Your Wealth is Hidden in the Fragments of Your Life - LEX Cash

Higher income folks can usually just cut out the survival crutches, described in a previous article, and find enough money to invest and attack debt. Lower income families may not have as many survival crutches to cut out because they just flat do not have the money to "rent" these crutches. Lower income families and individuals then may need another place to find cash to invest and/or attack debt. This place is LEX Cash (Living Expense Cash), which is money freed up by reducing living expenses. The LEX Cash strategies that I give are all optional. Choose most or some or none. Build your own Lex Cash approach with these ideas or others far more brilliant that you come up with. These suggestions also help you live on cash and avoid taking on new credit.

Run several layaways throughout the year for Christmas and other special days. For example, you could run a layaway in February and March, one in April and May, another in June and July, yet another in August and September, and a final layaway in October and November. You budget this expense through the whole year and avoid using credit at the last minute.

Try generic grocery equivalents. Some are good. Some are bad. Chew the good. Eschew the bad.

Try generic over-the-counter drugs. These have exactly the same ingredients as brand names and cost several dollars less. You can also ask your doctor for the generic equivalent when she/he writes a prescription.

Use coupons. My wife has transformed herself from a very bad grocery shopper to a very good grocery shopper by focusing on coupons, generics, sales, and other clever tricks she has discovered. She is, I believe, the best grocery shopper on the planet and could give seminars on skillful shopping. She miraculously changed herself from worst to first in this category. My Dad told me how much he spent for groceries and my wife spends less per person now than my father did in the 1960's. And this is not using the dollar's value in terms of the 60's purchasing power and allowing for inflation. This is in terms of actual dollar amounts then in the 60's and now! She is the Master Shopper of the Universe.

Buy used appliances that have been reconditioned such as washers and dryers. They usually look and run like new. Look in the phone book and you will probably find several of these shops where you live. They will usually deliver and install it for you. The previous washing machine we had cost $85 and lasted for 7 years. I did repair it one time with a part that cost $48. The total cost of the machine for the 7 years then was $133. We just bought another one for $100. The price went up $15 from $85 to $100 in 7 years. That blankety blank inflation! I could have repaired the old one with a $45 part and got another 3 to 4 years out of it. We generally get 10 to 12 years out of one of these used machines. I just got lazy and bought another one.

Repair your own appliances, when possible, by consulting a do-it-yourself appliance repair shop. There is a do-it-yourself parts house in Dallas called "Adam the Answerman" with a lady on staff that can tell you how to fix anything from central air conditioning to the refrigerator to the washing machine. There are shops like this in every major metropolitan area. I am Mr. Badwrench, but I have repaired our appliances on numerous occasions. There are other times that I blow it off and let someone else do it. As I get older, the "blowing it off" happens much more than in the past.

Consult with repair nuts. There are people in your community, who happen to be skilled at repairing certain things. One, for example, may be able to replace a car's broken windshield as well as a professional shop for far less than you would normally pay. You have to be careful because sometimes these nuts really are nuts. You find them by putting out feelers and just asking around. You develop the discernment to distinguish between the repair nut and the real nut. Some shade tree mechanics can actually only repair trees.

Get a debit card and transform your credit card habit into a debit card habit. Here is a helpful tip. When you pay with the debit card at the gas station, push the "credit card" button. If you press the debit card button, a larger amount than your actual purchase is often held. If your balance is running low in your checking account, this hold can cause problems for you. Press the button as if your debit card is a credit card and just run the card through the reader like normal. I have never had a problem doing this. The actual amount of the purchase is taken from your account with no additional amount held.

Buy from discount businesses (grocers, clothing stores, miscellaneous sundry stores like Dollar General, furniture stores, gas stations). Virtually everything is sold in some kind of discount venue. Big-ticket discount venues like "furniture barns" have layaway plans.

Brown bag lunches for work.

Do your own minor maintenance on your car such as oil changes and detailing. A regular oil change religiously done right on schedule without ever missing one, whether you do it or have it done, is one of the most important items in your wealth building plan. You want to drive that sucker as long as you can before you have to buy another one.

Do your own minor repair jobs around the house such as fixing plumbing problems. The discount home improvement shops have people who can tell you how to repair anything. You may have to grab one of them to get their attention and make them listen to you. After you do, they can explain how to do any home repair.

Do your own laundry if you have been having this done by someone else.

Drive a used car. The wealth transfer that takes place while paying for a car from a new car dealership is staggering. I have made the mistake of letting my cars get too old. The two cars we drove once were 14 and 15 years old. We had just started living the way I describe in this article. Everything ran well for 2 1/2 years until both cars broke down at the same time and each one needed a new engine. Ideally, the used cars should be from perhaps 5 to 9 years old. You can buy a repo or late model used car at an auction. This can be tricky. I have never done the auction thing myself, but have heard of others who do this successfully. Get a knowledgeable mechanic, friend, or relative who is a good judge of horseflesh to go with you.

Find an honest mechanic. Next to doing regular oil changes, this can be the most important aspect of low cost living. I have found one honest mechanic in my life. He tells me exactly what is wrong and tells me how to fix it myself. He tells me what parts to buy and gives a step by step description of how to do the repair. If it is something I do not want to mess with, I let him do it. This gentleman's shop is, unfortunately, only involved in front end repair, tires, brakes, and related work. I am still looking for an engine mechanic and a transmission repair shop that I feel like I can trust. (See! Even though I am writing this article, it is not like I have arrived nor have it all together! But, Buddy Bubba, I'm gettin' there!)

