how to reduce your debt with the snowball method - highest interest model

What is the best way to reduce debt? It's a question that everyone with debt asks at some point.
The most-efficient means of debt reduction is probably the snowball method. There are two main variations of the snowball method, but you must consider your personality to determine which of the two is right for you.

The Classic Snowball

The classic snowball debt reduction method works as follows:
Make a list of all your debts, ordering them from highest interest rate to lowest interest rate.
Set aside a specific amount of money that will go toward paying these debts each month.
From the amount you set aside, make the minimum payment on all debts. Whatever money is still left over goes toward the debt with the highest interest rate.

When you finish paying off the debt with the highest interest, continue the same method. You make the minimum payment on all debts, and all of the extra money goes toward paying down the debt with the now-highest interest. The payments made toward the first debt that was paid off get "snowballed" into the next-highest-interest-rate debt.

This is the most efficient way to pay off debt, as you will pay the least amount in interest changes by reducing debt this way. This is the reason most financial experts recommend this method.

The problem is that for many people, it's not necessarily the most practical way to approach debt reduction. This is due to the fact that people don't always use money in a rational manner but instead use money emotionally. If everyone viewed money in a purely rational way, there would be far fewer people in debt than there are today.

If your largest debt happens to be the one with the highest interest (which is common), you could end up feeling that paying off that amount of debt is hopeless since it's so huge and daunting. Many people begin the debt reduction process but after several months don't see any significant progress being made. If they don't feel as if they are accomplishing anything, they get frustrated and give up.

How to Reduce Debt using the Snowball Method - Lowest Balance

Since the main goal of debt reduction is not only to reduce debt in the quickest possible way but also to make sure that the debt is actually reduced, it's important to understand the way that you view money. If you view money emotionally, then a better way to reduce debt might be to focus on the debt with the least amount of money to be paid off. In such a case, you would approach the snowball method in this fashion:
Make a list of all your debts, ordering them from lowest balance to highest balance.
Set aside a specific amount of money that will go toward paying these debts each month.
From the amount you set aside, make the minimum payment on all debts. Whatever money is still left goes toward the debt with the lowest balance.
When you finish paying off the debt with the lowest balance, continue the same method. Make the minimum payment on all debts and then put all of the extra money toward paying down the debt with the now-lowest balance.
This version of the snowball debt reduction is not as efficient as the classic version. You will end up paying more money in interest charges using this method. What this method gives, however, is a sense of accomplishment much more quickly than the classic method oftentimes does.
If you view money emotionally, being able to pay off a debt quickly will give you an emotional and psychological lift and keep you motivated to tackle the remaining debts.

5 Steps to Reach Your Financial Goals

This blog is all about making money. So I figured that I should write an artilce about reaching your financial goals to help you create a roadmap for success.

You may have a general idea of what financial goals you’d like to achieve, but you haven’t taken the time to truly form a plan to achieve them. If you don’t know exactly what your financial goals are or how you’re going to attain them, it’s going to be quite difficult to achieve them. The obvious step is to form a plan to reach these goals.

Step 1. Identify your financial goals: Write them down. One example of a financial goal might be to eliminate credit card debt. Whatever your financial goals are, take a day to list them so you know exactly what you want to achieve financially in your life.

Step 2. Set parameters: If your financial goal is to eliminate credit card debt, your may define the time limit as “eliminate credit card debt in 3 years.” You also need to set a monetary goal. In this case it would be the amount you owed on your credit cards plus interest.

Step 3. Write a detailed plan: Create a step-by-step map of how you’re going to reach that goal. For your credit card debt, you can choose a snowball debt reduction method. that best fits your personality. Then you need to figure out how you are going to pay for that plan. Assuming that you have credit card debt of $5000 plus interest, you could shoot for a minimum of $5 a day to reach this goal. To reach the $5 a day monetary goal, you could eat out one less time per week, wash your clothes in cold instead of hot water or negotiate a better deal on one of the services you pay for.

Step 4. Remind Yourself: Place your goals above your computer, on the mirror in the bathroom or any other place you will see it a number of times each day.

Step 5. Review your progress: Thing happen and adjustments need to be made even to the best laid plane. You will want to review your progress on a weekly or monthly basis to make sure you are still heading toward your goal.

Bonus Step. Tell the world: Tell anyone and everyone your goal. Shout it out if you have to. The more peopel that know, the more likely you are to stick with it.

Reaching your financial goals is much like finding a specific place hundred miles away. If you start heading in the general direction, there is a chance that you’ll eventually reach where you want to go, but if you have a detailed map of how to get there, you’re much more likely to get there and in a lot less time. The more detailed the map, the better the chance of reaching your destination in the least amount of time. The same is true with a step by step “map” to your financial goals.

