Debt Management Answers For You…

Happy Father’s Day To All The Fathers Out There…

It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons.
~Johann Schiller

Friday, as I watched the tributes for Tim Russert, I reflected not on his ability to know the news or his ability to interpret the news. Instead I reflected on his relationships with his father, Big Russ and his son, Luke. It is and was amazing, and something to be treasured by all of us. How I wished I had that with my father but it was not to be. My father passed at an age much younger even than Tim - 42 years old.

My father died many years ago, and yet when something special happens to me, I talk to him secretly not really knowing whether he hears, but it makes me feel better to half believe it.
~Fathers Day Quote by: Josefowitz

I was just a youngster at the time, so did not grow up really knowing him, learning from him and enjoying him. Yes, my brother and I did have good times with dad during those early years - especially around ice cream - but that is not the same as aging with him would have been. To this day it hurts to know he is gone.

4 years: My Daddy can do anything!
7 years: My Dad knows a lot…a whole lot.
8 years: My father does not know quite everything.
12 years: Oh well, naturally Father does not know that either.
14 years: Oh, Father? He is hopelessly old-fashioned.
21 years: Oh, that man-he is out of date!
25 years: He knows a little bit about it, but not much.
30 years: I must find out what Dad thinks about it.
35 years: Before we decide, we will get Dad’s idea first.
50 years: What would Dad have thought about that?
60 years: My Dad knew literally everything!
65 years: I wish I could talk it over with Dad once more.
~Fathers Day Quote by: Unknown

Treasure the time you have with all your loved ones, for you never know when that call will come to take them home! And mom is gone now these several months, but at 92 she lived a long life and we had a great deal of fun with her. I miss her smile!

One night a father overheard his son pray:

Dear God, Make me the kind of man my Daddy is. Later that night, the Father prayed, Dear God, Make me the kind of man my son wants me to be.
~Fathers Day Quote by: Unknown

We wish all those great moms out there a Happy and Enjoyable Mother’s Day.! I lost my mom several months ago, so this will be the first Mother’s Day without her. I admit, it hurts more than I thought it would.

When we were very young my father passed - he was much too young, being in his very early 40’s. And we were much too young to really know him.

“A suburban mother’s role is to deliver children obstetrically once, and by car forever after.” ~Peter De Vries

As a result of his passing, mom took on the task of raising my younger brother and I. This was no easy task, as it meant going to work full time to provide for all our families needs, as well as the actual raising of two teenage boys. But she did what she had to do.

“The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.” ~Rajneesh

Life wasn’t always easy for us but with other family members around we managed to smile and laugh a great deal as we went on. And being Italian, though money was always scarce, the home cooked meals were always something to crow about. It was a good life, despite the fact our dad was not there.

“Mothers are special; they give birth to you and watch you grow up and succeed. But, it is up to you to make your mom proud.”
by Hannah

I miss your smile most of all and I hope the day comes when brother and I truly make you proud to have been Our Mother! As proud as we are to have been your sons and of our Italian heritage.

You may be treated like the maid,
you may be treated like the gardner,
you may be treated like the daycare,
you may be treated like the chauffer,
you may be treated like many things.
But one thing is for sure,
You will always be loved.
For a fathers work may be from sun up till sundown,
but a mothers work is never down.
And all that I have, am, and hope to be, I owe to you,
So this is for all the times I forgot to say THANK YOU!!

- Alison Thompson

An off - subject post.

Several months ago I purchased a new, relatively state of the art, computer. Unfortunately, it came with Windows Vista Home Premium installed. But I use(d) it none the less. And it’s actually been working pretty good.

Now, as with other Windows systems I used, I had set the system to automatically check for and install updates. Never ever had problems with this. So I did the same with this Vista installation.

Again, it was working fine, until this week, when the system downoaded and installed Vista SP 1! Not thinking I folowed the instructions to restart the computer. And that was last I saw of my computer! The computer would no longer boot up, except to a message which gave me several options: Boot in safe mood, restart normally, etc. And of course the old; use the install disc that came with your system to ‘repair’! Which ain’t workin either!!

So here I sit with an expensive door stop!!

Again, Thank You Mr. Gates and Microsoft!

You may want to deal directly with your creditors rather than using a credit counseling agency or resorting to bankruptcy, as a last resort.

In this situation try to look at things from their point of view and understand how they may react to the fact that you haven’t paid your account. Treat them as you would hope to be treated yourself if you were in a similar situation. Communication and understanding can be key in managing your debt.

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Credit counseling agencies can offer you a great deal of help in reducing your debt. Given their experience they should be able to quickly sort out a budget for you and show you how to manage your budget, your income and your expenditures.

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“Focus” - something not a lot of people are good at - Including Me!

How often do you start something and before you finish you’re thinking about something else or changing your mind about whether you should finish or not?

It is common practice with most people to do this with this result: Lack Of Focus => Lack Of Achievement! Lack of focus is one of the biggest obstacles I face on a daily basis!

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Some debts are more important than others and that importance will be determined by your individual situation. You need to prioritize your debt repayment and ensure that the most important debts are taken care of first.

The importance of the debt is determined by the impact that it can have on your life both now and in the future. For instance, clearing past due taxes might be one of the first debts that you would want to look at due to the penalties and compounding interest. Any type of debt that has a ‘compunding’ element to it is one you will want to tkae a hard look at. Federal and state taxing authorities have so many powers to seize assets and make life very difficult for you creates an extremely stressful situation!

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A budget can help you to manage your debt and begin eliminating outstanding debt. Your budget should have the details of all your outstanding debts and the amounts that you should be paying, as well as what you are actually paying. With this information you can work out accurately how much you can afford to pay and then present that to your creditors to see if reduced rates are available. Many credit card companies, for instance, may reduce your interest rates just by asking.

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We all have reasons why we spend. Aside from the necessities in life, We love to spend for emotional reasons as well. Just as some people ‘reward’ themselves or find comfort in chocolate there are many who spend money in response to certain emotions. Low self esteem is one of the major reasons we spend - it cam make us feel good. Like we accomplished something.

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One of the leading causes of friction in relationships is debt or money problems. Fixing these problems can help remove many of the stresses we are under today.

In debt management you should understand that not all debt may be bad. While you might consider it to be so at the moment, when all you can think about is the overwhelming amount of debt you have and the problems that debt may have caused, you will need to understand that some debt may be worth having.

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