Forward this to anyone you know who is in personal economic tough times.
Husbanding your money is more important than earning it. If you do the following four things, you may be wealthier this time next year. Teach these steps to your children, too.
The four steps:
- Stop spending
- Sell off excess
- Do not despise the lowly hour
- Make extra money around the edges
One: Stop spending
Ben Franklin said that a person could become wealthy through this one step alone. Simply buy nothing. At 24 he was financially independent. Then, flip those numbers: at 42, he was independently wealthy. "A penny saved is a penny earned." It is stored sweat equity. You don't have to get taxed on it again, nor have to earn it again. You don't have to re-acquire that penny.
Since we are not desire-less creatures, do this with your desires: pray for the object first. Ask God. Wait. Buy nothing on impulse. Noise around that you are in need of such and such, and wait some more. Ask: "Does anybody know of a free ______or the possibility of borrowing a ______"?
For your intellectual needs/growth/stimulation/desires, don't forget inter-library loan, which might get you what you need if it is of an intellectual nature. What’s more, libraries have acquisitions budgets, so you can ask them to purchase something for you to borrow. After all, you are the taxpayer they were designed to serve. Just stop spending. Don't go near a store of any kind, don't browse through catalogs (online or in print) without focus, and you'll reduce your wants. Consciously become a producer rather than a consumer. Barter and trade for everything you possibly can. A close relative recently mentioned that she purposefully bought no clothing for herself last year; in fact, she found she had clothes she no longer wears, and she got rid of them. She felt so good about it, she’s extending that practice into a second year. Keep a little notebook, as Ben Franklin did, recording where he spent his pennies. Yes, husband even the pennies with pen and ink—corral them on a written page of some sort. The keepers of the government would not be in the horrendous mess it is in, if they had shepherded its real pennies in an open accounting book, rather than printing fake money behind closed doors. But the two most important words for us are: stop spending :)
Two: Sell off excess
This is your fastest money. This is your easiest money. You can be richer by nightfall. Use Craigslist, eBay, local bulletin boards and word of mouth. Create a list of things to sell to email to all your personal contacts, too. Next to each object write a suggested price. And mark every item “or best offer.” Turn your stuff into cash. Lists are not garage sale or weather dependent. They can start working for you the very next hour.
Three: Do not despise the lowly hour
Many people are busy, even very busy, while thousands of earning hours slip unnoticed through their hands and they make no headway in building a different future for their own lives. While in debt, evaluate every working hour for its fiscal contribution to your life. What was the fiscal bottom line of my last work-time hour? How can I make my next hour put money into my pocket? Try to aim for working for hire during some part of every day. If you currently don't have a job, try asking of everyone, neighbors, even perfect strangers: "Do you have a one-time job you could pay me to do for you? Do you have some project you've longed to get done but simply have been unable to find the time or energy to do?” You have 7 billion potential employers that way. Clean their car, their house, their garage, their storage shed; sort and organize stuff for them; run errands; list their excess on Ebay for them.
Try putting things on eBay for the elderly—they will give you a percentage of everything you sell for them, because the computer bewilders them. Begin with grandparents, and then other people's grandparents. They have many things they no longer want in their houses. While working for them, ask for referral names of their friends—and those friends will have further friends—that way you will have continuous referrals. Perhaps try baking bread or wholesome brownies to sell. You could make $50 a day doing this. (Stick with selling/trading with people who know you, otherwise you possibly would have to register with a commercial kitchen, etc.).
Wash people's dogs. Sell stuff at the side of the road during community biking/hiking events. Do stuff for the other guy that puts money in your pocket. Make arrangements ahead of time to be available for seasonal work, delivering flowers on Valentine's Day, helping with postal and delivery trucks’ increased needs around Christmas, etc. The key principle here is: when money is flowing, throw yourself into that river until it dries up. Snowstorms mean money for shoveling walks. Windstorms mean picking up yards. Summer means endless yard work, etc. Identify your own specific abilities and talents. Hang out your shingle. What do you do well? What do you do easily that is a bear-cat for the next guy to even consider doing for himself? What lessons can you teach?
You can never, never, never get back this day. You only have today to build a foundation for a different tomorrow. This time next year you will be wealthier—if you make today produce for you. You are never a victim. You alone make your life. Immigrants have passed by generations of ghetto people (even in just a year), because they refused to be a victim and knew the buck stopped with themselves alone. They knew that no one else would ever earn their money for them. You are it. You determine your own future. It begins with a healthy respect for the lowly work-day hour—each lowly hour.
Four: Earn extra, around the edges
Build several home-based businesses. This is the only way to get ahead. Wage earning won't do it. That just keeps you out of jail. You have to earn extra on top of wage earnings. You do this sort of work around the edges. In twilight hours when other people won't allow you to work for them—that is when you work for yourself. You do this work between other jobs, even in daylight hours. Eventually when you are out of debt and this self-business-earning real income now exceeds your wage-earning real income for others, then jump ship into your own generated work totally. Wait until you’re ready for that step, however; because of the need for momentum in any business, 99% of people cannot live on their home-based businesses alone for a good year.
Then, consider following with the A B C’s that are listed below. Remember to tithe all along. This reminds you constantly that the earth is the Lord's and that it is He alone that is bringing you increase (i.e., He is teaching you the wise principles of money management and is arranging your circumstances favorably).
A: Save enough cash for any unforeseen repair bills of any kind, or unforeseen curve balls. $1,000 is enough. Next, take a significant portion of all your earnings and aggressively pay off all debt, beginning with your smallest debt first. Getting out of debt means getting out of slavery. A debt-free life is a flexible life. Any and all options in the entire world open up to you when you are debt-free. It is "whee” time!
B: Next, turn your earned cash into stored food. Buying food today rather than tomorrow will always save you money, because food prices continue to climb. Stored food is insurance and assurance. Do this until you have a three-month supply of bare-boned basics. (And make sure that they are things you like to eat, and that have a long shelf life and will be viable for a long while in your particular climate--even if there is a power outage.)
C: And then, consider sinking something (after tithing) progressively and ongoingly into 100% silver coins. Silver preserves your money from getting eaten up by inflation, and will get your money compounding for you, as it rises in value, while the economies of the world go in the opposite direction into free-falls. This is money that works for you, even while you sleep.
Wealth begins in your head. Apply these four golden principles and by this time next year, your fingers can be triumphantly fiddling with excess money in your own pockets.
Want to read more? Click on the Manage My Home tab of the homeschoolhowtos.com website.
