On Surviving A Personal Financial Crisis - And Other Personal Finance Subjects Like Loans, Credit, Debt, Debt Management, And Saving Money

So the great recession is coming to an end. At least the experts say it is. I don’t know about you but I am still in survival mode. I am still cutting coupons, cutting expenses, and finding new ways to make alternate money. Buying gas grills and planning barbecues was the last thing on my mind. But, one thing I realized, recently, is that with all the money stresses, worries about buying clothes for my daughter, paying for her college fund, retirement, and whether or not I’ll have a job next week, life had become pretty dull. So doing the research on which gas grill to buy was a much needed distraction.

One thing you cannot forget about, is why you are stressing. For me, at least, I stress about money issues because I love my family. I want them to live stress free. I don’t want them to worry about money. If they want to pursue a hobby I want to be able to provide that opportunity for them.

Getting caught up in the economic crisis, and how long it has lasted, I, to a certain extent, lost touch with the most important things in my life. My family. So, I sat down and thought about different ways I can reconnect with them, make them feel loved, and ways to nurture that relationship. But, at the same time stay true to my budget, a newly found frugal ways. And then I had a brilliant idea. Barbecuing.

Who doesn’t like a good barbecue. It is a great way to bring friends and family together for a fun bonding time. The only thing was I did not have a grill. Frugality kicked in and I realized that barbecuing is not only a great way to bond with family and friends irt really is a cheap way to cook.

Gas grills, charcoal grills, smokers, and oh my, so many choices. Which should I buy and how much is too much. You would think buying a gas grill would be an easy thing to do. But, when you know nothing about them it can be a daunting task. Do you buy a 2 burner, three burner, etc..do you buy a natural gas grill, propane grill, charcoal grill. The choices are pretty endless. Just feeling a bit overwhelmed about these choices.

To make a long story short, I decided on a gas grill. Gas grills are great because of their ease of use and cleanup. Also, we live in Florida, so having a gas grill will make things much easier if a hurricane was ever to hit our area.

Once I finally decided on the type of gas grill to buy, my frugal side kicked in again and I realized that this is the perfect time to make a purchase. It is winter and near the end of the year. Gas grills are out of season, new models are yet to come out for the new year, and businesses are looking to sell off their current stock, that is just sitting there gathering dust and cobwebs.

I haven’t made a choice on which gas grill to buy or the type of gas grill to buy. But, I am scouring the papers and local retailers looking for the best deals.

Spring is only a few months away. I plan on being ready.

On my way to work one morning, stuck in rush hour traffic, I looked out at the people in the other cars. I was struck by a realization, that although the people around me are all affected one way or another by the recession it was affecting them each in their own individual way. Following that line of thought, I realized that the idea of surviving a recession would probably have a different definition for each person. While some people have been directly affected by the recession, other people only know of the recession in news stories. People that know someone that has been directly affected by the recession, either themselves, friend or family, would look at surviving the recession in a completely different manner than someone that only knows of the recession from reading news articles about the recession or watching the nightly news. So that got me thinking about how surviving a recession would be defined by different people.

Obviously, surviving a recession means different things to different people. Read more »

If you are prepared for a recession then the you should be able to prosper during the recession. Being able to prosper during a recession is where you want to be financially. In my lifetime there have been five recessions; 1973, 1980, 1990, 2001, and 2008. Of the first four how often did you wish you had been in a position to take advantage of cheaper real estate or cheap stocks. If you were old enough to have understood the opportunities, and I guess cared, then you remember thinking about wanting to have been in a position to take advantage of the financial opportunities that a recession can bring. Most recessions in modern history have been very short only lasting a year or two. But, before the 1960s recessions usually lasted for at least five years. Can you imagine an economy so bad that it takes five years for it to recover. The longest recession in U.S. history lasted for twenty-three years. The point is that if you prepare for a recession you can prosper during a recession. many people who are wealthy today became rich because they were in the right place at the right time, and they were prepared. Read more »

Good planning is essential to prepare for a recession. Just because the recession does not seem to be affecting you know does not mean that you should not plan and prepare for the possibility that the recession will inject itself into your life. Preparing for a recession means setting aside funds to cover expenses if a layoff occurs. Preparing for a recession means creating a budget so you are able to make the necessary critical choices. Preparing for a recession means tracking your expenses so that if you have to make budget cuts you can make intelligent decisions that will not affect your financial future or your current lifestyle.

