I have a challenge for you readers. I double dog dare you to not spend money on anything frivolous today. So that would mean cutting out all of the following today and donating it towards charity. This would include:

- Starbucks

- Clothes you don’t need

- Computer toys you don’t need

The list can go and on. That is my plan for today. I am going to attempt to spend $0 today. My car has a good tank of gas and I have plenty of food in my house so this should not be a problem.

Instead I am going to spend my time on poverty. Not just thinking about. But acting on it. Once I actually sat down and thought about it there is so much that I do take for granted. From having a roof over my head to shoes on my feet. I tend to ignore those that are less fortunate than me. I ignore them on the street. I change the channel on late night TV. I say not interested and hang up on every charity call I get.

That is not the person I want to be . Is that the person you want to be? If not what are you going to do about it? And when are you going to start.

I am huge fan of a debt free life. And you should be too. You’d be hard pressed to convince me the merit of the phrases “good debt” and “bad debt”. It is debt, and you need to be on a mission to kill it every single hour of every single moment.

Here are my very simple ways of how to do it every single day:

1. Automate: I don’t trust myself to remember anything any more. Not to invest. Not to make a payment on time. Not to save for a rainy day. So I use my banks automatic transaction feature and I put all of my saving and investing on autopilot. I spend the money in my checkbook well ahead of time. All of the bills are on autopilot. I can probably disappear for a year and all of my finances are taken care of. Nothing will be late. If you want to stop stressing out about money and debt put everything on auto pilot. Especially savings and investing.

2. Put ‘em away: You cannot use it if you don’t have it on you. DO NOT CARRY YOUR CREDIT CARDS. As I open my wallet right now and look I do not have a single credit card on my. I have 2-3, but they are over in my desk drawer (I hope). I don’t have them on me so I cannot do that quick mental justification of using one when I see a deal. If I am out shopping and I don’t have my regular debit card and I need to use the CC then I am SOL. I’ll have to come back and buy it later. But by that time I will have found the debit card or usually gone to the ATM for cash.

3. Be happy with what you have: A lot of credit card debt comes from material acquisions. I want more stuff. Gimme Gimme Gimme NOW. Even if you don’t have the cash a credit card gives you a great way to get it all now… NOT (80′ s  joke thrown in for effect). If you look around your life and your abode you will realize that you have what you need to survive. A roof over your head, a decent job, and (hopefully) another person to keep you happy. Everything else is gravy and sprinkles on top. If you look at it all with what you have vs. what you have not your outlook and your pocket book will be a lot happier.

4. Nothing but the cash: Learn to live off of the greenbacks. Going for groceries? Cash only. Going for Gas? Cash only. This is a great way to get an idea of the physical amount of money you are spending. You will subconciously get greedy and want to spend less. For some reason parting with a bunch of Benjamins is a lot harder than a single credit card swipe.

5. Rinse, Lather, Repeat: Are you living a LIE? You should be. Go to your computer desktop right now and start A-LIE file for July 2007: Assets Liabilities Income and Expense. 8 columns. First one is the title of the asset, 2nd is the cash amount. So and so forth for the liabilities, Income and Expenses. As much as possible document every dollar that you know about that is coming or going in the house. Look it over and see where you can trim the fat. Then add a reminder to your calendar to update it monthly starting in August. Make sure you keep the ones from the previous month. Once you have a picture of what your numbers are doing you will subconciosuly pay more attention to the dollars you spend every day. You can’t help it.

I am curious as to your top 5 tips. Let’s hear ‘em!

Ahhhh. We made it. Another week on the web and another week of a productive live has been completed.

Here are my regular Friday recommended links:

This is a great book to buy and keep buy your bed. Read one paragraph every other day and I promise life and lifes troubles will not seem so bad.

As a Man Thinketh

CaseySoftware gave a short review of one my other ventures (Yes – me plugging someone plugging me!). Thanks Casey.

BatteryFuel Shopping Cart Magic

If you are a brave soul that feels like make your own healthy drinks check this out over at ‘Success Begins Today’

Create your own healthy beverages

Someday I imagined an army of blogs about subjects that I could write about until I saw this over at ‘One Year Goal’

The thing about multiple blogs

Are online advertising costs going up? I sure hope now but they just might be. Check out…

Increased Innovation in online marketing is driving up costs

Please take a mental pause to remember those we lost on the bridge collapse in MN. Life comes and goes in the most unexpected ways sometimes. The person next to you – be it wife, mother, child, brother, co worker – may not be here in 24 hours. Take the time now to let them know you care, and that any disagreements are minor in the big scheme of things.

XO my friends,
Patrick