Simple Home Finances

In life there are only a few times when we have an opportunity to significantly impact our society. Now is one of those times. We need bold, fearless leadership in Washington D.C. and we need to show them bold fearless voting in November 2012.

Do we want this to go down as a time in history where the American republic worked and our nation was saved? Or will we see our country burdened with; crushing debt, an anemic economy and a much lower standard of living? Will we come together as a country; black and white, rich and poor, young and old, religious and non religious, liberal and conservative, working and retired, sick and well and vote to save our country? or will we allow the political parties to divide us and focus us on petty personal benefits that will likely be lost if our country does not dramatically change direction?

When we step in the voting booth now and in the future we need to be thinking about our country, our future, our children  and grandchildren’s future. Remember the story of Solomon who had two women approach him claiming to be the mother of the same boy. Solomon simply said cut the child in half and give one half to each women. The real mother who loved the child quickly gave her rights to the boy up in order to save the boy. Which one are you? Are you a citizen who loves your country more than yourself? Or are you determined to get your “fair share” no matter the cost? That is the heart and soul of the matter.

I am sick and tired of hearing Barack Obama talk about our “fair share”. What is that? As if anyone knows what that really is! What is fair and what is a fair share? It is nonsensical political talk designed to take our eyes off of the what our country needs and to focus it back on what we think we “deserve”. I’ll tell you what we deserve….we deserve a government that works for us not one that panders to us! We are not sheep and we do not have to be to be lead to the slaughter. We are Americans and “Now is Our Time to Shine” and show the world that the United States is a great nation because of its people not its leaders.

That is the question facing the country today. Do we want the government to provide for our needs as the Occupy movement suggests? Do we need  a smaller government and larger private sector as the Team Party movement suggests? These two views could not be more opposed to each other and they represent two sides of our country. Those who pay taxes make up only 53% of our population the other 47% do not pay taxes. We are very close to having a country where a minority of the people pay taxes. That I believe is the tipping point at which our collective destiny will change. The USA whose economy, military, health-care system and college education system are admired around the world, will suddenly fall from grace as our economy fails to grow and the baby boomers continue to retire. It certainly isn’t a pretty picture….however there is still one thing that stands in the way of all of this happening and can you guess what that is or rather who that is? It is you and me all the citizens of this country! The one thing that truly makes us different is our form of government where the vote of the people can literally change the direction of the country. I saw this  happen when Ronald Reagan was elected, then unemployment was around 12%, mortgage rates were hitting 20% in many places, and inflation was running as high as 14%. Those were scary times, yet the election of Ronald Reagan significantly changed the direction our country took. We are at that place again where the will of the people must force our elected officials to finally do hard, difficult and necessary work to put our country back on a sound footing.

The great gift of Ronald Reagan was leadership. Mr. Reagan set the agenda, the direction and then persuaded many to follow. That is what a good leader does and that is exactly what we need today. Good leaders may not be perfect people. Ronald Reagan was not a perfect man and neither were any of our Presidents. We better stop looking for perfection and start looking for real leaders with proven leadership skills. Change is hard, President Obama found that even with control of both houses of congress and the Presidency it was very difficult to push through his agenda. Remember Obamacare only passed because some congressman chose to risk their re-election chances by voting it in.

We need a president who is going to be for the people and for the country and who wants to limit the size of government while working to increase the economy. I will go out on a limb and say any candidate who will not embrace a flat single rate income tax is not serious about fixing the economy! Our tax is used by politicians to reward “friends” and punish “enemies”. It is corrupt and complex and we must eliminate it. As long as we have a progressive tax (one with multiple rates) the opportunity for corruption exists. With a flat tax we can eliminate all other taxes and all deductions except for generous exemptions for people so that families with a couple of kids do not have to pay tax until they reach an income of say $40,000 or possibly higher.  Many citizens already embrace the single rate flat tax but, it is an incredibly divisive issue in Washington D.C., our corrupt politicians will say anything to prevent a flat tax from being implemented. We must insist that a single rate flat tax be implemented.