How to start selling on ebay

I know - ebay has been around for a long time, and everyone should be online selling things! Well that is not the case, and there are still tons of people out there looking for information about how to start selling on ebay. There are many sites out there that discuss this topics, and there are also tons of ebooks you can buy to try and help get you statred. I am going to give you the tips I have about getting started on ebay for free.

If you want to try out ebay and see how it works, sign up for an account. It is free, and there are no obligations. Most people start by selling junk from their attic, basement, or garage. When I got married, my wife went through all of my stuff, and basically told me it all needed to go. I instantly had a bunch of stuff to sell on ebay. Maybe this same situation is familiar to all of you.

People also collect stuff from friends, relatives, and neighbors. They also searhc free sites for free stuff like freecycle and craigslist. I have even hear of people going down to swap meets, salvation army, second-hand stores, and other they buy charity shops to stock up on inventory. They buy stuff cheap, and mark it up on ebay!

Selling stuff on ebay is not as easy as it looks, as it requires that you keep an inventory of products, that you write descriptions about your products, that you photgraphy your products, and that you upload all of this information to ebay for other people to see and bid on. It takes some time and effort to craft a message and an ad that is appealing to people and makes them want to purchase your item.

However, you are certain to make a profit because the initial items were effectively free if you collect in the ways that I describe above. Once you are into the swing of it you'll want to specialise. One of my tenants exclusively sells computer goods on ebay, and one of my neighbors goes to local auctions and buys pottery to sell on ebay.

This is where the skill comes in. You need to build up your knowledge of what things are worth and where/how to sell them for maximum profit. You need to set your shipping charges realistically so they cover your costs without ripping-off buyers and pricing your items too high to be competitive. Many people set a low selling price, but a high shipping price - this is not a good idea, so avoid doing it.

I recommend that you check out some auctions and charity shops to see what is available that interests you and could be sold online for a profit. Anything that might have a favorable niche market is a great idea to sell! You might be able to tie this in with selling new products but the profit margin tends to be smaller and the competition is fierce for selling new products, so I would recommend that you stay away from that for a while. Perhaps you have a local factory that sells sub-standard products cheaply. "Slight seconds" used to be common in the clothing industry and even in home improvement industry products.

Whatever you choose, the work will be hard, so it ought to be something for which you can develop a passion. There are millions of eBay sellers but there are still lots of possibilities that they haven't thought of yet! Selling on ebay is not a way to get rich quick, but a good way to establish a long-term income stream. Of course every good business idea gets copied so, when that happens, you write an ebook about it, sell that and move on to something new!

At the same time as selling on eBay you should create a simple web site. Create an eBay "about me" page and put a link to your web site from that page. (eBay does not allow you to put your web site link in your auction pages). On your web site you can put lots of information about you and about your products. This will attract visitors and you can either direct them to your eBay auctions or set up your own "shopping cart" on your web site.

I recommend using paypal, google's shopping cart, Mal's E-commerce, or shop-script as they are some of the best ecommerce platforms available, but they all require some basic understanding of HTML.

One more suggestion: make your auctions memorable! I remember when this guy put this wedding dress online, and it spread so fast around our office, and to everyone I knew because it was funny and uncommon. I can guarantee you that guy sold that dress. Take a look at this auction page here(PDF document).

Google AdSense: 7 Tips For Creating Sites That Make Money

Having a Google AdSense site is a great way to make money. And to create an AdSense site, all you have to do is have a Google AdSense account (which is free), a website or a blog (which is free), and some articles (which are free if you write them yourself). Once you get your site up and running, the AdSense ads will be targeted to your content.

Therefore, those looking for your content will come by, read your articles, and have a high probability of being interested in the targeted ads. Every time someone clicks an ad, you get paid! That is, as long as you have designed your site to maximize AdSense clickthroughs!

Let's look at seven tips for creating AdSense sites that create money.

#1: Keyword Density

Before you place ads on your site, be sure your keyword density is good. You will want to be sure that the right kinds of ads are placed on your site. A free way to determine what the ads will look like on your site is to go to http://www.resultsgenerator.com/adsense/ and type in your keywords. You will then be able to see exactly what ads would show on your site.

If you don't like what you see, then you know that you need to make changes to your keywords! You can get keyword suggestions from Results Generator from Overture or from the free trial version of Word Tracker.

#2: Focused

Not only will the ads be based on your keywords, but they will also be based on your content. You definitely want your keywords and your content to match as closely as possible.

#3: Write Often

The more information you have the better. Why? Because the more content you have, the more visitors you get. Many people suggest that you write a new article every day since no one wants to come back to your site to find the same old messages!

#4: Choose The Right Format

AdSense allows you to choose many different ad formats. Research has shown that wider ads are more successful. The top three formats are:

" 336x280 large rectangle
" 300x250 medium rectangle
" 160x600 wide skyscraper

Additionally, the 468x15 horizontal ad link under the navigation bar is also a good bet.

