We’ve been hearing a lot that we’re in recession, and that the proverbial shit has been hitting the fan. However, a while back my Macro-Economics professor, Claudia Williamson,made the interesting suggestion that rather than receding or being in a depression, the economy is in turn, “going back to normal”.

To elaborate, that the economy was over heating, we were simply growing too fast for our own good. If you haven’t seen the slideshow “Shift Happens” check it out. I would have to agree with her and say that yes, the world was growing and way too fast. We needed to cool down for a bit or we would screw ourselves over. Producers produced much quicker than we could buy. We kept using credit to buy more than we could to keep up with them.

They should have turned the tides and producers kept up with demand rather than blowing up and worsening the credit crisis.

Credit is America’s Downfall

We believed that we could have purchased whatever we wanted without a worry. Now, we have credit debts we can’t pay (Even I am to blame for that) and it’s biting us in the ass with extreme rates.

So what needs to happen… Reduce loan rates, and increase return rates. Simple but deadly and damn near impossible to accomplish right now. We don’t need to spend to increase the economy, but with rates sky high we cannot spend on small wants to get small and corporate business back into action. It all boils down to watch what we spend and spend wisely with limited credit. Doable yes, but cautiously on parts of individuals and corporations.
Stop sending the small jobs that can be done here in America to increase the income of our own country to increase our spending. Then the key is do have supply follow demand, not have supply dictate our demand.

What do you think of this, leave your comments.
Image by Andres Rueda

The fact that cooking at home to help you save money shouldn’t come as a surprise. But think about it, it’s not hard to learn how to cook, and it’s better than paying up to 50% more on your meal. So to help put the cooking into perspective lets break it down.

On average, a good meal at your everyday restaurant could cost you $15-$30 depending on what you order. But if you go to the grocery store, and get yourself the exact same ingredients that would be used at the restaurant in the end you’re saving money. For Example

• Steak $10-15 (for two (2) NY Strips)
• Salt and Pepper $2

Take those 3 ingredients, Salt and Pepper to taste, then either pan sear it or toss it on the grill until its ready to your desire. Now you just fed two people steak for about $17 which would have cost at least double at a restaurant. Throw in some Romaine lettuce and you have a side salad.

If you’re the type of person that tends to order your take-out, or dine-out often. Try finding recipes for the same thing online, and shop/cook instead of order. You’ll find there to be a lot of extra money in your wallet.

Try Open Source Food for TONS of recipes posted by others.

So with all the talk on recession proofing yourself, and whether or not the United States is actually in recession, yadda yadda yadda…

I hate to break it to ya, but come on, look at the stock market, DOWN. The dollar, DOWN. Int’l Markets – Fluctuating. Housing Market – DOWN. The only good thing going down, are the rates on loans. THANKS FED!

Now, knowing we’re pretty much on a downhill to recession, here are some tips on how to avoid higher rates, bad credit, and keeping enough money on hand to not worry about the downfalls of recession.

• Cash on Hand- Make the minimum payments on all your credit cards and start paying them off. The less money you’re giving to the banks themselves, the more control you have over what you spend and how you spend it. Keep the Debit card, not the credit card. With Cash on hand, you can see how much you’re spending and how much you have left, its a psychological game.
• High Yield CD - Banks are still FDIC insured, so even if the US does take a turn to south town, you’re money is still insured up to $100,000. So keep the money in there, that way when you take it out, you have made money, and have the ability to use it. Keep the return in a Checking account!
• Small Change – Quick Return – All that spare change you have in the pocket when you get home, keep a jar with it. Also, don’t be discouraged by small savings of $50-$100 a month, those little bits help no matter what, keep them in mind.
• Quit the non-necessities - This might be hard, skip the booze, skip the dining out, skip the subscriptions. All the little things that you keep spending your money on, on a monthly basis, look at what are needs and what are wants. Recognizing the difference would mean a big savings from $20 – hundreds of dollars depending what you have.

Keep these points in mind, but don’t overlook the big things. Remember your house, car, kids… Don’t let things get by, if you keep focus on your goal of keeping money in the bank, you’re on a quick route to saving and keeping yourself afloat in recession.

A While back I did this for Chris Brogan, Hope you can use it to understand your own spendings!Taking a challenge from Chris Brogan’s 100 Blogs Topics I Hope YOU Write…
34. What I Spend Money On

Every one seems to have their own Economic issues with spending, whether its too much or not at all. So what I did is i took my bank statements and broke them down by what I spent.
I looked down from my Checking account, and my Credit Card. I broke each one down into 4 categories. ATM, Food, Wants and Needs.