Why? Because a single rate flat tax will attract businesses back to this country and will entice businesses already here to spend money to grow their businesses.

What about Obamacare? It must be stopped, it is a huge power grab that will do absolutely nothing to bring down the cost of health care. Our Federal government which owes around $15 trillion has proven to be inept at controlling spending! It is an absurd thought to believe the Federal Government of the United States is capable of controlling costs of any kind! Not only this but funding Obamacare will require money we don’t have! It isn’t only that Obamacare will fail to bring down costs, it will require significant new spending to support it. At a time when we should be reducing the size and reach of the Federal Government Obamacare does exactly the opposite! If we replace Obamacare with changes like tort reform (eliminating frivolous law suits), allowing insurance companies to compete across state lines and increasing the availability of Heath Savings Accounts (HSA) then costs can be brought down.

What about Government spending? Unlike businesses that at times have to downsize in order to weather economic downturns our government never downsizes. In the best of times the Federal government should downsize and pay down debt so that during economic downturns they can absorb additional costs. However our government increases in size and spending during the good times and the bad times.  Today our government must look to reduce in all area’s, Social Security and Medicare must be reformed.

 We cannot complain about our government if we don’t vote! How we collectively vote will determine whether the United States avoids disaster or not!

Now that our government is totally out of control and the economy and stock markets are tanking yet again. What do we  hear from our President? It’s the Tea Party’s fault, S&P’s ratings are unfair, I inherited the economic problems we face or Congress is  inflexible. I remember as a little kid in school if I got in trouble I would blame it on someone else, my parents, anything as long as I didn’t have to claim responsibility. Isn’t that what our President is doing? Did we send a child to do a man’s job?

To be sure these are scary times, we sit on the brink of what could be the next great depression after struggling through what now is dubbed the great recession. How did we get here? Why is this happening? Look no further than Mr. Obama, sure we all dislike the congress, they vote themselves high pay, tremendous pensions and create laws we must live with yet don’t apply to them. What is there to respect about that? Yet congress has put forth a budget that would get our house in order and put forth a cut, cap and balance plan that could also get our financial house in order. While these are not perfect they are what we need today. It will be painful to reduce our spending. America has endured a long  recession and high unemployment many of us have lost our jobs and homes, all of us have had to pay down debt and get control of our spending, while our Government has done neither. Politicians are like candy men distributing money to prospective  voters. They see their job as bringing home the bacon to their representative state now the candy men are running out of candy.

It is the President who must lead America that is his job. This President is leading us to the edge of the abyss and under his watch America is slowly grinding to a halt and what has Mr. Obama done? At every turn he has done exactly the  opposite of what is needed. If we need to reduce spending he wants to increase spending, if small business needs help he helps them by adding regulations, making it hard to get a loan and trying to raise their taxes. Mr. Obama is marching happily toward a socialist agenda. Forget about PC talk, nearly all of Mr. Obamas czars are communists and socialists who want to change America into a country where a small group of elites rule over the majority. They are the elites and we are the majority. They want a communist government where they rule with an iron fist.

Do you think I am just a kook? really? have you looked at the czars Mr. Obama put in place? Do you know who they are? If you want to see what I am talking about ask yourself why the federal government has sued the state of Arizona and now Alabama for simply enforcing federal immigration laws that are on the books. Ask yourself why the federal government believes they can force people to buy health insurance, one of the key tenets of Obamacare. Mr. Obama speaks down to us as if he knows better than we do. To him only the people who agree with him matter. The vast majority of Americans do not want our country to be fundamentally changed we want America to be restored to what it was intended to be as defined by the constitution. We believe in the goodness of America and the uniqueness of America.

