Have you signed up for modern day slavery?
It’s time for a REVOLT! You may be asking yourself, “What is modern day slavery?” You’ve used your MasterCard, Visa, or American Express card vigorously and you continue to pay the minimum payment amount or continuously carry credit card balances. Now you’re in tons of debt and you feel like there’s no way out. Just like weight gain, debt accrual doesn’t happen overnight. You continue making uninformed decisions on how to spend your money. Now you feel helpless. You think there is nothing you can do to stop this cycle of debt. YOU’RE WRONG!! Let tonight be your first step in joining the movement. Make the conscious decision that you no longer want to feel trapped and overwhelmed by bills ever again. Today make a promise to yourself to start living a financially conscientious life, which will lead to a debt free life in the future. Break the habit of indiscriminate spending and start paying attention to every dollar you spend. You work hard for your money, so why not enjoy it without being a slave to it. STOP buying things that you really can’t afford or you really don’t need. Plan! Plan! Plan! I can’t say this word enough. It doesn’t matter whether you’re on a fixed income or you’re making six figures. When you are shopping buy items you truly need, but make sure you get them on sale. Key fundamental rule write out your list before you go to the store and STICK TO IT! Join the movement and show America how you can live a fabulous life today and great life in the future!
Start Today
1. How do you spend your money? Most people cringe when they hear the word BUDGET so I’ll just say track your spending for 2 weeks. If you use cash save all your receipts if you using a credit card that you pay off at the end of the each month print out the statement to see where you are spending your money. You may ask why track your spending. This will give you a better picture of what you are spending your money on. From here you can identify the areas you can reduce spending in. If you would like me to review your spending habits with you send me an email at shareeke@theconsciousspender.com and I will give you some suggestions. For free financial tools to track your spending check out www.mint.com
2. I can not say it any louder or prouder SHOP on SALE! For this example I am referring to grocery shopping specifically. If it is not on sale and you don’t need it immediately “Do Not” buy it. I love checking Pathmark sales paper for their 3 days special or the buy one get one free at Publix. Watch your grocery bill shrink if you shop on sale and for an even bigger bonus clip coupons. You can obtain coupons from various websites for your favorite products or out of the newspaper. Before going out and purchasing a newspaper subscription or buying one on Sunday morning take a moment to figure out where can you get one for free? Oh yes baby FREE. Ummm do you have a family member who doesn’t clip the coupons but gets the newspaper? Does your employer purchase the paper and then throw it away? FREE baby. When you go to the grocery store say to yourself, “ I WILL NOT PAY PREMIUM” and watch all the money you save.
3. Review all of your fixed expenses. I’m talking about cable bill, cell phone, rent, mortgage, car insurance and the list goes on. The question you must ask yourself is, “Am I using all of the channels in my cable package or all the minutes on my cell plan.” Go through each fixed expense and figure out what you need and don’t need. Is it mandatory for you that have DVR services? Do you pay for roadside assistance on your cell phone bill and on your car insurance? I can continue to name the places where you may be losing your precious hard earned money, but I know you get the point. Reviewing is the first step. The second action step is to CALL. Call your cable company to reduce what you don’t need. Call the cell phone company and tell them you don’t need roadside assistance. If you are paying rent and are a great tenant, before renewing talk to your landlord and see if they can give you a $25 break a month ($300 a year Savings).
Start being a Conscious Spender today and live the fabulous life you deserve today and in the future!
Your Financial Educator,
Shareeke The Conscious Spender
theconsciousspender.wordpress.com 
I believe that the advice and tips are great but personally speaking the easy part is making that decision to save and spend wisely but the hard part is reconstructing a lifelong life style of a cycle of overspending and just getting by. It is a truly frightening thought of dismissing your current lifestyle which is very unstructured and trading it for a more discipline one. The frustration is how do you survive and try to enjoy on a pay check that barely helps with surviving?
By: Luckii on October 21, 2010
at 10:19 PM
I’m feeling overwhelmed after viewing tonights cnn special. Although most of the info that was presented really isn’t a surprise, I’m still full. I plan to use this as motivation to ensure that myself and Darion have a secure future. Today I am JOINING THE MOVEMENT! I consider myself to be a conscious spender, but if I can keep it real there is room for improvment. So I will begin by tracking my spending for 2 weeks. I’m at the computer now printing coupons for my trip to the grocery store on sunday. Shareeke and I have been speaking about money topics all week and today I called statefarm to see how I decrease my premium. I have to pray about my DVR….LOL. Job well done shareeke, I look forward to being apart of this movemwnt and journey to financial freedom and security!
By: Kakela Gilbert on October 21, 2010
at 10:48 PM
I consider myself to be a conscious spender but we all have room for improvement.
Thanks to you, I called DirecTV and cancelled my DVR service. I’ve had the DVR for 3 years and my daughter used this feature 2 no more than three times. This equates to a savings of $84/year and $252 for 3 years.
You mentioned another tip that I will challenge myself to do, which was ONLY grocery shop for items that are on sale. Again, this may be a challenge but I will make an effort and try to make it work for the benefit of my pockets (ON AN EMPTY STOMACH THAT IS).
I agree with your weight gain example: “it didn’t happen overnight” nor should one attempt to eliminate the process overnight. We don’t want to set ourselves up for failure.
Please continue to blog and keep me aligned with tips that will make me wealthy and I will continue to keep you aligned with tips to remain healthy and/or for weight loss as its meaningless to be wealthy and unhealthy.
Moreover, continue on your productive path as knowledge is power. I look forward to being your cheerleader as your name becomes a staple in America’s household from a financial standpoint as you will get paid for this wealth of information. Your energy vested will not be in vain!!!!
All the best…
By: Tiffani S. Williams on October 22, 2010
at 12:28 PM
Great site and thanks for all the info! I too consider myself a conscious spender with awesome credit and a sound financial portfolio, but a reminder always helps when you feel like slacking and getting those pair of shoes that you really don’t need :). I will do the tracking for two weeks and see if there is any room for improvement. I will let you know how it goes.
Keep up the great job!!!
By: Blondell on October 25, 2010
at 5:05 PM