Breaking down the percentages, Using my Checking account its pretty well balanced. I am a college student so naturally needs and food will go almost hand in hand. I need computer paper, supplies, and other simple necessities. Food, being out all the time, so far this month I’ve spent 138 dollars going out and eating. Using my Credit card, I’ve spent 320 dollars because I needed a new phone( Mine broke) and helping out my brother repair his car. The 40 dollars of want was from going to Tanger Outlets in Blowing Rock. If you know the area GO! they have Great stores!
Food again, random spendings for food… and buying my brother $76 dollars worth of Groceries.

Many people have trouble balancing their spendings. People get insecure about their spendings and seek expensive financial help. I found a simple help tool, online. It is run by peers. You submit your bank statements using Microsoft tools or other forms of computer software. Then, peers review your statements, and they.
Sign Up for We Sabe!
We Sabe, a spoof on We Know in Spanish. Take it for a spin and see how your spending changes!

The Top 10 Things You Should Do With Your Tax Refund or Rebate

Author: Nick
Category: Money
Topics: happiness, savings, taxes

It can be very tempting, even for a cheap-skate savings freak like me, to blow that massive tax refund or economic stimulus rebate on stupid crap. Sadly, that’s just what millions of Americans are doing this time of year when those big checks come rolling in from the IRS.

But for those of you out who aren’t content with merely saving that four-figure tax refund for the future, there are several less idiotic ways you can spend that money and derive both an immediate satisfaction payoff and long-term benefits. Here’s a look at some of those ways, starting with the most least stupidest.

1. Save it anyway, dingus. Okay, I’ll make a deal with you. Even though this is supposed to be a list of smart ways to spend tax refunds, I’m still gonna top the list with saving it. But on the flip side, everything else on the list will be pure spending. So this item includes every possible way to save your money including long-term savings, retirement savings, emergency savings, investing, paying down debt, and sticking it under your mattress.
2. Start a home-based business. If you’ve been itching to start a part-time business in that empty room upstairs but the only thing keeping you from doing it is the startup cost, devoting some of your tax return to getting it going can pay off big down the road.
3. Make money-saving home improvements. Switching to new, energy-efficient windows is a smart home improvement that can pay for itself over time. Having your toilet bronzed—not so smart.
4. Fix your car. Bad idea: using your tax refund to buy a new car you can’t afford. Good idea: using your tax refund to fix your existing car so you don’t have to buy a new one for a while.
5. Get cultured. Grab yourself some tickets to a Broadway show, a symphony, or something else entertaining and sophisticated. Or make the trek to Burning Man. Totally your call.
6. Invest in your health. There are a variety of small purchases you can make that won’t necessarily exhaust your whole refund but will help your body and mind in the long run. For example, if you sleep on a bed of straw, upgrade to a decent mattress. Or if your jagged teeth are digging into your brain, go to the dentist. Or if your last vacation was that weekend you spent in jail in Vegas, go on a mini-getaway to a nearby destination to recharge your internal batteries.
7. After much consideration, purchase entertainment equipment with long-lasting appeal. This does not necessarily mean to rush out the door and buy the first giant TV you see. Nor does it mean to buy a 12-speaker, surround-sound, sub-woofing, flux-capacitator sound system. It does, however, mean to buy a Nintendo Wii because it is awesome and everyone should have one, even homeless people. Which leads me to the next item…
8. Give it away. Handing a chunk of your refund or rebate to a worthy charity will not only help someone who might not be getting a refund this year, but it’ll also make you feel really good. And don’t forget to take the tax deduction on next year’s return.
9. Stock the cupboards. Over the course of a few weeks, keep an eye out for incredible bargains at your local supermarket—sales that are designed to draw you into the store to get you to buy other stuff. Then go buy only those bargains… in enormous quantities. Cereal 10 for $10? Buy 100 boxes! Steak for $2 a pound? Buy the cow! You’ll save money as well as time you won’t have to spend looking for deals on those items for a while. Just make sure your family can consume what you buy before it goes bad.
10. And for the eternally single folks out there who, through no fault of their own (*cough*incredible-unattractiveness*cough*), have not found the right person for them, I have just two words: Russian brides. This works for the ladies too; simply request one of the “strong, big-boned” types.