We have a presidential election next year are we going to vote for more candy? or are we going to vote to restore our great nation? Do we believe the change we have experienced is the Change we Need? Is the President providing the Leadership we Deserve? The way we answer these questions is dertermined on the votes we cast. Let’s forget about the political parties and vote for the people who provide solid idea’s that can restore our great nation. Vote the incumbents out of office they long ago stop serving us, today they serve themselves. If an incumbant has been in office more than two terms send em’ home!

Sometimes reality can be a scary thing, like when you lose your job or your kid goes to the hospital for an operation. We all know what that can be like. If we didn’t look for a new job we might lose everything we own. If we didn’t take our sick kid to the doctor they may have a serious health issue. Hoping for things to get better does not make them better!

How well are our politicians handling their reality? Are our politicians just hoping the debt and deficits will somehow just go away all on their own? Remember the budget agreement with all those “spending cuts” that amounted to no cuts at all? Now they are debating raising the debt ceiling “so they can spend even more money” and once again the Republicans are demanding Spending Cuts and the Democrats are demanding Tax Increases. So if I use recent history as my guide I would say a large amount of spending cuts will be identified along with much fan fare, taxes will be raised and the debt ceiling will be raised ”the crisis will be diverted” but, those spending cuts will not take place for years and in Washington DC that means the cuts will never be made, we will see our taxes go up and the debt ceiling rise and the federal deficits will continue to grow unabated. If this happens our economy will likely collapse with in two years and the politicians will again point fingers at each other while we who live in the real world face a far scarier reality than we do today. While they continue to play games we continue to suffer for their inaction. When is it enough? We have to make all kinds of difficult decisions and adjustments through life. Only in the Alice in Wonderland world of Washington DC can you vote money for yourself out of the Treasury under the guise of helping the country, only in Washington DC can you vote to take money from the citizens to cover your mistakes under the guise of  helping the country, only in Washington DC can you call a tax increase a spending cut, only in Washington DC can two opposing sides work together against the will of  the people under the guise of helping the country.

If that is the only kind of help they can give us then we need to vote all of them out office, they must again understand that those of us who live in the real world have power over those who represent us, their future lies in our hands not in their own!

The more “time saving devices” we use the less time we seem to have! We spend more and more time just maintaining technology. We used to say data is not information and more data is just more data. Today we are experiencing a similar thing, technology is constantly increasing but does it provide real value. Just like  managing data in the past, are we now  embracing technology for the sake of technology? I remember a Wendy’s restaurant add that showed an elder woman holding a hamburger that said these simple words “Where’s the Beef”. So I ask you when it comes to all this technology that has infiltrated our lives “Where is the Beef”!

It seems we are taking the simple things  and making them more complex and things that are easy to understand making them more difficult to understand, all while requiring much more of our time. When do we reach the point of having too much communication? It used to be the fun was in finding out about someone else through conversation and experience but now there is little real conversation and everything is found out through a  “web” experience.

Maybe I am just showing my age but answer this question how can you know somebody well if you don’t spend time with them? Keep in mind we learn much more from the body language of someone than we do from what they say, in fact you can say anything on the web and no one knows if it’s true or not. It is through body language that you get to the truth.  I saw a couple on date in a restaurant communicating to each other by texting each other on their phones! What is the point of that? The computer and the internet have actually isolated people. Is that what we want from technology?

I have a theory that the more communications we receive the faster our lives move. First came the local newspapers which were printed weekly and in America the first mail was delivered once  a month or less by the pony express, there were no TV’s, no internet, no cell phones, etc. Receiving a letter was a major event so  when you received a letter your mind and emotions had to process that information. Communications back then were primarily person to person.

