I’ve said this before, but it’s amazing to me how aggressive credit card companies are, and the lengths they will go to try and “trick” the consumer. Sadly, they succeed more often than not. I think there are many people who don’t take the time to read the fine print, and get screwed in the process.

Over the past year, I’ve paid off a lot of debt. I’m down to nothing but my mortgage and a 2nd mortgage. So, I don’t have any credit cards any more. I’ve been there - done that, and have no intentions of EVER going back. I got an offer the other day that proclaimed in large orange letters on the front, 0% APR FOR LIFE*. They always throw that asterick(*) on there, don’t they? I’m sure that many times, you have heard “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”. I will ammend that right here and now, and say “if it sounds to good to be true, IT IS”….the word probably can be thrown out.

Continue reading…..

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Living beneath your means is the trick. For most people, this is a major struggle. Maybe they have a case of Stuffitis, or maybe they’ve embraced the idea that they’ll never have anything. Without any effort whatsoever, this is the common equation: income increases = bills increase. So in order to live beneath your means, you have to crack this code, and beat the system. Whether you make $1000/month or $50,000/month, you’ll never have any money until you learn keep some of it.

Continue reading…..

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The big harry monster called Stuffitis is coming toward you. You’re running, looking for somewhere to hide. Every step you take, it gets closer. You need some way to kill the beast before it gets the best of you. In the back of your mind, you’ve already made the decision that this isn’t the path you want to take in life. Being caught in the grasp of Stuffitis is a sure-fire way of keeping you from living beneath your means, which is the only way to win with money. The more you want stuff, the more time, energy, and money you will waste in pursuit of stuff. The more you look and admire, the more that superficial want is ingrained in your mind that you need it. Then your mind begins to subconsiously search for ways in which you could make possessing it a reality. This my friends, is the essence of stuffitis. Continue reading…..

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Last night I watched one of my favorite movies of all time, The Edge, starring Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin. Despite the lackluster title, the movie is a very inspiring story of a small group of people who are trapped in the Canadian wilderness after a plane crash. As the layers are peeled away, greed, betrayal, and murder all come to the forefront, despite the dependency they have on one another just to survive.

One of the things that I particularly like about the movie, is that it contains many memorable one-liners that inspire and open the imagination to success and overcoming obstacles. Continue reading…..

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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about all the vast opportunities there are around all of us daily, that we just don’t recognize. For instance, take the internet. If you’re like me, you probably spend a lot of time on the net. I spend a LOT of time online, yet don’t make any money online. I actually think I understand several different ways to profit. So why am I not doing it?

Looking for Opportunities

The trick is to spot real opportunities and know how to recognize them amidst all the over-hyped-easy-cash-programs. Real opportunities don’t come with a start-up kit. The older I get, the more I realize that the way to spot opportunites, is to question everything. Everything we do and every product we use, is there a better way to do it or use it? That’s the kind of questions that help you spot opportunites. Or realizing the direction of a new trend, and getting in front of it with solutions to the problems that will be common………find a need, and fill it.

Here’s a Sure-Fire Way to Attract Opportunity

One sure-fire way to attract opportunity, is to always have some cash set aside for true bargains. How many times have you run accross something that you knew was a super-bargain price, yet had to pass because you didn’t have the funds? That all starts with living beneath your means, which I’ve learned to do the hard way. But when you have some money set aside, there are always bargins…..things you can buy cheap and sell on eBay or other auction websites.

The Opportunity Frequency

I plan to tune in to the airwaves of opportunity better. I look back over the past couple of years, and I can see several great opportunities that came by……either I didn’t recoginize them at the time, or I was broke. Thankfully, both situations can be overcome.

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In my last post, I mentioned that I wanted to broaden the topic on Living Switch. Rather than the complete focus being on me, and my journey of climbing out of the pits of debt(which I’m still on track, btw), I want the blog to focus on both you and me. Rather than just about money, I want the topic to be about life, and making your life better. Maybe you’re stuck in a job you don’t like, or you’re toting around debt that’s holding you back in life. I want to explore that, and how to overcome those circumstances.

I don’t measure a man’s success by how high he climbs but by how high he bounces when he hits bottom. - George Patton

Regardless of the situation you are presently in, there is a whole world out there. It’s so easy to get caught up in our own little bubble and live life going through the motions. Now is the time to break out of that!

Don’t Wait on Perfect Circumstances

Personally, I spent a lot of time thinking I had to wait and get everything just right before I started really trying to reach for what I wanted in life. One day I realized that the circumstances would never be just right, but the years keep passing. The more I’ve thought about it, the more I realize that everyone has a reason or an excuse for why they aren’t where they want to be. People who have reached their goals and are actively living the life they want, don’t slow down to reflect on why they aren’t where they want to be. They just keep plowing through whatever obstacles get in the way.

There Will Always Be Obstacles…….

Even if all you want is to sit in your living room and watch TV, there are obstacles.

So the questions is, how much can you take? No matter what it is you want, there are obstacles to overcome. Even if all you want is to sit in your living room and watch TV, there are obstacles. You will be interupted by the telephone, or the electricity will go out, or an un-announced visitor will drop by, or………..you get the idea. No matter what you want, there is always something to overcome.

What is one thing you and do today that would be a step in the right direction? Just one thing…..no matter how big or small. If something comes to mind, do it. Don’t worry about whether everything is just right, just do it. Tomorrow I want you to repeat the process. I believe if we take one step, even if it’s a small step, we are closer than we were.

What About You?

Do you have a habit of waiting till every thing is “just right”? Have you put your goals off until later? Do you have dreams and goals?

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