This is necessary.  Stagnant things in pretty much every area is a bad thing.  Keeping things fresh in pretty much every area is a good thing.

Wonderful readers of ChrisKakaras.com, we have reached a point where unless I changed something up, a season finale following a break is necessary.  Hence, the title of this post “Season Finale”

In the blog world a break from your blog is suicide if you want to carry a following.  Therefore I fully understand that this will cause my readership to dwindle dramatically and if I want to relaunch with something fresh later I will be starting from zero.  I am aware of this and prepared for it.

Rather than run the risk of being stagnant I will officially stop updating this site for the time being.

All articles will continue to be available for resources and I still hope for them to be helpful to many.

Thanks!

Chris Kakaras

Also a little sidenote: apparently the previous owners planted ivey around the house.  If you are not familiar with ivey let me just say it grows faster than a chia pet.  Wifey had sprayed to kill some and it literally grew back to the same spot the next day.

I did not realize what an adventure yard work was going to be.  I’m looking forward to battle #2 this week.

If you purchase a home, make sure you are ready for the  yard…it’s not for the faint of heart.

I thought about convincing wifey to have a guest post and explain her new found passion in the “Grocery Game” but considering that she rarely even visits this website, I figured that would not be very likely.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Apparently it is not uncommon to use double and triple coupons to get many items for FREE.  I’m always down for that.  There is an 8 week trial that whenever wifey wants to get started she has my blessing.

If you give it a try let me know what you think.  But seriously the results sound astonishing (many people can get a grocery cart full of stuff and only pay a few dollars)…we’ll see if the Kakaras family has the same luck.

Getting organized is the first step to pretty much any goal you want to accomplish.

It can be anything. Whether it is attacking your debt or just making a plan, the first thing to do is to put numbers down on paper and get organized.

I’m a list maker.  Everyday I make lists.  I currently go daily to two jobs.  At each job before I start my work I MUST make a list to know whats ahead of me.  If I do not do this I will flounder and not be able to be nearly as successful in accomplishing what is on my plate.   After I make a list at each job I then go home and have made a list of the things I need to do there…yes fun things make the list as well (including hang out with wifey, watch PTI, etc.)  but if I did not put it on the list it is too easy for me to not make time for it and in essence it will show that it is not important to me.

I could not accomplish my goals without getting organized first and foremost. My execution and planning would not have worked as well if I did not get organized to start with.

This applies to much more than a daily to do list. If you are in a financial mess the way to see the light at the end of the tunnel (and know it’s not an oncoming train) is to GET ORGANIZED.

My challenge to you is, if you are not organized in your finances, work on it today. Put numbers down on paper, use the cash flow plan tool that I have in the financial tools section if you want. Whatever it takes to get organized, do it. It is worth it.

1. Free nutrigrain bar
2. Free Magic Eraser 2-pack
3. Free Sample of IdeaPaint Dry Erase Surface Paint
4. Ben & Jerry’s is offering a free cone from noon to close
5. Haagen-Dazs stores are offering a free scoop
6. Complimentary subscription to Baseball Digest.
7. Free Sunglasses Case from Glasses Reviews
8. Make a dollar via Paypal
9. $75 worth of printable coupons
10. Free Download of Barenaked Ladies (I’M A BIG FAN BTW)

This is a SERIOUS problem in America. We have now allowed debt to be an acceptable and encouraged way of life yet every year we set a new Bankruptcy record. I wonder when we will finally get off this map that the credit card companies have made for us because they are making a TON of money and it’s coming from us!

The average marriage in America lasts 9.4 years and 70-77 percent of divorces list finances as a primary reason for it. 2700 divorces each day and about 2,000 of them are because of money!

I have to ask the question. Have you ever had a money fight with your spouse? If you say no I would like to congratulate on your wedding yesterday!  What if you had a plan for your money that you and your spouse started from day 1? And once a month you would have a Money Night and you would review things and tell your money what to do the following month? Do you think this would help aid and possibly eliminate tension caused by money? Just a thought.

44% of all household carry a credit card balance. 28% of all Americans say they hardly ever pay off the whole balance.

So basically half of Americans do not pay off their credit card every month. Which means they are buying stuff they can’t pay for. That seems like the most immature action there could be: “I don’t have money to pay for something, but I want it! I’ll get it anyway” How is this even an option!?! 1/4th of Americans say they DON’T PAY OFF THE BALANCE PERIOD! This is alarming especially in light of Proverbs 22:7 which says that the borrower is the lender’s slave.

The Wall Street Journal says nearly 70% of all consumers LIVE from paycheck to paycheck.

