First off, we have a quality internet connection. We didn’t cut the cord to the internet too. We would be pioneers in a whole new frontier if we did that. Instead we use our internet connection to access our favorite shows. I know what you’re thinking. You can’t see yourself living without your favorite Bravo show or the easy access to news. It’s actually become much easier to stream TV shows and movies to television sets than it was several years ago.

The first step to cutting the cord would have to be taking stock of what electronics you own. Do you have an Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii, Ipad, or other device? If you do, you can likely stream Netflix and Hulu through those devices. That means you have access to thousands of movies and TV shows without paying anything more than $7.99 to Netflix.

Don’t have any devices you can use to stream content to your TV? Then it may be time to invest in something. The current market for media boxes includes many advanced and sleek designs. These devices will turn your living room into a media bonanza, and most of them cost just a bit more than a single month’s cable bill.

The Roku is a favorite of mine. They offer a simple interface with extra apps you can install to customize your media experience. They’re also the cheapest entry in the field and offer some nice features. Currently their simple model costs $89.99 while the more advanced box running a little over $100. The Roku can stream Netflix, Hulu Plus, and provide radio and other media content through apps.

The Boxee Box by Logitech would be the next best thing. They offer a more robust media experience from the Roku, and put the user in control of their content. Boxee feature seemless integration with many online web streaming sites. Their software can actually be downloaded and installed onto a regular PC or you can buy the Logitech device that runs around $200. The software is unique in that a user can access web streamed content without typing in and visiting the site in an browser. The boxee locates the stream for the show and only shows the video. There are also hundreds of content apps out there giving users access to thousands of live streams. Boxee handles local video files very well and can stream any type of content from a computer to the box.

There are other options, like an Apple TV, Google TV, or XMBC to consider. With more and more content going online, it’s very easy to cut the cord nowadays. The only difficulties may be with sports consumption. But many of the major sports offer online subscription models to access everything from games to analysis. For instance, the MBL.tv subscription gives access to ten or fifteen games a day, HD streams, analysis, and DVR features for every game. The customer only pays a monthly or season long fee. The NBA, NHL, NFL have similar online options as well.

Consider that cutting the cord could save you up to $1,200 a year and the decision becomes a little easier to make. If you are like me, you rarely watched TV anyways. So why not cut the cord?

Do you set aside time to…

• pay bills
• exercise
• or to spend with your family?

If you answered no to any of those three areas, then you likely need to adopt some form of time management. Regulating your time can be rewarding.

Take your exercise and diet. Do you think those can make you money? If you stop eating and starve yourself you would save a few hundred dollars a month but you wouldn’t be around to enjoy those savings. The energy you receive from eating quality foods, drinking non-sugary drinks, and exercising on a regular basis can transform your life.

In the new year, many of us set out goals for 2011. We want to perform, be successful,realize a dream, and other such admirable endeavors. Begin your journey towards financial independence by scheduling your time, analyzing your life, and making smart, healthy decisions for yourself. The more we focus on the positive things in our life, the happier we tend to be with the results.

Keys to Motivation

We all need a kick in the pants sometimes. We may not feel like exercising, eating right, or putting in the extra effort towards a project. Your motivation to be financially free, and budget friendly started with your perspective and attitude towards money and its role in your life. The same can be said of being successful and realizing your goals. You may want to be completely debt free in 2011. That goal can only be realized if you own it. Take the keys to the goal and write them down. What do you need to do everyday for you to be debt free?

• Stay focused on work
• Drum up new business
• Write out the checks to credit card companies in advance
• Monitor cash in/out flow
• and be honest about your situation with others

We can work towards financial freedom, or any goal, with the right mindset and a bit of help from our friends. Don’t discount the morale boost a loved one can give when they hear you are working towards financial freedom. Consider starting a Twitter account to find others interested in the same thing. Report on your day’s progress and be honest. It may be a struggle, but at least you can say you experienced a truly rewarding adventure in 2011.

1. Get debt Free in 2011 — What better way to start 2012 than with no debt! If you can pull this off in a year’s time then go for it. You won’t regret the freedom it provides. It’s my top pick.
2. Stick to your budget — Enough lip service. This year is the year the budget rules the house. Write it all out and stick to it. But also keep track of where the money goes out, so you have a clear idea of how your money gets spent.
3. Start using coupons — You won’t forget them at home because you leave them in the car. Cut them out each week or print them off your favorite coupon website.
4. Destroy credit cards — You don’t have to close the accounts, but do away with the credit line. Start using cash and plan for the big purchases.
5. Start Saving — This is the year the bank account grows each month. Include savings in your monthly budget, so you can put money into an IRA at the end of the year.
6. Setup a fund for your child’s education– Now is the best time to start thinking about your little one’s college degree. You can setup a 529 fund in most states.
7. Work overtime or grab an extra job — It’s time to earn extra money. The new year may present better opportunities for you to grow your wealth. Take on a second job to earn extra cash.
8. Get a new job — Sometimes the dead end job is not the best place to be. A better paying job may be in your future. If you are unemployed, then 2011 may be your year to grab that successful position or to create your own destiny.
9. The year of the lunch – Not the rabbit, but the year of the lunch. This resolution pits you against the fast food and cafeterias of the country. Take your lunch to work and start saving everyday. Unless you work at Google, then you likely have a chef create your lunch for you.
10. Buy into your own life — take the time to save for your future purchases, like a car or house. The big expense may be five years away, but this year you can start the financial journey to realizing that dream.

