Is Commitment Out Of Fashion?

A few weeks ago one of my kids moved back to Phoenix from L.A. I agreed to help her with last minute packing and driving the rental truck. It was good father-daughter time and I looked forward to it. She is her father’s daughter. Arrangements had been made well ahead of time for people to load the truck, take a TV and microwave she didn’t want to move, pick up a car she was donating to a charity, disconnect the cable, and do the final walk through of the apartment. Each of these was reconfirmed one or two days beforehand.

One the day of the move, the packers had dropped her from their schedule. The fellow who was going to pick up the microwave decided after several text messages that he didn’t really want it enough to come get it. For some reason the women who was getting the TV thought she was to pick it up on Sunday, not Friday. The cable company had no record of the pick up of the equipment. The tow truck to pick up the car was late. Even the apartment representative was 45 minutes later than the agreed upon time. Read the Rest of This Article »

8 Steps to Free Up More Free Time

We are always looking for ways to make more productive use of our time. Do you always seem to be playing catch up? Do you end your day with a longer to-do list than you started? Are you stressed over how you spend your time? Here are eight steps you can take right now to help regain control of your clock.

Eliminate time wasters. At the top of the list is television. The average American watches 5 hours of TV a day. That equals an incredible 6 full days in front of the tube each month. What could you do with an extra 6 days this month? Turn off the television and find out. Read the Rest of This Article »

1 Simple Decision That Gives You Financial Independence

A recent survey showed that 60% of us don’t keep a budget. Close to 20% hasn’t a clue where their money goes each month, yet 43% do spend more each year than they earn. Almost a third pay no attention to interest rates on their credit cards, even while carrying an average debt of $15,000 per household.

How can this head-in-the-sand approach to managing money end in anything other than disaster? Look at our economy over the last two or three years and the answer is obvious: it doesn’t. You can’t ignore the basic laws of economics. You can’t spend more than your take in without paying the consequences. Read the Rest of This Article »