Thoughts On Finance

It is time to start thinking outside the box when it comes to making money.  Conventional jobs are becoming more and more scarce, and yet people are still in need of money to survive.  What can you do if this is you? You have cut back everyway you can think of, and yet you are still struggling just to pay the bills and eat.  Maybe, you have even suffered a layoff, or a cut back in your hours, making things tighter than they have ever been before.

Everywhere you look people are saying SAVE, but you are thinking I can’t afford to save, I can’t even afford to survive.  Okay, then this is the blog for you.  It is time to begin thinking about skills and abilities that you possess that you can use to generate more money.

Here are some really simple ideas that could generate you some dollars for you with very little or no overhead at all:

1.  Start A Cleaning Business.  Office cleaning, house cleaning, many people use a cleaning service, and with only a few supplies you can start up a business that you can work on your own schedule.

2.  Tutoring.  If you are good at a certain subject, take on tutoring.  You can even hang up signs or put ads in the newsletter at your local schools.

3.  Find Treasures.  Some people are good at thrift store shopping and can find things that are worth a lot for a little, then they resell them online and make good money doing this.  It takes a good eye for this one.

4.  Babysit.  Another way to pick up some extra money.  If you don’t like kids then this is not for you.

5.  Lawn Service.  Believe it or not, this is one of the most lucrative home businesses and affords you to make some really nice money with just the few lawn tools that you already have.

6.  Handyman, maintanence.  If you are handy, then advertise your services.  With more and more women living on their own, this is a business that is always in demand.  Even the women who can handle some of the jobs around the house, usually can’t keep up with all of it.  This type of business could also be a renovation business if you are that handy.

7.  Buy and Sell.  Many people are buying things wholesale and marking them up like the retailers do.  With the help of the internet you can do this too.  Start by looking up wholesale companies and see if you think that you found something that would be worthwhile to sell.  Stay away from knick nacks, with the failing economy these will be the last items that people will be buying.

There are lots of great ideas out there, so think outside the box and get on your way to finding some money out there that you didn’t even know existed.  There is always need, you just have to find it.

Most American’s are thinking that with a National Debt of over 10 Trillion dollars why is this guy already spending this much money when he hasn’t even taken office yet.  Well, on some level, we all are aware that spending is actually what keeps the economy going, but let’s face it, we also know that we need our money right now, and most people are not running around spending all that they have.  So why does Obama think that his stimulus package will work when Bush’s didn’t.

The answer to that is both complex and simple.  When Bush set out to stimulate the economy, he did so by sending checks to individuals and families.  Great in theory, however most American’s who were already struggling used those checks to pay bills or stashed it away for a rainy day.  Therefore, we did not all run out and shop for new items and that in turn did not do for the economy what Bush had hoped.

In Obama’s plan, which does include checks to the American public, it however does not rely on them to be the stimulus.  It is offering a much more comprehensive and multi faceted approach to stimulating the economy which includes sizable tax deductions for businesses for each new employee they hire on.  This will help create jobs, which in the long term seems like it will have a bigger impact on people’s spending.  After all, you can’t be out spending if you don’t have a job at which you can earn some money.

If you look over the plan you will in fact see that Obama’s plan will help stimulate the economy which will not only help the individuals but also the businesses and the unemployment rate.  Overall, this plan is cheap compared to how much Bush has spent on bail outs in the last three months.  At least the Obama plan stands a chance.

I have always loved the holidays.  Always a fun and exciting time of year filled with hustle and bustle.  Some years, though, have been more difficult than others.  Many years, we didn’t really have enough money for Christmas gifts, and it put a lot of added stress on us.  The years had more and didn’t have to go into hock to make a Merry Christmas were also a lot nicer.  I didn’t have to worry about what I would get everyone, I could relax and shop early and get whatever I idea came into my head for that special person.  On years when I didn’t have enough money I would stress and by the time Christmas day would roll around, I would be completely broke and miserable knowing that I spent money that I didn’t have to get through it.  This year, I think that with the economy where it is, we all need to take a few steps back and really look at how much money we are spending on Christmas.  There is nothing fun about buying gifts and then stressing about how to pay for them.  I know I wouldn’t want to think that anyone was getting stressed about a present that they bought me and really couldn’t afford, the gifts are not that important but the people are.  It is a great time of year to acknowledge people, but you have to make practical choices and shop for the deals.  There are a lot of good bargains out there and a lot of really creative ways to give exciting gifts without spending too much money.  This year, let’s all be smart and limit our spending of dollars and just spend time with the ones we love instead.  It is more important than ever to realize that the material stuff is just stuff.  Let’s not buy into the madness that the local businesses perpetuate, let’s take a step back and just enjoy the holidays and not go broke in the process, after all you don’t want to end up in the same financial state as our government do you?

Thinking about finances, brings to mind only one person and that person is George W. Bush.  Even if you think he did right thing taking us into war, which was more of a business decision then an act to protect our country, you still have to look at the way he is running this country and ask yourself if he hasn’t created most of the economic problems we are currently facing.  Sure he would tell you that it was the terrorists that are trying to us in, and in fact NEED to be stopped, but really what has this war accomplished? In essence, it has created US control of middle eastern oil supplies, which has exactly benefited us how? At least when the Iraqi’s were controlling the oil the price was more reasonable, now that we control it the price is going up and up.  The more financial decisions and large corporate bail outs this man makes the more it is costing you and I.  Maybe not today, but in the future.  You can’t just stop companies and the stock market from crashing by printing up money with no backing to make the numbers look good.  That is what is happening here, and in the long run with each move this man makes, dollars come shooting from our pockets.  It is a little bit frightening to me that he is driving us further and further into a depression in this country and either doesn’t know it, or doesn’t care.  It is my belief that it is the latter.  In any case, as a whole, this country needs to put it’s foot down on this man hard.  About two yeara ago there was some talk about impeachment, what ever happened to that thought.  I know that we are only about 4 months away from a new president, but that still gives him a lot of time to do some major damage.  Are we really going to wait for him to completely sink us, just waiting for the new president to step up and fix everything.   Even if we pick the right guy, it will take a long time to undo the wrath of George W.  We are voting for a human being not a miracle worker.