Overtime many new forms of communication have come about, daily newspapers, a never ending assortment of magazines, the pony express grew from that early start into the nationwide mail networks of today. Then the Radio was invented, families gathered around the radio for shows and broadcasts, eventually the radio provided daily communications.  Then came the phone system which allowed people to communicate to each other whenever they wanted to. Then came the TV which broadcast video and sound right into our homes soon families were getting much of their communications from the TV. Keep in mind newspapers, mail and magazines also continued to be delivered to us. The radio had more stations and around the clock entertainment as the music industry found a home on the radio. Eventually every home had a phone and then came the cell phone which provided the ability for every person to have a personal communication device at their fingertips. So people were receiving all types of communications from all types of media all the time and they had to process all those communications with their minds and emotions. Then came the internet and e-mail which became a whole new form of communication. Now we have all types of  “social media” like Facebook, Twitter, etc. and we have to process all this information with our minds and emotions which fills up our time and speeds up our lives!

So what is my point? We need to manage technology not let technology manage us. More maybe good but it is not necessarily better. Do I really need 5 or 6 ways to communicate to a person? Should we allow the internet to be our social meeting place? I am not sure how to answer that but I do know this that meeting and interacting with people face to face can never be replace by “social media”. If you want to get to know someone you still need to spend time with them. So use the internet to reach others but don’t count on that to be your primary form of communication with others. The things you will remember most in this life are things you actually do with other people.

Technology will continue to evolve bringing communications closer and closer to us. Do we really need the world to know every little thing about us? Do we trust that, online, all  people will deal with us honestly and for our benefit? We would be fools to believe that, we should be careful how much information we share about our lives on social media sites, there are always those who will use that information to take advantage of us.

So what then is the cost of new Technology? Besides the costs of buying phones and phone services even if a technology is free to use like many social media sites they still consume huge amounts of our time and believe it or not that cuts in to the time we have to create, build, produce or earn more. Remember the old adage still holds true “Time is Money”, it is wise to learn to manage and use technology for your benefit using the least amount of time and money.

A key step anyone can take to save money is to create and follow a budget. When you start
tracking and reducing your expenses, you find money that you were throwing away that can
be redirected toward your financial goals. But many people don’t want to follow a budget
and there are a variety of excuses people use. Experience teaches me when money is not
managed, money problems arise and eventually become the norm.

So if you say you don’t want to manage your finances, it’s like you are saying you don’t want to
know where your money is going. If you are like most of us you are really saying I know I have
a problem and I don’t want to do anything about it. If you know you have a problem, and it
isn’t important enough to fix, a budget can’t help you. First you need to recognize there is a
problem and then take steps to solve it. Take this step  Try our Free Budget Software

I have listed here some of he common excuses given for not using a Budget:

I don’t know how to create one

This is actually a good reason,  many have struggled using Quicken or MS Money to budget
their expenses. These tools are accounting tools, not planning tools, they create a budget
that is the same for every month of the year. While this strategy may work for some, for most
it doesn’t work. So let me take a moment to explain why, accounting tools account for
what you did but do not let you plan for what you want to do.  A budget is a plan of how you
want to spend and save the money you have and it must be flexible to adjust to the variability
of life. What we call “Keeping Financially Balanced in an Unbalanced World!”
For a better understanding click Planning vs. Accounting

Dave Ramsey provides a strategy to deal with this by advocating that you create a budget
for each month creating it a few days before each month begins. The only real problem
with this is that each month’s budget will have 80% to 90% of the same information on it
month in and month out. So why create a whole new budget each month? If you are doing
this on paper it will take you quite a bit of time to create each budget. Then when you
adjust your budget as you need to it creates more work than you may want to do. We believe
the only Budget you need to worry about is the current one and that you should have
flexibility to make changes and, as much as possible, enter data once and use it
forever. To do this we use a living document approach in our budgeting process
we call it “exception based budgeting”, making only the few needed changes to your budget
to create a budget for the next month. With a few clicks of the mouse,  you can create a history of
your monthly budget, income and actuals and you can save changes to history as many
times as you want each month.

It’s too time consuming or complicated

Many times people don’t want to follow a budget because they think it takes too much time
or is to complicated. In reality, budgets aren’t all that complicated depending on the
process and tools you use. The thing that makes budgeting complicated is the randomness
of life, dealing with unexpected changes, if your process and tools don’t let you plan
and adjust your plan over time then budgeting can become quite time consuming.
If you use our software you will find that budgeting is not hard to do or time consuming for
instance creating your budget for a new month typically takes 3 minutes to do. Once
your budget is setup you can quickly model changes and make adjustments and at all
times you have visibility of what you can afford to do.

