FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS
Oh the things we could say about this topic! I'm sure that the majority of people reading this section can honestly say they've had, at some point in their lives, either a financial disaster or near miss. Things happen. Illness. Divorce. Downsizing and outsourcing. Death in the family. Just plain poor judgment. It's not something we're proud of. It will never make our resume highlights. But it happens. The old "more month at the end of the money" syndrome. 
Now we have choices to make. Tough choices. There are usually some readily available quick fixes. Payday loans. Equity loans. Signature loans, depending on how far and long we've let the situation go on. The problem is, it's usually these types of "solutions" that helped us into the corner we find ourselves in when we start looking for a way out. If we choose to embrace these options, instead of hitting rock bottom, we find ourselves grabbing a shovel and digging deeper. I'm sure most of us are familiar with the saying, "If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten." (Tony Robbins) More debt to solve debt won't work. Trust me on this one. Been there. Done that. Bought the tee shirt. It just makes for much more debt. And unless you are the Federal Reserve, printing your own money is NOT an option either!
The problem most of us face is where to start. The task seems so daunting we become paralyzed into inaction. "Do I deal with the creditors first or setting up a budget?" "If I set up a budget, do I spend money on a system or try to come up with my own?" "How do I get caught up on all these bills? How did I fall so far behind? Will these people even deal with me on this or just demand payment in full?" The more we think about the situation, the more sure we become that there is no answer. We begin to lose sleep. We become irritable and edgy. Our health takes a turn for the worse (which only adds to the stress, because it adds to the debt problem as we run up more medical bills dealing with the stress). I'm sure you can begin to see the spiraling effect all of this has. And it comes full circle when we come back to the fact that it all seems so much bigger than we are. So we do nothing, and the problem grows. Arghhhhhhh! As Walt Disney once said: "The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."
But there are real answers and options available to move us forward toward a position of financial stability and security, (or at least "comfort"). Most of just need a starting point and some motivation, usually from an external source since we've managed to do a lot of nothing on our own. The creditors and their henchmen aren't really good sources of motivation, just additional stress. What we need is a friend to offer some sound advice and point us toward the resources we need for our individual, personal situations. One size does not fit all. There are many factors involved in choosing a course of action, including such things as: Our personality type. Our personal belief system regarding debt and repayment. How serious the problem is when we finally move forward. How willing the creditors are to discuss options. And the list goes on.
What we hope to offer here are some practical suggestions and viable options to help move you forward.
On this page, we will talk about several practical solutions, including:
Budgeting
Credit Scores and Repair
Identity Theft Protection
College Savings
Savings vs Debt Reduction
Insurance (Don't run and hide or smash your computer. I promise no hard sell.)
Health, Including Dental
Life
Long Term Care
Pet
WHERE DO I START?
"So, where exactly do I begin?", you may be asking. And the obvious answer is, the beginning. We're not trying to be sarcastic here. Sometimes the most obvious is the most overlooked. Any good plan of action must have an assessment of where you are right now. What are your strengths (assets and income) and what are your weaknesses (liabilities and debts). Here's what I would suggest. First, begin assembling all your asset information such as checking and savings account(s), vehicles, real property, investments, collectables, jewelry and any other assets that may be in your possession. You'll need account numbers, physical and mailing addresses, phone numbers and any contact names you may have. This can take some time to get together. Next you'll need to collect all your liability information. This is actually a two-fold process. You have the obvious liabilities of all your monthly bills, whatever they may be. Remember, there are three types of expenses: Fixed (rent, car payment, etc), variable (groceries, gas, utilities, etc) and periodic (car maintenance, medical or dental expenses, etc). But that's only part of the outgo problem. The less obvious, and more detrimental, liability is disposable income. Here's the catch with 
that. Whether we have any real disposable income or not, we all tend to spend like we do. In other words, in between paydays and when the weeks bills are paid, we may have some "extra" money in the account (or worse, in the pocket), and the tendency is to spend it, thinking that the next pay check is just around the corner and we'll worry about any bills that come in when the money comes in. And that may work, for a while. But sooner or later, reality will catch up to us and we will find ourselves way behind the income vs outgo curve.
Now, again, with the liabilities you'll want to record all your creditors, account numbers, current balances, interest rates, physical and mailing addresses, phone numbers and any contact names you may have. Okay, that obviously takes care of the first part of the liability information, but what about the second part. Where and how should I begin to tackle this beast? I suggest keeping a daily record of ALL your spending and cash withdrawals. And when I say all, I do mean ALL! From the morning newspaper and cup of coffee to filling the gas tank and everything in between. You'll need to do this for at least a week, but a month would be best, to get an accurate look at where the money goes. This will help you find any money "leaks", and trust me, there will be leaks. You can track it any way you like. I 
used a cheap ledger book, but you can use anything you feel comfortable with so long as it's something you know you'll keep track of and not lose along the way. Two words of caution. First, don't stop because of the tedium. Second, and more importantly, don't cheat (especially since the only one you'd be cheating is yourself). Your spending is what it is and you need to know the details if you're going make any corrections in your spending habits. A special side effect of tracking all your spending is that it will actually cause you to stop and think about the money you're spending. "Is that donut really worth taking out my notebook and writing down the expense?" Hey, whatever works.
