There seems to be an ever increasing will to buy more then you can afford in order to keep up with the Jones'. This is the mentality that has put the U.S. in its current housing predicament. Too many people bought houses that they couldn't afford, and whats worse, is that the banks and other lenders LET them. The same trend isn't quite as apparent here in Canada, because our banks have been a little more careful with who then lend their money too, but there are many people here who are racking up quite the consumer debt, in order to have bigger and better material possessions. And this debt leads me to the topic of todays post, paying off this debt!

I'm sure some of you might be tired of hearing about how we all have to go green. Well, I am sorry, but I believe we should all do as much as we can to start using less energy and start using more sustainable methods of just about everything we do. It is funny, but in a lot of cases, there is a direct relationship between taking the 'green' route and saving money. If you don't believe me, then keep reading and I'll show you in these five simple steps, how you can Go Green AND Save Money.

There are so many times that we hear of peoples relationships ending over money issues, or of relationships that are going through tough times because of something one person bought and the other person does not agree with the purchase. I think that most, if not all of these situations can be avoided if these couples were to put in place an easy system that includes more communication and proper financial planning. I am going to try and explain the system that my wife and I use when it comes to our money and expenses. It is very simple to do, and the most important thing, is that it works. Shortly after we had our system in place, I started to notice that popular magazines like Fortune were coming out with very similar suggestions to the ones we had decided on.

Getting into financial shape does not have to be complicated. It really is not, and it takes more discipline than anything. I wrote this post to show what I did to get on the road to becoming wealthy and stop wasting money and living check to check. I found that the most important thing is motivation and determination. Once you have that and you follow these steps you will be on the road in no time.

1. Organize Your Finances.
You need to know exactly what you have and don’t have. Don’t think you have to buy some expensive software to do this. You can simply use an Excel Spreadsheet. I started with Microsoft Money and found that it is way to complicated for what I was doing. There are only certain things you need to keep track of and a simple spreadsheet is all you need.

George over at OneMinuteHowTo.com recently invited me to be a guest on his podcast show. I accepted and I think it turned out really well, head on over there to have a listen to the show, which is about How To Save Money On Everyday Purchases.

Enjoy!
ImprovedLife

Lately I've been doing a lot of research on 'going green' or more importantly getting your house off the grid. With today being 'Earth Day' I thought it would be fitting to write up a quick post about this fascinating subject. Personally, I find this an extremely interesting subject because although I strongly believe that we all have to do our part to help the environment, I also feel a financial pull towards achieving this. Wouldn't it be great to get a hydro bill in the mail that was $0 or even better, was telling you that your hydro company owes YOU money!

The majority of us want to become rich, but without any windfalls happening, this is something we are going to have to do ourselves and no matter how you look at it, it’s going to take time. If you have not had the chance to read “The Wealthy Barber” then I highly recommend that you do so. I believe that it is one of the best books on personal finance because not only is it an easy read, but its message is so simple to put in practice that it will make you wonder why you haven’t been doing it all along. The book was written in “” but its principles are timeless, and it has influenced a few generations of people into saving money for the long term

Too many of us are stuck thinking about the short term instead of the long term, this is a crises that is not only seen in our personal lives these days, but in entire corporate structures as well.