Quicken and Microsoft money have caused people to think they need to enter a transaction
for every expense. In reality only a few expenses actually need to be entered more than
one time. Quicken and MS Money are trying to account for each expense as a transaction so
you can balance with your bank account. A Budgeting system tries to balance your expenses
with your income. In our solution we allow you to enter detail expenses for each Weekly
category and 4 monthly categories, weekly because you will likely always have multiple
expenses per month and monthly for categories like miscellaneous that you use to cover
unexpected bills. These detail expenses are automatically summed up as the associated
categories Actual Amount for the month.

We also recommend reviewing the budget with your spouse. This shouldn’t take more than
15-20 minutes. A budget should be designed to support goals and spending priorities, it
is wise to ensure you and your spouse agree on these. The personal benefit is you and
your spouse get to spend some quality time together!

I don’t want to be controlled

Traditionally a Budget has been thought of as a way to control spending, using a football
scenario Budgeting has traditionally been considered blocking and tackling, using the
budget defensively to control where the money goes, but really a budget is better thought
of as an offensive weapon in our football scenario it is better seen as running and
throwing, which means directing your money where you want it to go. Two sides of the
same coin on the one hand a budget is used to control spending but on the other hand it
used to work toward and achieve financial goals. The best way to think of a Budget is
that it puts you in control of your finances!

I have Plenty of money left at the end of the month

If you are saying this then you are successfully living on less than you make and that is
the first goal of budgeting. But if you were on a budget, how much more would you have to
direct toward your financial goals? If you can’t answer this question then using a budget
can tell you.

I just don’t care

But really how can you not care? When your debit card is declined you care. When your
child needs lunch money and you don’t have it you care. When your utility bill comes due
and you can’t pay it you care. When you see your credit card balances climbing
uncontrollably you care. If you are like most people, though you may deny it, you care!

Do yourself and your family a favor start to use a budget and follow it. Eventually the
problems noted above will disappear. When you budget and track your money, you know how
much you have and how much you can spend. Take this step  Try our Free Budget Software

Friend –

“Tonight I addressed the American people on the future we face together.”

“Though at times it may seem uncertain, it is a future that is ours to decide, ours to define, and ours to win.”

• (So how much input do you feel you’ve had in deciding our countries future the last few years? Probably not much but the impact of our governments actions are far reaching and they impact our country, our future and our childrens future!)

“I know we will.”

• (Will you?)

“Because, after the worst recession in decades, we see an economy growing again.”

• (How well is the economy working in your community? So what is causing the economy to grow? Is the economy actually growing? If you don’t see it then it isn’t happening!)

“Because, after two years of job losses, we’ve added private-sector jobs for 12 straight months — more than 1 million in all.”

• (So we have nearly 10% unemployment and our government has done nothing to help business grow and in fact has added a whole new level of uncertainty and cost to business. The economy has managed to add jobs in spite of a government hostile to business!)

“Because, time after time, when our resolve has been tested, we, as a nation, have always prevailed.”

• (The problems we face come from corrupt and/or incompetent leadership at all levels of government. Without bold, fearless, moral leadership we may not prevail. It is critically important that every citizen take their voting responsibilities seriously.)

“Overcoming the challenges we face today requires a new vision for tomorrow. We will move forward together, or not at all — for the challenges we face are bigger than party, and bigger than politics.”

• (What is wrong with the ORIGINAL VISION FOR OUR COUNTRY? That vision limits the power of government over the people and ensures we all are free to pursue our dreams without the government getting in the way. This is why our President says we need a new vision one that lets the government pick winners and losers, run our lives and spend our tax money anyway they want to…How do you like that vision?)

