I have seen financial situations that have left me reeling. I have left counseling sessions feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders. What unbelievable messes we humans create for ourselves! For some reason, many of us have been convinced that because the banks will loan us money, we must be in good financial condition. Because we can get a credit card, we matter. Do not believe this lie! I have seen over $100,000 on credit cards. I have seen houses financed to over 125% of the highest potential selling price. I have seen budgets that include $300 in bounced check fees. I have seen budgets where the expenses are twice the income. I have seen debt loads that are seemingly insurmountable. I have seen families spend more money feeding goats than feeding themselves while driving themselves into utter poverty. I have seen families lose all of their possessions to repossessors and foreclosure - ALL of their possessions. Still, I do not give up hope!!! I believe that most of these situations are recoverable! If the family could just say "NO!" to themselves! If the family could see the damage being wrought on their relationships by living in such financial conditions, they would RUN 180 degrees away from the direction they have been headed in. I choose HOPE for these families that I meet with. I believe that Dave Ramsey is exactly correct when he says that finances are 80% emotional and 20% head knowledge. Do NOT give up HOPE.

OFFICIAL CONCLUSION: RUMMAGE SALES REEK! Special Note: If you are going to attempt to have a rummage sale and you live in the countryside, forget about it! You might as well donate all of your items to Goodwill or put them into a consignment shop. If the items are small and easily shipped, you might use Ebay. For the amount of effort put forth into preparing, presenting, and cleaning up the rummage sale, the reward was quite limited.

We are in the middle of the first day of a three day garage sale. WOW! I did not know how much work it was to prepare for one of these things. I have eagerly told people to "have a rummage sale" in order to free up some quick cash and pay off some smaller bills. This will many times help people gain the traction they need to get to a balanced budget. I will still tell people eagerly to sell stuff and have a rummage sale, but I will do it with a more deeper understanding of what that truly means. It takes effort. That's OK. It takes effort to get out of debt! Updates on the garage sale will appear over the next few days. Any tips for making a garage sale more of a success?

Do you know what it is like to experience financial stress? Financial stress impacts family relationships - marriages, parents with children, children with parents, siblings. Financial stress impacts friendships and business partnerships. It can forever destroy your relationship with your spouse. Why is this? The way you manage your finances tells a story. It tells a story about what you value, about what is important to you, and about who is important to you. It can also tell a story about what you do not value, about what is unimportant to you, and about who is unimportant to you. If you spend a majority of your money paying bills for debts (car, house, TV, credit cards, student loans, furniture, boat, lawn mower, etc.) you have signed up for, then it tells a story that having stuff might be more important than saving for retirement. If you spend everything you make and live from paycheck to paycheck, it could indicate that you do not value security more than you value not having to take time developing a spending plan. If you give away a pile of money to worthy causes, have taken the time to develop a spending plan that works, are saving for retirement, college, and other notable expenses, and are regularly reviewing your spending habits ON PURPOSE to understand opportunities for better management of your money ... it tells me that you are weird and value others and your future more than you value stuff. Go look at your spending. Does it line up with your values? By the way, "you" can insert "me" or "I" everywhere "I" have listed "you" and "your" in this diatribe. :)