Save or Spend?

Growing up I was a saver.  Even after I got married, we saved.  Then somewhere along the line we started spending. And then Dan was born, and we spent more for co-payments and medical supports that weren't covered by insurance.  And now Shelby.  Thankfully we have been blessed with a basement full of toys, some of which were Dan's, others were hand me downs.  We have also been blessed with family and friends from near and far who have purchased clothes and diapers.  We did not ask for these, people just love us and love Shelby.

Which leads me to a question, or a few questions.  Would you be able to ask for financial help?  Or admit you are a saver or a spender?  Would you be able to pull youself out of a financial hole without bankruptcy?

If you've read my blog for awhile, I've written about Lauren and her website I Am THAT Lady.  Lauren started her website about 6 years ago as another piece in her quest to get out of the credit card debt that she put her family in.  Lauren has also been on Dr. Oz, the Today Show, and Good Morning America, among other shows.

Well, Lauren has a new book out, The Recovering Spender which I was thrilled to be able to preview.  In it, she details how she got into the debt (and it isn't as simple as "I charged everything on my credit card.").  After she very candidly opens up about her life, and her spending addiction, she walks you through 12 steps that she took to get herself out.  And stay out.

It's one thing to be in debt and get out.  It's another to understand why you got in debt in the first place and how you can stay out.  Lauren walks you through all the steps to understand your reasons for spending.  She makes you evaluate every dollar spent.  She helps you assess what are need and what are wants, and are your needs really your wants?  She gives you actual practical steps to take.  This isn't theory or "pie in the sky" advice.

For example, Step 5 has you printing all your credit card and bank statements for a few months and categorizing each transaction so you get an average amount of spending per category.  Later steps help you identify where you can lower your spending in certain categories.

These steps are easy enough for anyone to do them  - from a fresh out of school college student, to an established career person, to a family, to grandparents.

Even if you consider yourself a saver, or are on good financial footing, reading through her book and going through the steps if well worth it.

And for a limited time, Lauren is giving away over $100 worth of freebies if you buy the book.   These freebies include budgeting and planning worksheets and her other books!  After you buy the book, head on over to the book's website to claim your goodies.

Do you read Huffington Post?

Huffington Post had an article recently on grief.  You can read the article here.

The author writes about a bunch of myths and realities of grief.  Anyone who has experienced grief (which will be all of us eventually) can relate to at least a few of the situations in the article.

Here are a few quotes from the article that stood out to me:

It’s become easier to hide our emotional depth than to reveal our vulnerability and risk harsh judgment. When asked if we are alright, it’s simpler to say yes and fake a smile then, to be honest, and show genuine human emotion.

... 

Western culture asks us to suppress our pain, stuff our emotions and restrain our cries. Social media has given many who grieve the opportunity to open up dialogue, be vulnerable on a large scale level and take the combined heat that comes with that honesty. As a whole, society does not want to hear or accept that grief stays with us in some capacity for the rest of our lives. Just like so many other aspects of our culture, we want to hear there is a quick fix, a cure-all, a pill or a healthy dose of “get over it” to be handed out discreetly and dealt with quietly.