“Yet the story of America is this: We do big things.”

• (We do big things when it is necessary and little things when they are necessary. Right now we need to do difficult things and our President doesn’t want to do those things!)

“Just as the progress of the past two years would not have been possible without your hard work, we will not realize the agenda I described tonight without you.”

• (What progress is he taking about? Forcing a trillion dollar Stimulus Package and National health care down our throats?! How about trying to put a carbon tax on everything including our homes? Gee I wonder what other big things he has planned?)

“So as we continue this great mission together, and we set out the plans for how far we can go, I need to know that you are ready to work side by side with me once more.”

• (There you have it our President is on a mission and he wants us to come along, I won’t go along with this how about you?)

“Will you stand with me as we strive to win the future?”

• (Why not stand with him at a time like this? Well we can stand but let us stand against his agenda and the mission he pursues against our will!)

“The last two years have been marked by unprecedented reforms and historic progress.”

• (Do you understand what those reforms are? Remember ‘Health care Reform” that was historic wasn’t it? A historic grab of power away from the people!)

“But there is much more work to do.”

• (As the Ronco man says ‘But Wait There is More!’ I know you almost can’t stand the anticipation waiting to hear what this President has planned to do to us in the future!)

“Moving forward, America’s economic growth at home is inextricably connected to our competitiveness in the global community. The more products American companies can export, the more jobs we can create at home.”

• (Why is our growth inextricably connected to the global community? Why can’t America create products for Americans? Do you know why businesses have moved out of our country? They have been run out by a government that calls successful businesses evil as they take more taxes from them and saddle their activities with ever increasing regulations!)

“This vision for the future starts with innovation, tapping into the creativity and imagination of our people to create the jobs and industries of the future. Instead of subsidizing yesterday’s energy, let’s invest in tomorrow’s. It’s why I challenged Congress to join me in setting a new goal: By 2035, 80 percent of America’s electricity will come from clean energy sources.”

• (Our economy cannot run without oil and lots of it and that is a hard fact this President does not like! We are at a tipping point in technology that can ween our country from using gasoline as our primary energy source for cars and trucks, so why not put money and research there? Because this vision is not about securing a better future for America it is about pushing old ‘global warming’ solutions even as our winters get colder and colder!)

“It means leading the world in educating our kids, giving each of our children the best opportunity to succeed and preparing them for the jobs of tomorrow.”

• (In real dollars we out spend virtually all other countries when it comes to education. The key to improving education has to do with improving teaching methods and materials and involving parents in the process. Many schools are more worried about being politically correct than they are about teaching children!)

“We must build a 21st century infrastructure for our country, putting millions of Americans to work rebuilding roads and bridges and expanding high-speed Internet and high-speed rail.”

• (Who can argue with this? We need to improve our roads and our bridges but do we need to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on a new high speed rail system? Is that going to get us our of the recession? The real problem is these jobs are going be government jobs not private sector and that means the cost of government will continue higher. So in the middle of the “worst recession in decades” and when we have runaway government deficit spending this presidents vision says we need to spend money on a whole new transportation network, you better hold on to your wallet?!)

“We must reform government, making it leaner, smarter, and more transparent.”

• (Tell me if I am wrong but didn’t this president run for office promising these things? So did they actually do these things the last two years? No they did the opposite they made government fatter and dumber and less transparent!)

“And we must take responsibility for our shared debt, reining in our long-term deficit so we can afford the investments we need to move our country forward.”

• (Wow now we share the debt they ran up against our will?!! There we go again more “investments” code for runaway deficit spending!)

“That is the vision I laid out tonight. That is how we win the future.”

• (Okay what we really need…is to go back to the ORIGINAL VISION FOR OUR COUNTRY!)

“It is going to take a lot of work — but I have no doubt we are up to the task.”

• (I am going to let my congressman know that this vision is not my vision that my vision is contained in small brilliant document called “The Constitution of the United States of America”.)

