Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Debt Snowball, Florida Style
The simplest way to get out of debt is to keep making payments on your existing debts without taking on new ones. When you visit a debt relief lawyer, your lawyer might go through an exercise with you where you calculate how long it will take to pay off your current debts if you… Read More »
Prioritize, Don’t Panic, When You Can’t Pay Your Bills
By now, we have all heard about the quadrant of tasks. Some are important and urgent, some are important but not urgent, others are urgent but not important, and the last group is tasks that are neither important nor urgent. Time management advice content will tell you how to deal with them; the solutions… Read More »
Buying a Car With Cash
Only using cash for purchases is a popular way to be more intentional with your spending; some people refer to this method as the cash diet. It is easy enough to use cash for purchases like groceries, and even gasoline, which has the added bonus that you get to walk a few extra steps… Read More »
The Long Road to Debt Freedom
Living from paycheck to paycheck is exhausting. If the fact that you never get a moment to rest while barely being able to afford necessities is not enough to make you feel resentful, an entire industry of content exists to persuade you that all you have to do to get out of your situation… Read More »
The Autopay Detox
What is the most annoying expense that eats up large portions of your budget? Is it rent? Groceries? Gasoline? The utilities from air conditioning your apartment at full blast all year long? Most likely, the biggest source of frustration is autopay charges. These debits, great and small, come out of your bank account when… Read More »
Back to School Blues
Financial stress is painful all year long, but especially at times that are supposed to be joyous occasions. Even though your children’s expectations of material comforts are probably less than you think they are, every free candy cane in a basket in front of a bank teller’s booth reminds you of the Christmas presents… Read More »
Can a Mindset Shift Get You Out of Debt?
There are so many books, podcasts, and social media channels about thinking your way to wealth, but it isn’t that simple. If it were, everyone with a vivid enough imagination would be financially secure. As it stands, the only people getting rich from the “think yourself rich” industry are the authors of the books… Read More »
Goals and Budgets Are Not the Same
Budgeting, like dieting, is an inherently demoralizing experience. People who have done it successfully tell you, with a hefty dose of Schadenfreude, that if you are not able to replicate their success, there must be something wrong with you. They tell you that only the weakest, most foolish, and most morally corrupt among us… Read More »
Avoiding Disaster After a Job Loss
Some people tell inspiring stories that begin with them losing their jobs. What they all have in common is that they are telling you the stories after the plot has resolved. When it first happened, they did not know how long it would be until they found a new job, started a business, or… Read More »
The Dilemma of Taking On More Debt
Beware of success stories where the path to success is linear. For every sober living blogger who has not touched alcohol since he walked into an AA meeting 35 years ago and is now living one day at a time, there are numerous people living one day at a time, with or without blogs… Read More »