We have enough money to buy our 18 month old daughter the gifts she will enjoy. We also have the budget for other family members and for each other. The point of this budgeting exercise was to alleviate stress. Did we get stressed in previous years? Sure we did. Just like the majority of people.

The Christmas Dilemma

As a college student, I rarely had money for Christmas gifts. But I loved Christmas time. I would do my best to buy gifts for my relatives and friends. It soon became apparent that I could not do for all what I wanted, so I simply spread cheer.

I know others are in the same situation all throughout this country, especially during this economic downturn. Sometimes we have to only buy gifts for certain individuals and not others. There are ways to combat the bad feelings around Christmas though, but it takes willingness on part of the participants.

The easiest way would be to create a secret Santa program for your immediate family. Whoever will be there on Christmas will be included. You draw names to determine who buys for who and you set a limit on the amount you are willing to spend on a gift.

This approach does two things — it eliminates the costly duty of buying for more than one person and also alleviates any guilt over leaving out certain family members. Even if you have money this Christmas, do some members of the family not?

Being thoughtful and implementing a Secret Santa program for your Christmas celebration may help certain family members feel more like a part of the party rather than a lead weight.

What ways can you save money this Christmas without losing the spirit of the holiday?

If this is your first Cyber Monday rodeo, then you may be wondering what sites will be seeing discounts. The answer — almost all of them. Amazon.com, buy.com, and even eBay will be in on the fun. To find out the deals across 700 different stores, you can visit CyberMonday.com.

Expect some deals to be promoted specifically through Facebook and Twitter. If you follow retailers twitter feeds then you will likely know — otherwise, you may want to sign up to a few of your favorites tonight.

The discounts on Cyber Monday are vast. Retailers can afford to slash prices on an online retail outlet more than a physical store can. Forget about doorbusters, these are site busters.

What kind of deals can you expect to find?

• Free shipping
• Percentages off entire store stock
• Deep discounts on favorites
• And a lot more.

Good luck with your Cyber Monday shopping! Check back in with us to tell us about your finds.

1. Temper your expectations. The giant 20lb turkey should not be the priority. A healthy, wholesome meal should be. Don’t know how to cook? There are plenty of online resources to point you in the right direction. Start at a site like AllRecipes.com and search for the dishes you want to make.
2. Don’t worry about supplementing at turkey or ham with another meat. Stick to one meat and do it well. That one dish will make all the difference in the meal and save you money on the entire spread.
3. If you decide to make a turkey, buy a frozen one. The fresh turkeys cost more and offer very little upside.
4. Bottle wine can be expensive. If you’re guests demand an alcoholic beverage either ask that it be BYOB or buy a box of wine. The costs can be trimmed by eliminating alcohol all together.
5. Do we need to mention looking for coupons? We have spoke about this often. Do your homework and find coupons for the things you need. Stores are trying very hard to get your business. Don’t be afraid to shop at more than one too.
6. Make a list of ingredients you need for all your dishes. Is something costly on the list? Can a substitute be found that’s cheaper? When you visit the store, the list will help you stay on budget and get everything you need.
7. The feast will likely provide leftovers. Ask your relatives and loved ones to bring a piece of tupperware to tote home any extras — it will save you money on buying disposable containers.
8. Most of all focus on the togetherness and not on the feast. You will be surprised how many good memories are made separate from the food being served!

Before we dive in, a word of caution: don’t fall for scams. And some common sense: if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. With so many out of work, there’s bound to be envelop stuffing, knife selling, and other get-rich-quick schemes floating through your community. Stay above those lowly attacks.

Earn Extra Money at Home

It’s not hard to find stuff around your house to sell on Ebay. We all know that one. Alternatively you could put everything into a garage sale. Some unique ways to make money at home would be to create something of your own. A good friend is an avid knitter. She knits amazing articles of clothing. Of course, she could sell them online. But she does things a bit differently. She has a website where she sells DVDs of her teaching how to knit the awesome items just like she does! Her nephew videos her using a high fidelity camera and he creates the DVDs. They both make a full time living doing that from home.

Do you have any money making ideas you could implement from your home? Is there something holding you back — maybe not knowing enough about computers and the internet or a lack of business knowledge?