“Half a century ago, when the Soviets beat us into space with the launch of a satellite called Sputnik, we had no idea how we’d beat them to the moon. The science wasn’t there yet. NASA didn’t even exist.”

• (Yeah and the Soviets were a mortal threat to us at that time and competing against them was key foreign policy for obvious reasons! What is our mortal threat today? It is a government that is not for the people anymore, a government that wants to invalidate the constitution and make us all subjects of the ruling elite!)

“But after investing in better research and education, we didn’t just surpass the Soviets. We unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs.”

• (So our government is going to borrow and spend us into a healthy economy? This is insanity and we must not be silent!)

“This is our generation’s Sputnik moment.”

• (No this is the moment when the people, tired of being ignored, stand up and take our country back one congressman at a time!)

“Please stand together with me:”

• (Let Barack know how you feel, let him know where you stand.)

http://my.barackobama.com/WintheFuture

“It is because of each of you, who define the will of a people, that the state of our union is strong in the face of tough challenges. You are the reason our future is still bright in the face of deep uncertainty.”

• (So what part of his vision is an extension of the will of the people? Virtually nothing discussed here has  to do with the will of the people! This vision is all about Baracks “Agenda” and his “Mission”!)

“And you are the reason I believe that future is ours to win.”

• (If Barack succeeds do you and I win?! NO!)

Thank you,

Barack

Here we go again a new year is upon us bringing with it the classic question “What are your New Years Resolutions?” To figure out what they are we usually go back to last years and list the same ones, things like; lose weight, exercise more, get my financial house in order, find a new job, etc.

This year allow me to introduce a new approach call it your New Years Revolution. A Resolution has many definitions, in this context it means ‘the act of answering : solving’. But, what we really need are New Years Revolutions, Revolutions in this context mean ‘a sudden, radical, or complete change’ or ‘ a fundamental change in the way of thinking about or visualizing something : a change of paradigm’.

So if we really want change it will take radical action and a different way of thinking about something. Revolutions happen on the street where people live not on paper where we might find our Resolutions written down. Revolutions have risks and rewards, hold rights and wrongs in clear view and come from Noble actions driven by Noble thoughts, Revolutions are best fought where you hold the higher moral ground.

But lets be careful here a Revolution is usually designed to over throw a sitting regime and almost always the Revolution carries noble intentions on the banner it waves. The problem with that is leaders today lack moral conviction and choose to merely use moral or noble messages beyond which no action is taken.  I was struck by a statement recently; “A legal government can be an evil government” what this means is just because the law says it is okay to do something doesn’t mean it is morally good to do. Laws that lack a common moral foundation quickly run amok.

So if you choose to establish New Years Revolutions, first think through these things; are my intentions noble, am I committed 100%, will I be honest about it and am I willing to take a risk  to do it.  I have begun to write my revolutions down and here are a few:

1. I will resolve to think and act like an American, I am not a global citizen!
2. I will speak the truth as I see it and refuse to speak in a politically correct way!
3. I will participate in political process engaging my senators and representatives when I see a need to!
4. I will never, ever again support a single political party. They work for us we do not work for them!
5. I will live out my faith and when appropriate speak of my faith in the public square!
6. I will use technology but technology will not be allowed to run my life. I will run my life!
7. I will change how I eat and spend 40 minutes exercising every day.
8. I will manage my money with a budget, I will develop and follow a retirement plan, I will steadily pay down my debt!
9. I will educate my children about faith, family and citizenship. They must know why and how to be responsible!
10. I will strive to buy things with in my local community to support my community, not just find the lowest price!

A Revolution in our lives can happen but not unless we change what we do! Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. Trusting our leaders over and over again and expecting a different result is also insanity. We must not forget this story, how do you boil a frog? you put him in a cold pot of water on the stove and slowly raise the temperature until the frog boils to death. We must not continue to be fooled like this frog, we are already in the pot of water and the temperature is rising, to save ourselves we must do something radical….jump out of the pot! The pot is the political parties we “belong” to, who divide us against each other and make promises they never intend to keep. By dividing us, we are drained of our collective power and watch as our country is changed into something we don’t even recognize and none of us ever wanted!

