First, take care of you and your families’ personal well-being. To do this, be sure to have an emergency kit available. The kit should contain the following items:

¨ a three day supply of water, which equates to one gallon of water per person per day

¨ food that will not spoil and can be eaten without having to be cooked or heated

¨ at least one change of clothing and shoes per person

¨ a first aid kit that includes any prescriptions that family members need

¨ a small tool kit

¨ a battery powered radio and flashlight along with a supply of spare batteries

¨ an extra set of car keys

¨ cash, at least $50.00 in tens, fives, and ones, as well as a roll of quarters

¨ personal grooming and hygiene supplies for each family member

¨ an extra pair of eyeglasses

¨ important documents such as insurance policies, wills, and birth certificates

¨ also, create a smaller version that can be stored in your car

Now that you are physically safe, what do you do with your finances? This is an area where many people are under-prepared, but it is almost as important as your physical safety. You may be thinking that your finances are not your most important concern at this time, but it is necessary for you to think about it before it is too late. Start by keeping all of your important paperwork and phone numbers together in one convenient location. The ability to access this information can help prevent additional stress when dealing with a disaster. In addition, you should have a duplicate copy of the information stored in a safety deposit box or some other location that is accessible. You may not be at home when a disaster strikes.

Now that you are safe, you should start by calling your insurance companies about policy coverage and specific filing requirements. Keep in mind you may have claims on your homeowners/renters policy as well as your automotive policy. You will need a list of items covered under your policy to start the process. If you lost the policies, ask your insurer for copies. If you do not have a list, call anyway.

If you do not have insurance, or if your insurance does not cover the cause of the damage, call FEMA at 1-800-621-3362 to inquire about federal disaster assistance. Typically, FEMA will help with emergency shelter and other immediate needs. Later, there may be federal grants and loans provided to some victims.

If you have a mortgage, call your mortgage company immediately. Your lender is likely to offer some concessions to assist you, but you must initiate the contact.

If you have other debt obligations, such as, personal loans and credit card debt, contact those companies as well. In many situations, they are willing to offer assistance due to the circumstances.

Natural disasters are a frightening experience to live through. Since you cannot prevent
them your only alternative is to be as prepared as possible if they do occur. These simple
tips can help you if you ever find yourself in this situation.

A shopping list can be your most powerful weapon to grocery shopping cheaply and effectively. Whenever you pick up something that is not on your list stop and think it over for a minute. Why do you need to buy that product? Is it something you need to have or is it something that you want to have? If it is a want put it back on the shelf. The grocery store is not responsible for your budget, you are. Remember, it is cheaper not buying an item than it is to buy something you do not need, even if it is on sale. Be careful of the “buy one get one free” deals as well. Write down the prices of items that you regularly buy. Compare them to the special deals to see if the price is the same. Set aside a specific amount of money to use when shopping and stick to it. If you have money left over, set it aside so you can stock up on items when a good deal comes around.

When you do have to shop in the aisles, be sure to check the entire shelf. Most people tend to buy the items that are at eye level because they are the first thing that they see. Grocery stores understand this and will generally put the more expensive items right where you can see them. Cheaper items are normally on the lower shelves so you are forced to search for them. In addition, buy generic items when possible. The same manufacturer that makes the name brand equivalent makes many generic items. They just have a different label on them.

It used to be common that it was cheaper to buy items in bulk. Many times this may be the case still but you have to be careful. Often times, bulk items are more expensive than the smaller items. It is important to compare the price of the item. Most price tags in grocery stores will have the price per a specific amount of an item, such as per ounce. This will allow you to compare the true cost of bulk items compared to smaller amounts of the same item. Also, remember that buying five pounds of grapes may seem like a great deal but it is not frugal if you end up throwing half of it away because it went bad.

Before going grocery shopping, eat. When you shop on an empty stomach, everything in the store tends to look good. This means you end up buying many items that you do not need. Also, dress warmly before you go grocery shopping. Grocery stores are normally cold and cold temperatures can actually make you hungry.

Always try to keep your grocery shopping to a minimum. If possible, go no more than once a week. This will allow you to pick up fresh milk and produce. Many people will walk in to the store for “one or two items” and will walk out of the store with an entire grocery cart full of items that happened to catch your eye. Try to make due with the items you already have at home. Look online for recipes that use only what you already have, you will be much better off financially.  