Earn Extra Money Part Time

Like my aunt, she works part time in the gym, leading more than six classes a week. Another friend leads tours through Salem, Massachusetts. She earns some extra money talking about ghosts, witches, and the crucible. Not a bad deal at all. An extra job doesn’t have to be twenty hours a week. It may provide you with a few extra dollars for entertainment and also give you something different to do each week. Something out of your ordinary routine. And that can be a good thing.

You can find neat jobs like this in classified ads, online listings, and through a network of friends. The holiday season also brings different options for extra work. Find the big shippers in your community — they’re the ones hiring.

So tell me how you plan to earn some extra money. Let’s get some ideas rolling, because many may need the ideas to make enough money for rent this month. That’s just the harsh reality of a cold economy.

A good friend of mine who now lives and works in Dubai, accumulated upwards of $250,000 worth of student loan debt. That’s a great house with a backyard, pool, jacuzzi, weatherized deck, and skylights in my neighborhood. To him it was seven years of studying, book crunching, Chinese classes, broken relationships, moves, laundry, and football hoorahs. While our memories may carry us through signing the large payment checks each month, we can seek relief if we need it.

The majority of smaller loans mature at ten years. This means after walking for your diploma, you have about six months before the bills start coming in and then another ten years of payments. The payments vary depending on your balance. If you find the payments too large, you can often call to have the loan reconfigured for a twenty year time period. With interests rates so low compare to other debts, the longer time period is not such a bad trade-off. And if you happen to secure a great paying job later, then you can always pay more each month towards the school loan.

My student loans carried a hefty monthly bill so I changed the monthly payment until I was financially sound enough to pay the larger amount. These companies will work with you more easily than on a car loan. Don’t be afraid to call and ask for assistance.

One should also consider consolidating several loans into one loan. Student loans carry a low interest rate as is, so why not lump them together into one payment. This can often lower the interest rates on one or more of the outstanding amounts. And that extra bit of savings makes a big difference over the course of several years.

Unfortunately bankruptcy does not cover student loan bills. They remain on your record like a stain. And if you don’t pay the loan then they could garnish your wages. It’s the price we pay for education. Most loan companies do offer a hardship reprieve. If you’re out of work and need assistance paying your student loan, then call them up, fill out the hardship paperwork, and you won’t have to make a payment for a period of time, usually six months. That will give you time to secure a job and begin paying again.

Student loans can tarnish our good experiences in college. We may regret or bemoan our college education after years of paying out large amounts of cash. But remember we loved that time — it taught us the skills we know and use today. Don’t let the overwhelming payoff amount hinder you from making your monthly payment, or seeking help if you need it. It’s out there — don’t let the debt strangle you.

Physical Labor– construction jobs, like roofing, likely need gophers and some help if you’re strong enough. They are really not that hard and can pay really well. The best part is they’re typically only available in the summer. No one re-roofs their home in the cold winter.

Nature Jobs — lawn mowing comes to mind. But if you’re in a fairly large city, the parks department may hire you to plant flowers, trim bushes, and other beautify their parks. It’s a good outdoor job without too much strain. This could include any landscaping job throughout the community. Maybe you help a neighbor with their large garden or lay some brick for a pathway. The biggest hurdle here would be simply marketing yourself. If you know a bunch of people then that would be easy, but maybe you don’t. In that case a flyer posted at the entrance of the neighborhood grocer would work. Or maybe even put a listing on Craigslist.

Entrepreneurial Skills — It’s not everyone that can start selling to neighbors, finding wholesale prices and making a market where one didn’t exist. But maybe you can start a business online doing, selling odds and ends on eBay for a neighbor or doing some other technical job for the less-than-technical friend of a friend? I have a friend who ripped a few hundred CDs to his computer for an acquaintance. I’m sure there’s other technical jobs that teenagers can likely figure out in a short amount of time. Think about it for a while and then put up a flyer with tear-offs.You may be surprised how many people have need to good technical skills.

Summertime held memories of hard work in the heat. Now many teenagers may find their computer skills can take them indoors in the air conditioning. What skills do you have that you could put to use for some extra money this summer?

1. Work hard and you’ll be rewarded. My father worked two jobs for as long as I can remember. He also started a construction company when I was a teenager. He always seemed to work from dawn til dusk. It’s a lesson he showed rather than preached about.
2. Always look for bargains. In a tight economy, my father and mother would be clipping coupons at the kitchen table, using them religiously each week at the grocery store. They never forgot their coupon wallet and the savings would add up quickly.
3. Buy quality rather than quantity. My father bought a riding lawnmower when I was eight years old. I’m thirty-two years old now and that mower still cuts the grass. He makes investments in quality products rather than buying a replacements each time it breaks down.
4. Save for the unexpected. We should always have an emergency fund because we never know when the fridge may stop working or your car need new brakes.
5. Plan for the future. Be sure to invest in your own future. Plan for college, a house, a car, and any other activities.

So what has your own father taught you about money, investing, or savings? Do you have a good story to share? Leave it in the comments so we can all learn from the great fathers of the world.