If we are to see a revolution in our lives we need to get our houses in order first. We need to step up and take responsibility and not expect our government or someone else to fix our problems. We need to focus on our faith, our health, our finances, our families and our community. We need to know what we believe and why we believe it, we all can take steps to improve our health, marriages, families, finances and community. It isn’t hard to do it is like learning to walk again one step at a time, soon we will be running! Running our lives and pushing our leaders to lead boldly and with integrity. Isn’t it time to define your New Years Revolutions?

Dear Santa,

Thank you for the gifts you got me last year! I have been good this year too!  Santa can I ask you a question? I gave my friends at school Christmas cards and got in trouble with my teacher, she said that Christmas is not celebrated anymore and I was wondering if you lost your job? I hope not, I don’t know what Christmas would be like without you! Can you come to my house this Christmas anyway….promise?

Things at home are no fun since my Dad lost his job, my parents seem worried about something and keep talking about selling the house to save money. Santa I don’t want to move, I will miss all my friends. My Mom says its all because the men who run our country are acting like spoiled children, I guess its kinda like that Billy Thomas who never shares anything and always has to have things his way. My Dad says those men forgot the job they’re  supposed to do. My Mom says none of them know what families like us are going through.

Santa, they teach us to be kind to each other in school, to do our work and always follow the directions. I think those men running our country must not be following the directions.  My Dad even said the President thinks it should cost us more to keep our  house warm.  Santa our house is already too cold, doesn’t the president want us to stay warm?

My Grandma says I need to remember Christmas is for celebrating Jesus birth.  She said Jesus was coming back to see us one day.  I think he may be mad at us for forgetting about him.  Santa do you think Jesus will come see us anyway? My favorite Christmas show is Charlie Browns Christmas.  I love the part when Linus tells us about the birth of Jesus.  I wonder if those men who run our country have seen it.

Santa I’m sorry I asked so many questions,  it’s okay if you don’t answer them all but please come to my house this Christmas. Mom and Dad are so worried and I don’t want them to sell our house. What I want this Christmas is for my Mom and Dad to be happy again. I don’t know if it will help but could you give my Dad a job?  He is trying so hard to find a good job.  Santa if you get a chance to talk to Jesus tell him I said Happy Birthday. Oh yeah and even though I don’t really like Billy Thomas  his Dad needs a job too,  maybe you could find a job for him too?

Thanks!

Love,

Jennifer

Time is the most precious resource we have, 8,765.82 hours each year. We can spend those wisely or foolishly but we must spend that time. It is both a plentiful and a rare resource, it can be both precious and useless, it can be full or empty. But for most of us our time is limited and free time is highly valued.

Over time Budgeting becomes a necessary practice in life it is a vital thing but also one more thing requiring our time. simplehomefinances.com’s approach to budgeting focused first on comprehensiveness, to us it made no sense to build a product that provides functionality you need everyday but then leaves you stranded when life throws significant changes at you, such as unexpected expenses or the loss of a job. We have lived long enough to realize that life is not predictable and that a typical budgeting process can suddenly turn from a simple to a complex process.

We provide planning tools that help you plan your way through life. We believe comprehensive capability must also be simple to use and save you time. There is one other concept important to understand, Budgeting is Planning and Planning is not Accounting. Budgeting Plans for the Future, Accounting Accounts for the Past. Budgeting is how you manage your money, Accounting is how you balance your accounts. To get a better understanding check this out Planning vs. Accounting

Simple is not just a word in our name it is built into our products too. The following is a list of our budgeting software pet peeves but first check this out My Pet Peeves

1. Entering Data every month when 90% of the data is the same!

Our approach lets you enter data one time and then we use that data month after month, year after year as long as it remains valid, virtually eliminating the need to enter data each month!