could move up in my current job, what they may not realize is that I work retail, which typically has low wages, and moving up is a thing of hard work and being in the right place at the right time. For me, I have managed most all the departments in the store, before moving into store management. Most others in my position, moves straight into store management. Any how as I said, I would love to find a second job, that wouldn't hurt me at my current job.
I still would like to be the next Ron Burkle, who was broke and recently fired, when he gathered a group of investors (including Warren Buffett) and started buying up chains of grocery stores. He is now a multi-billionaire and sold most of those stores to Kroger's, while others were sold to Safeway, and in the case of the company I work for Associated Wholesale grocers (the largest grocery co-op in the country).
Not sure, what else I can do, but those are the things I have thought of. Any other thoughts.

4 out of the 5

4 out of the 5 voices in my head tell me to go back to sleep

Words from Ben Franklin

From the Book: The Most Amazing American Benjamin Franklin, Country Beautiful Foundation

You are about to put yourself under the tyranny of debt when you run in debt for such dress,..when you have your bargain, you may, perhaps, think little of the payment. But creditors, says Poor Richard, have better memories than debtors and then as he says, the borrower is slave to the lender and the debtor to the creditor. Disdain the chain, preserve your freedom, and maintain your independency. ....At present you may think yourself in thriving circumstances and that you can bear a little extravagance without injury, but for age and want, save while you may, for as Poor Richard says, no morning sun lasts a whole day.

Isn't it amazing that while people try to rationalize reasons for credit, that not only the Bible, but also good 'Ole "atheist" Ben Franklin even said to avoid debt.

And that's my view, what do you think?

Jeremiah 29:19

Because they have not listened to and heeded My words, says the Lord, which I sent to them persistently by My servants the prophets; but you [exiles] would not listen [either], says the Lord.

Has Anyone Heard of These?

I was reading Amy Bass' page over at My Debt Free Goal. and she is using some online resources that I had never heard of. Are any of you familiar with CashCrate, Fairy Tale Treasures, Gangster Greed or Readers Paid?

Sir! What Debt? Sir!

Have you seen that commercial for the tide stain stick? In case you have missed it. Here is the jest of the commercial. A group of soldiers fall into line, for an inspection. As the Sargent goes down the line, he notices a ketchup stain on one of the soldiers shirts. As the Sargent begins to holler about the stain, the soldier is secretly handed a tide stain stick. He then quickly treats the stain. The commercial ends with the Sargent walking back to the soldier and asking what he has to say for himself. The young private responds, "Sir! What stain? Sir!" The Sargent shocked, looks down, and not seeing the stain anymore asks, "OH, what did they send me? A Houdini?"

So what does this have to do with personal finance? Wouldn't it be nice, if there was a product on the market, that made getting rid of debt as easy as the stain stick gets rid of a stain?

There is a reason it isn't that easy. Actually several reasons. One is the lenders don't want it to be that easy. As the Bible says, "The borrower is SLAVE to the lender." The other and more important reason, is if it was that easy to just eliminate our debt, we would not learn good money management skills.

That is what we must learn, and it is not an easy lesson to learn. As I have mentioned often in this blog, I struggle with this. The principle is so basic and so simple, yet so hard for our society to grasp. I may not be rich yet, but I understand this basic principle to become rich, I need to spend less then I make.

Obviously, to do this, one of the things I MUST do is stop borrowing and stop paying interest. You cannot borrow your way out of debt. No! As Dave Ramsey's grandma is so famous for saying, "There is only one place to go, when you're broke. To work!" So if you're looking for a simple way to get out of debt. It is simple, in theory, but it isn't going to be quick. It is going to be a lot of hard work!


And that's my view, what do you think?