Cut back on the Blockbuster expense. Rent movies less often than before. Most of us have a large collection of movies at home to watch. I know we are getting kind of Spartanesque here, but hang with me for a moment. Imagine that you are doing a debt destruction engine that does not include the vehicle(s) or the mortgage. This smaller version of the debt destroying locomotive is aimed at the credit cards, the finance company accounts, and store revolving accounts. You can take it really easy and knock it out in 5 years or go after it in a gung-ho fashion and kill it in 4 years. With a little bit of "Blockbuster Restraint", you might annihilate it in 3 years or even less. You still rent movies, but just not as often. You still go to the favorite burger joint, but not as many times a month as in the past. You still take the family to Braums or your favorite ice cream parlor occasionally, but just not as often as in the past. You still frequent the favorite restaurant, but just not as frequently. Some nights, you stay home, when you would have gone out in the past, and grill burgers in the back yard, watch movies that you already have, and have ice cream from your freezer. You cut back on the "convenience factor" of your life ever so briefly to obliterate this portion of your debt in 36 months or perhaps even as little as 24 months. The "sacrifice" of "Blockbuster Restraint" is not unbearable because it is short lived and produces a clear and wonderful objective.

Do whatever it takes to stop the "Reciprocation Contest" aspect of Christmas. When you are standing by my graveside at my funeral or I am sitting in that chair by the coffin at your graveside at your funeral, are we going to remember or even care who gave whom what? In the overall galactic scheme of things, does it matter if my pride is damaged because I give you something that cost $30 and you give me something that cost $60?

For the last few Christmases, we have done away with the Reciprocation Contest aspect of the Yuletide gathering with my father, stepmother, and my brothers and sisters. At a recent Unger Family Christmas, everyone brought just one gift for $5 for a round robin gift exchange. Then we had a craft-making party using kits obtained from the Oriental Trading Company . The parts for the craft projects had been punched out and were put together in plastic sandwich bags as little craft kits. You could make really neat Christmas ornaments by gluing the pieces together and there were several different kits to choose from. I know this sounds lame to older kids and men, but it really was a lot of fun even for the older kids and men. You had the usual bit of the men being mostly klutzes with hilarious results. There were the mishaps of fingers glued together, some of the kits being put together upside down and inside out, one finished craft glued to another, and hands being hot glued to the table! Then in another year, we chipped in to a gift fund that supplied one gift for everyone at $3 to $5 each and had another round robin gift exchange. We did the same craft-making session and the older kids and men were actually looking forward to it! We had non-traditional food that was easy and inexpensive to fix at both parties. The cost on both of these parties was miniscule and my stepmother has said she had more fun in those two Christmas gatherings than any others in the 18 years she had been in the family.

Another Christmas approach is to "draw names" with each family group and buy just one gift for one person in each family group and set a low dollar limit, rather than buying something for everyone and worrying about matching each others generosity. With some thought, the hard feelings and pride issues of gift giving during the holiday season can be eliminated. This helps everyone to avoid a debt load from shopping and makes the time together more focused on enjoying each other.

Barter your skill to obtain a needed skill. You repair air conditioners, but are a schmuck under the hood. Clyde is a world class auto engine mechanic, but does not know an evaporator from a condenser. You give your skill and time when Clyde's air conditioner is under the weather. Clyde gives his skill and time when your car is mobility challenged. When you pay for a service with work and time, you free up your money to be invested in your future. To find people to barter with, you do a very strange thing. You get out and walk around in your neighborhood and actually talk to people.

When you buy, negotiate for a better price. Never accept the first price on a big-ticket item. They will come down for you rather than lose the sale.

Apply weather-stripping, insulation, heat barrier, and/or attic ventilation fans as necessary to reduce energy costs.

Change your income tax withholding so that you get little or no refund. What? We let the government hold our money for a year with it earning no interest. Then we jump up and down for joy when we get our own money back! I would rather invest the refund in my life throughout the year. You will have more cash in hand through the year and this will help you build the emergency fund since you will not be relying on survival crutches anymore. If you do this, make certain that enough is still withheld to pay taxes.

Another withholding strategy is to go the other way and increase it so that your taxes are paid with 9 months of withholding through September. At the end of September, change the tax withholding again making it much lower than normal or even nothing so that you have more money in your paycheck to use for Christmas and thereby avoid credit.

Organize a "Blessing Day" that occurs one day every month at your church, temple, synagogue, or mosque. Those with skills, such as car repair, roof repair, air conditioning repair, plumbing, etc., bless those in the membership who are struggling such as single mothers, the terminally ill, and widows by doing repairs that these folks cannot afford. In Proverbs it says that when you give to the poor (those who are struggling), you are actually "lending" to the Lord. He will repay. If you bless these folks, your attempt to live a low-cost life and attack debt will in turn be blessed.

These are just suggestions. You can use or refuse any of these ideas. There are many other ways to save money that I am sure you can devise on your own. This is all just a matter of what you decide to do. For example, I used to do my own roof repair. There are complete instructions on the side of each bundle of shingles that tell you exactly how to put a roof on a house. I no longer get on roofs and I no longer do my own oil changes. I am old and fat and I am not going to get on a roof or under a car.

If you save just $50 a month by reducing living expenses and invest this tiny amount in an aggressive growth stock mutual fund from age 25 to age 70, it should grow to over $1,750,000 in your lifetime. It is possible to find much more than $50 a month in LEX Cash if you decide to really work at it.

Even in your everyday living expenses, your wealth is hidden in the fragments of your life.

http://www.HushDoNotTell.com Destroy your debt with the money you already make. Request free copy of "The Debt Destruction Engine" or "Your Wealth is Hidden in the Fragments of your Life" or both.