Articles: Get Out of Debt, Manage Your Money, and Live Debt Free

How to Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck and Start Making Progress

How to stop living paycheck to paycheck and start making progress with money. Wish you could stop living paycheck to paycheck? You’re not alone. According to the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity about 1/3 of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.

That’s about 38 million folks who would be in trouble if they had to pay an unexpected bill or would be panicked if they lost a job. If you’re one of those folks, you know it sucks. It’s scary to live on the edge, or to not understand why you just can’t seem to get ahead.

I know this because I used to be one of them. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. You can stop living paycheck to paycheck.

Here’s what it takes to change things.
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Emergencies and Disaster Preparedness: How To Prepare Your Family

How to prepare your family for emergencies of all kinds. Emergencies may not be high on the list of things we love to think about, but emergency preparedness is critical.

Before we get started with things you can do to create an emergency preparedness plan, here’s a quick emergency definition:

Simply put, an emergency is a sudden (and often unexpected) event that needs immediate action. This could be anything from sudden money problems to an earthquake, and everything in between.

Why plan now?

While no one wants to think they could lose their health, home, or job, ignoring the possibility doesn’t help. It only makes you wish you had prepared if something does happen.

To help with that, this article will cover many kinds of emergencies, broken down by types of emergency. It’ll provide examples of emergency situations, things you can do to prepare, and ideas for an emergency kit bag too. (It’s chock full of information, so pin it now so you can come back to it again later too!)

You’re already ahead of the game by looking into emergency preparedness. Give yourself a pat on the back for that — then read on to take the next steps.
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Closing Credit Cards: What You Need to Know Right Now

Thinking of closing your credit cards? They can be HARD to give up. For many people, they’re a bit like a security blanket.

Still, some people want to close a single card for various reasons. Some want to close all their cards so they aren’t tempted any longer. Others just want their debt GONE!

That explains why some of the most commonly asked questions when people first start getting out of debt are:

Should I close my credit cards?
Does it hurt your credit to close a credit card?
What about cancelling my oldest credit card – is it true you should never do that?
How do you cancel a credit card?

I’ll answer all of those questions and more below.

But before I do, there’s one thing you need to know about closing credit cards. When your focus is on getting out of debt, you have to do what’s best for you.
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Want to Get Out of Debt Fast? Avoid These Classic Mistakes

Who wouldn't want to get out of debt fast? Avoid these classic mistakes and make it happen! Who wouldn’t want to get out of debt fast?

Debt can be an enormous burden, one that weighs on you and holds you back from many opportunities. So of course, the quicker you can change that, the better.

The only problem with that is, when your main goal is to get out of debt fast, sometimes you can lose objectivity or be tempted into things that aren’t such great ideas.

That means that often what seems like the slowest way is actually the fastest, and vice versa.
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