Four Simple Ways to Save Big This Year!

Most of us work hard day in and day out to earn an income and support out families. But we don't realize that some of our every day habits are bleeding that same money from our pockets. So, what are some simple things we can do to save money? We all know about coupons and sales, but who really wants to worry about all that? Who has the time?? Here are four basic easy things you can do to help yourself save money without having to break up your routine...

Clean Up Your Closet!
  When your closet is a mess it's easy to forget  about those little things you have, or items you have owned for a long while. The average American woman waists over $300 a year buying things they already own, but don't know they own, or they can't find. Remember that cute black belt you bought last July?? If you can't find it, you can't wear it.

   Spend an afternoon organizing your closet like stores do: Group your stuff by category and color - jeans (blue, gray, black), skirts (short, long, dressy), etc. You'll see what you have and ger re-excited about stuff you forgot about. Plus spend less on replacements for stuff you lost!

Get Free Rewards
    With so many stores offering freebies and discounts for customers who sign up for free "membership" cards, you are basically throwing money away by not cashing in on all the bonuses...

    Ask EVERY store you shop in if they have a membership card, and carry them with you EVERYWHERE!


Forget About ATMs!
    When you go to an ATM that is not your bank's you get slapped with a fee of around $2. PLUS your bank may add an additional charge of up to $2. If you are doing this just twice a week that could easily add up to over $400 a year in fees!!!

     Take money out of YOUR BANKS just once a week. Also download Quicken Online Mobile with a free ATM-finder app to your iPhone; it uses GPS to figure out where your closest ATM is!

Clean Up Your Messy Wallet!
    If your wallet is jammed with receipts, cash, and coupons, you lose out three ways! You miss out on refunds (because your receipts get mixed up and lost), you end up shor on cash or taking out more money than you really need (who can track cash when it's all wadded up??) and you mis out on the discounts because your coupons expire or are lost.

    Find a wallet with at least three sections - one for cash, one for receipts and one for coupons and cards. Each week throw away out receipts that have passed the window for exchanges and refunds, coupons that have expired and organize cash by denomination.

Using these tips you could simply and easily save yourself $1000 this year - and a well deserved break!

Is Direct Sales Hard??

The following article is an excerpt from a speech given by a direct seller at a local meeting. I was told she was asked to speak on how direct sales compares to working a "regular" job. I have edited it to share with you. As you read it count the many blessings we have in this business.

Lately, I have heard so many people say how difficult direct sales is.
"Its hard." "I can't get any opt-ins." "I can't get people to sign up." "This just isn't for me." "I didn't know how difficult it would be."

Well, I am a single mom of three who, before joining the direct sales family, held down two jobs. I would get up at 4:00 in the morning and not get to bed until midnight most nights, after returning from my part-time retail job, packing lunches, checking homework and relieving my mother, who helped out with the kids.

That, my friends, is difficult.

It is difficult always having to lower your dreams to meet your means. It is difficult to miss your son's football game because you have to work. It is difficult knowing the rust bucket you call a car is eating you alive in maintenance, but you can't afford a new one. It is difficult to realize that someone else is going to watch your daughter take her first step or have your son say mama to the preschool teacher.

It is difficult knowing that you have spent 40 years of your life working for someone else, only to realize that you will be retiring on one-third of what you can live on today. Or, worse yet, it is difficult knowing that you have diligently worked all your life, only to be given an early retirement and replaced by someone younger, more capable.

I will tell you what is difficult. It is difficult waking up one morning and realizing that your children, the most precious things imaginable, no longer need bottles, diapers, have tea parties, or are shorter than the baseball bat they are trying to swing. It is difficult realizing it is too late and that the time frittered away can never be retrieved. It slips
through our fingers one second at a time.

It is also difficult watching the spark in your partner's eyes fade because both of you realize the house you have been wanting is just a dream because someone else is controlling your finances.

We have nasty habits about rationalizing, procrastination and skirting important things, rather than facing the issues. Too often we allow others who do not pay our bills, who do not share our dreams, to direct our futures.

As children we have absolutely no freedom; we rebel in our teens and scream for freedom. We reach adulthood and are finally free, only to relinquish that freedom because we think it is too difficult. We do not want to take responsibility. We do not want to make a wrong decision, so we obligingly give that awesome power to someone else. We wake up too
late. We hear ourselves uttering phrases like: "I wish I had only . . ." and "If I could do it over again."

You have no one but yourself to blame. You had the chance. Perhaps the opportunity was presented many times and each time you elevated the trivial to a higher priority than yourself.

Let me ask you: Is direct sales really difficult?

Is it so traumatic to show someone an exciting product or idea? Is it so difficult to understand that if you work this marketing idea for three to five years, you just might finally be able to send your children to a college chosen by excellence, rather than one chosen by price? That you could finally put your family in the home of their dreams?

Would you work really hard for eight to ten years, so you could mold a lifestyle of your choosing, so your family could live a lifestyle of their dreams, rather than trying to live how someone else thinks you should live?

How difficult is it to pick up the phone and call your prospect? How difficult is it to place ads? How difficult is it, really, to share what you love with others? Think about it.

Realize the awesome power you have in your hands with direct sales. There are people out there working three jobs. There are people drowning in debt; or agonizing through bankruptcy, realizing they only needed a couple hundred more dollars per month. That is difficult!

This business you have chosen has the ability to change lives. Direct sales cannot do anything. But YOU can change lives with it. You are the one with the life-changing ability. What are you waiting for?

There is difficulty and pain in success, and there is difficulty and pain in failure. Difficulty and pain in success will last a short period of time; but pain in failure lasts a lifetime. Which one is really more difficult?

You will pay a price for your actions, and your choices.

Which choice will you make?