#5: Color Counts

You have the option to create a Google AdSense ad in any color of your choice. The best thing to do is to make your ad blend well with your site color scheme. You should make the border color and the background color the same color as your web site. You will want your text color to either be black or the color of your main content.

When creating your Google AdSense ads it is recommended to use the color scheme and style of your website so that the ads blend in well. Ads without background color and borders perfom better than ads within borders with background color.

#6: Position Counts, Too

It is well known that visitors to a website scan the site to determine if it is worth reading. You definitely want them to see and scan your AdSense ads. Therefore, the best place to put them is in the top left part of your page or directly under your headlines.

#7: Increase The Number

AdSense allows you to use up to three AdSense units on a page, two AdSense search boxes, and one unit of ad links. Using all that you can increases the chances of earning money.

Keep these seven tips in mind when creating your AdSense site and you will find that your clickthrough rates increase, thus increasing your money making potential.

Make Money online with Click Ads

ClixsenseLast month I discovered another site that is free to join and use and helps you earn some extra cash. It is called Clixsense. The only thing you have to do to earn some extra money on this site is click on ads. You are not required to sign-up for anything or complete and offers to get paid. There are no catches, just simply click on the ads and watch your account grow.To join Clixsense you must be 16 years old. This program is open to International Members and US. If you are an International member you should take advantage of this site because most paid to read ad sites don't include other countries.When you log in to your account you will have ads waiting for you. They range from .01-.10 each. If you choose to upgrade you will get more ads and they will be worth more each. Upgrading is optional and not required to earn money with this site. Just click on the ad you want to view and a new window will pop up. You must view the ad for 30 seconds and then you can close the window. Don't worry they will let you know when the time is up.To sign up click HERE

Make $30 a month with SendEarnings

Sendearnings.com is an excellent way to may a few dollars while sitting home doing nothing. Just for signing up to this online survey company, I received a $5 bonus. I then began participating in a few surveys that paid $1 each. In less than a half an hour, I earned $7. Sign Up Here

Signing up for this service is rather simple. You simple click on to the website, give your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address. A confirmation e-mail will be sent to your e-mail address. This sometimes goes into your bulk or span folder, so look for it shortly after you sign up. In order to earn any money at sendearnings, you must confirm your e-mail address. Sign Up Here

The surveys for sendearnings are simpler than those on some other paid survey sites. They actually seem legitimate and do not direct you to countless of other websites. They will occasionally send you e-mails from their advertisers. If you click on these e-mails and visit the sites, you will also receive a small bonus from the survey company for doing this. It is important, to remain an active member of SendEarnings to continue to visit the websites of the sites advertisers. You don’t need to purchase any products or provide information. Simply click on and click out - it’s that simple. Those who don’t visit the websites are normally put on the “inactive” list and not eligible for pay. So be sure to check your spam folder every other day or so from the sites advertisers. Sign Up Here

Only one user for the site is permitted per household. You cannot make up “fake names” and use the same computer, either. Your IP address will be tracked and will result in you getting kicked off the site. Sign Up Here

I was actually impressed by the first paying survey I did for SendEarnings. It was all about gym shoes and although it asked dozens of questions, it was about a topic I knew something about and a product that I often purchase.

There are dozens of free surveys in which you can participate in SendEarnings. In addition to answering survey questions, participants can refer other members to the site and earn a bonus if they sign up to do the surveys. More money can be made by continuing to visit the sites’ advertisers.

Payment is made once a month, but for not less than $30. Once you have earned $30 in your account, you can request payment. Payments are sent to your house via check or money order and there is a $3 fee if you request a money order.

Those living outside the United States can also sign up for this service, however they do need to speak English as this is the only language available on the site. WebTV users are also permitted to participate as well. Sign Up Here

Once you have made $30, you can request payment from the site. However, do not expect it to come quickly. Most of the survey sites I have visited take about 30 days to send out payments to individuals. You also must continue to be a member in good standing in order to get paid, so bookmark the site and visit it each day. And be sure to pay attention to the e-mails you receive from the site. They will not only earn you a percentage of the profits, but will keep you an active member of the account.

Members of the site can purchase a “Gold Membership” which gives you extra benefits including unassigned referrals. When I signed up for the website, I did not do so through a referral, so my referral bonus went to a Gold Membership member.

Once you have completed a survey, it can take up to five days to show up in your earnings account, although some survey payments show up immediately. In many cases, it takes a while to confirm the survey. I have found that this is the way of most survey companies. Sign Up Here

For the most part, I found Sendearnings.com to be a reputable online survey site. Although the survey process was a bit lengthy, there were no “hidden agendas” and the survey stayed right on target. It reminded me of taking a survey at the mall. I definitely recommend Sendearnings.com to anyone who is thinking about taking surveys at home for extra money. Sign Up Here