So how do I get all of the things that I want while still paying all of the bills that I have? Budget. I know what your thinking. Budgets are like diets. All it means is that you have to give up on all of the things that you want and you are stuck with just “paying the bills.” It may sound bad but it is one of the easiest, and cheapest, ways to get all of the things that you want.

Creating a budget only costs a little bit of time and effort. It may seem complicated when you first start the process but it is well worth the trouble. All you have to do is write down all of the things that you spend money on. Start with all of the basic expenses that you have like housing, transportation, and groceries. The key is to write down everything. This means if you spend $1 a week on gum it should be a part of your budget. Will it take you awhile? Yes. Just keep telling yourself that in the end it will all be worth it.

Once you have put all of your expenses down on paper, write down your take home income. Are you spending more money than you make? Are you using credit cards, payday loans, or overtime to afford everything? If you are, then you know that you need to adjust your budget. Knowing what you are spending your money on will help you to cut out items that are not important. Ask yourself some simple questions. Do you have to have the gourmet coffee every morning or can you brew your own at home? You may not be able to live without cable but do you have to have 500 channels when you only watch 40 of them? Removing items that you can live without can go a long way towards freeing up extra cash. Cash that can be used to pay down debts or saved for emergencies.

The best part about budgeting is that you can plan for all of the items you want. They can become part of your budget. If you want that new video game system, put aside the same amount of money each paycheck. This will alleviate the stress of unpaid or past due bills and will allow you to enjoy the items in life that you worked so hard to get.

The simple answer is no, it is not as good as at sounds. If a company tells you that they can reduce the balance of your credit card debt by half then that means you are probably looking at debt settlement. So what is debt settlement?

Credit card companies are not going to give up on money that you owe them. If you have spent $10,000 on a credit card do you really believe that the creditor is just going to say “No Problem, just give me $5,000 and we can call it a day.” No, they want all of the money that you spent. So, when you get involved with a debt settlement company what is it exactly that they do?

The first thing that happens is that they start by having you send in a payment to them. Many of the settlement companies take your first payment and keep it as part of their fees. They continue to take your monthly payments and they do nothing with it. They hold on to your funds while your cards go further and fuarther past due. They do this because it helps with the settlement process. A creditor is not going to take less then full value on a debt if you are paying it as agreed. Why would they allow you to give them half of what you owe when you are making the payment each month? This causes the credit card balances to go up even further than where they started. Not only is there no payment going towards the interest that is being charged, but now you are being charged late fees, and possibly over limit fees if the card was already maxed out. As soon as you go more than 30 days past due the creditors start reporting that your card is delinquent to the credit reporting agencies and your credit score starts to drop.

After several months of missed payments, the creditors are now getting nervous. They know that you might not pay them anything and they would rather get some of their money back then no payment at all. This is where the settlement company will start negotiating with the creditor. The creditor will settle on the debt for an amount less than what is owed. This does lead to another problem. At this point, you have only been making payments for several months and creditors accept settlements as lump sum payments. This means that you more than likely have only enough money to pay off one creditor. What happens to the other creditors?

The other cards will continue to go further and further delinquent. At some point, they will be sent to a collections agency. When this happens, it becomes another negative on your credit report. The process will start over with the next creditor as they continue to hold your funds until they have enough money to settle with the next creditor. The process will continue this cycle until eventually all of the debts are paid. Where does that leave you?

First, let us look at your credit score. All of your accounts will go delinquent. Since 35% of your credit score is based on how well you make you’re agreed upon payments, this portion of your score will drop significantly. Next, negative items on your credit report will stay on your credit report for 7 years. So once the account has been settled, it will reflect on your credit report for the next 7 years. This can severely affect your ability to get credit for the next seven years. If you are able to get credit extended to you, you are going to pay a lot more in the form of higher interest rates. One of the other negatives about settlement is the tax implications. Any amount that is forgiven above $600 dollars is considered earned income and you can be taxed on it. If you had a $10,000 debt that was settled for $5,000, then you will be taxed as earning $4,400 of additional income.

There are times when settlements may be an option that is worth pursuing. You as the consumer need to be aware of all of the implications of choosing debt settlement as a way to pay off your debt. The best policy is to pay your debt as agreed. If you are in a situation where you can no longer pay your credit card debt then look for help from non-profit organizations that can help you pay your debt while providing you with the education and knowledge to help you not get in this situation again.