Okay, so now you've gathered all the information you need to make a workable budget. What do you do with it? Here again there are several options available. You can make a do it yourself budget, categorizing your assets and liabilities, and balancing the two sides out with your trusty calculator. Or you can use some valuable computer programs specifically designed to help manage your money.
SOME POPULAR SOLUTIONS
I know many of you probably have some type of money management programs, but may not be fully utilizing the tools it has to offer. Some of you may be aware that Microsoft has decided to call it quits on its Money software. That doesn't mean that they won't (or aren't) developing something to replace it, simply thatg this product has reached the end of its shelf life. Microsoft has done something similar with a couple of other programs that they "discontinued" only to have them reinvented and reborn under a new "brand." Quicken on the other hand is going strong and they have an excellent product for monitoring your financial health. Like almost every software program out there, Quicken offers a variety of choices, or levels, of software, from a beginners or basic version all the way up to running and monitoring a business. There is also something of a newcomer to market called You NEED A Budget, or YNAB. They offer an excel based budgeting software that has some interesting features. As with any software my best advice is for you check out their sites and explore the programs. Read what their creators have to say and then check out the screen shots. Compare. Compare between brands and compare the different levels within a specific brand. Ask yourself some important questions like "How much time am I willing to commit to this?" or "What exactly to I want to accomplish with this product? Just track spending? Create a budget? Create a debt reduction plan or retirement savings plan?" Know the real reasons you are buying the program and be honest with yourself as to how much time and effort you are willing to invest in keeping yourself on track. And the GREAT news is that both offer a way to test drive their products: YNAB is offering a free trial and Quicken offers a free online version. Most of us only use the current financial tracking features to keep the checkbook balanced, but there's so much more to the programs. Graphs and data to help you see your spending trends and habits. Debt paydown plans. And yes, budgeting software. Now let me just say, there's a big difference between creating a budget and living a budget. A budget is hard. It requires commitment and sacrifice. It requires making hard choices and sometimes being the bad guy (or gal). A budget is a lifestyle not a piece of paper or computer program. A budget will generally require some change of habits (getting your nails done vs polishing them yourself or buying your daily Starbucks or Pepsi), a change of tastes (steak vs hamburger), maybe even minor some changes in quality (generic vs name brand).
Some of you may want to make a budget based on Biblical principles and commitments. Did you know there are computer software programs for creating a budget based on those very standards? Crown Financial Ministries has one such program and as many of you are probably aware, Crown Financial Ministries is the flagship in money management counseling from a Biblical perspective. Just visit them and check out their many resources and financial helps at Crown.org. (This is one of those organizations where we have no financial affiliations, but strongly recommend taking a look at.)
NEXT STEPS
UPROMISE
So, is all doom and gloom. For most of us, some days it feels like it doesn't it? Where or where is the light at the end of the tunnel or the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Some days we don't even see the rainbow, so how can we find the pot of gold. Or we've been in the tunnel so long, we've forgotten it's just a tunnel and we feel like we'll never see any kind of light again. But take heart! There is always hope. Like I tell my congregation, as long as there is breath there is hope. Upromise is one of those signs of hope. A hope for the future. A hope for our children or grandchildren. A hope for ourselves, a redemption of sorts. And it's so simple! And even better news - IT'S FREE. It won't affect all the good work we've already done in the steps above. True, it will require, you guessed it, a little extra work on our part and some spending and shopping habit changes, but what a benefit and blessing for the future of our loved ones (even if that loved one is ourself)!
So how does this one work? Simple. Click the link, sign up, start saving for college. Okay, there is a little more to it than that, but that truly is the gist of it. You'll sign up and then register your credit/debit cards and your rewards cards from your favorite grocer and you're on your way. When you shop at the local grocer, look for the Upromise signs on various products. That means that you'll get a Upromise credit into your account for purchasing that product. Check the local dining directory and when you choose to dine at one of those restaurants you'll get a Upromise credit to your account. If you shop online, log into your Upromise account first, search for the merchant you were going go to, click their link, do your shopping and get credit to your account. Are you seeing a trend here? All these simple things end with "you get credit to your account." And you'll also notice that none of these things have actually "cost" you a thing. They were things you were going to do or buy anyway. All you did was make the effort to use Upromise merchants to do or buy them. It really is that simple.
If your little ones are just starting their long journey down the education path, Upromise even offers help to your schools when you sign up. But the key is to make that election when you sign up. I love Upromise! We've been members for years.
One more thought on Upromise. They do offer their own branded credit card. Now if you have credit cards and have them under control and you want to add some extra savings power, their card is a great way to do it. You get credit to your Upromise account for all purchases using their card. That really adds up in a hurry. But I caution you, like with any other credit card, pay oof the balance each month. Don't fall behind and start paying interest because that sort of defeats the purpose of any savings plan. While it doesn't deduct anything from your Upromise account, in the long run it hurts you. Simply pay off the balance and you will be okay. If you apply for and receive the Upromise card, I might suggest that you cancel one of your other cards. Cancel it, don't just cut it up. The temptation will be there to use multiple cards, and then you run the risk of falling behind and getting into trouble. If the card is cancelled, you can't just call and have them reissue it, you will need to reapply, and hopefully you'll take a minute to think that through before you complete the process. Just a thought and some sensible advice.