There are three things you need to do to properly prepare for a recession. Read more »

Many times when preparing for a recession people do not think of reducing debt as a strategy. But, if you have sufficient income and are able to save money to be used for surviving a recession and you have a good chunk left over you should really consider paying down your debt as a means of further protecting yourself from a recession.

Every bit of debt that you pay off increases your monthly cash flow. The better your monthly cash flow the better your chances are of surviving a recessions. Over the last thirty or forty years many people have used credit cards, home equity lines of credit, and other debt instruments as a means to live beyond their income capabilities. Read more »

Creating multiple small streams of income is probably one of the best ways to prepare for a recession. It is not just enough to increase you income as a means of surviving a recession. If you loose that single source of income the recession will affect you just the same. By, increasing your income through multiple small streams of income your are protecting that new income by spreading it over multiple sources. This means that if one stream of income dries up it will not affect your strategy for surviving a recession as much as if you had only a single source of income.

Preparing for a recession requires the implementation of two actions. Either reducing expenditures or increasing income; or both. These are the only ways to survive a recession. By creating multiple small streams of income you are hedging against the possibility that any one single income source will disappear. Read more »

Increased income is critical to surviving a recession. Preferably, this new found income should not come from your current job. It should come from alternate sources like a second job, contract work, new small business, or even an online business. If you are someone that has cut their expenditures to the bone but still do not make enough money to save to prepare for a recession or make the critical decisions necessary to survive a recession, then for all intent and purposes preparing for a recession, to you, means increasing your income. By the same token, if you are someone that has enough income to make those critical decisions but your job is in jeopardy then surviving a recession means increasing your income as well. Surviving financially during hard economic times like recessions means maintaining or increasing your income. You want to avoid taping into reserves like retirement accounts and your children’s college funds. Read more »

I guess it is pretty common sense that if you want to survive a recession you need to keep your job. Not everyone is affected by a recession during at the same time. Many people do not even think about the recession until it starts to affect them. Surviving a recession means that you and your family are not financially ruined. It means that you and your family have not only a roof over your head, a place to live, but that you are able to sustain your current life style. Everything else is extraneous expense. Unfortunately, until people have to start making the tough decisions about paying a power bill or making a mortgage payment they never think about surviving a recession. And, most people do not think they have to make those tough decisions until after they loose their jobs. Your best bet to survive a recession is to stay employed. But, that does not mean you should not prepare for a recession. If you prepare for a recession before you loose your job or suffer some other financial set back then you will be able to ride out the bad economy retaining your current life style. Read more »

Surviving a recession will be much easier for you if you are already a frugal person. Frugality is a mind set. Those that have this mind set are, by their very nature, prepared for tough times and are already prepared for the potential recession. A frugal person is a thrifty person. They weigh the prose and cons of spending money and take more time to determine if the money they do spend is going to pay off. It is this thrifty mindset that enables a frugal person to plan for surviving a recession and not even know it.

There is a difference between a frugal person and a cheap person. Being cheap only means that you purchase lower cost items. Being cheap does not necessarily mean that you are capable of preparing for a recession. Read more »

Lets be frank most of us do not save money. If you are worried about a recession and are thinking about how to prepare for a recession, for you, then you need to learn how to save money. It is that simple. Surviving a recession means knowing how to save money. Surviving a recession means knowing how to save money so you can retain the life style you are used to while you are actually going through the recession. When I say saving money I don’t just mean clipping coupons I mean knowing how to think through how to make the right choices so you do not cause your expenses to go up but still retain your life style. You have to decide if retaining your life style is as important as financially surviving a recession. Strategically thinking through the choices you make today and understanding how they will affect you financially in the future is key to preparing for a recession while maintaining your current lifestyle

Saving money as a strategy to prepare for a recession means making tough choices that you otherwise would not normally make. Read more »