Now this is especially sad. What this statistic is saying is 70% of people don’t have an emergency fund to cushion a blow when life happens. Money Magazine says that 78% of you will have a major negative financial event at any given 10 year time. Life is GOING to happen. Your car will break down, your refrigerator will stop running, something is going to happen and if you don’t have a cushion to take those blows you will find yourself in a STRESSFUL situation. It is reasonable to assume that this statistic and the divorce statistic listed above are connected.

The average Japanese family saves around 18.1% of their household income while the average American family saves -2.2%.

We are destined for failure with a statistic like this. This was published in the Wal-Street journal. When I read something like this it makes me know that America does not know what we are doing when it comes to money. I am no longer following what is “normal” spending habits in our country. I choose to follow scripture and follow novel concepts like “spend less than you make.”

I actually like to call the bible our map. If we are lost financially we might have to evaluate if we are following the wrong map. How do I know if I am lost financially?

• If you get to the end of the month and you do not know where your money went
• If you are not giving sacrificially
• If you think that if you were able to get just a little bit more money then you’d be happy
• If you are worried about your finances
• If you find yourself into debt (other than the house)

Like I have said before, most of Americans are in a stressful situation (The Wall-Street Journal published that 70% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck). This means if they missed one paycheck they would not be able to make ends meet.

A definition of instanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  If we follow the map of culture, why do we think it will end up with different results?  Are we following the wrong map?

Some points of interest:

• The prettiest greenery I have EVER seen…didn’t even imagine it could look like that.  Can I make my yard look like that?
• Golfers in real life CRUSH the ball.  It is unreal.
• Food at the Masters is ridiculously great.  I got like 4 sandwiches and 3 drinks throughout the day for less than $10!!!
• Tiger Woods can draw a crowd…and I mean DRAW A CROWD.  We watched him hit off the practice tees and I felt like this was the scene where Jesus was teaching in the house that was PACKED and some dudes helped their paralytic friend go through the ceiling just to see Jesus.  People were climbing trees just to get a glimpse of Tiger.
• While food prices were low…Gift shop prices were high…VERY HIGH.

It was a bit unusual, people (including us) were standing in line just to get in the gift shop.  To spend money on the most overpriced merchandise.  And you know what…it was contagious.  I began thinking all the things that I was going to spend money on and the tally was racking up.  If it weren’t for the fact that as soon as I got in, it was a mad house (10 times worst than Black Friday), I would have bought stuff.  I had to escape as quickly as possible so I ended up not spending money.

But it made me think how impulsive of a shopper I am.  I really was about to spend some major money just because it is easy for me to catch the shopping fever.

I do not know why I am an impulse shopper but it is my nature and I have to place solid guidelines in the arena in my finances for the rest of my life to truly combat this.I get what I like to call “buyer’s remorse.” I will be super excited about something and then get it, I get into this funk where I feel guilty and stupid for spending so much on it.

I find myself time & time again giving into impulse rather than patience.

I have learned (and continue to learn) this about myself. Therefore I have implemented what is called the $100 rule in my life.

For every $100 that I want to spend on a purchase, I must wait one day before I make the purchase.

If a new purchase costs $100, I have to wait one day until I can purchase the item.

If a new iPod costs $400, I have to wait four days until I can purchase the iPod.

If a new MacBook Pro costs $1400, I have to wait two weeks until I can purchase the MacBook.

By doing this I have a built in period where I can fight impulse. If you find yourself wired like me, implementing healthy guidelines can absolutely aid to transitioning from being in a financial mess to being financially free.

And just to be honest, this built in time allows the holy spirit to get a hold of me and I can be sure if I am making purchases to advance the kingdom or if I am just being selfish.

CONFLICT

I was in a grocery store the other day and saw a kid melt down because he wanted to get something that his mom would not let him have. At first I thought how embarrassing that looks and then how thankful I was that I never did that as a kid (…right).

I realized that this was a conflict that was caused by money. It causes conflicts across the board: teenagers and parents, married couples, little kids in toy stores…it is messing stuff up all over the place.

CONFUSION

Money also causes confusion. I think that 2 groups that have a major role in people’s confusion is the church and the educational system.

It is strange that a senior can graduate from high school and can dissect a frog, know the Pythagorean theorem, and can tell you the symbol for Sodium but cannot balance a checkbook or recognize a good interest rate.

It is so funny that major outlets of teaching will ignore the most practical thing people need to know. And when I mean ignore it, I mean never bring it up period. Then when someone is faced with financial decisions they are hit flat in the face without any experience. Maybe that is the reason why more people will declare bankruptcy than graduate from college this year. It is because we’re confused.

Money can be dangerous stuff, you better know how to handle it. Jesus talks a lot about money.  Scripture teaches us how to handle it.  It really does matter.