Faithful With A Few

How To Improve Bad Credit

guest — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:12:47 +0000

How To Improve Bad Credit is a post from: Faithful With A Few. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

(The following is a guest post on behalf of Compare The Market)

Having a low credit score can really put a damper on your life. Credit scores are used to determine interest rates, loan eligibility and can help determine whether or not you can get a house or apartment.

Your score is an important facet of your life and working hard to maintain a good credit score should be a priority. Here are some ways to improve bad credit!

How To Improve Bad Credit

Find A Credit Balance You Can Pay Off

Poor credit credit cards are going to be a lifeline for you in this situation. Find a lender that is willing to extend you a credit balance despite your bad credit. Getting the credit card will increase your credit score all by itself. Paying off the balance on time will establish a positive credit history that will work toward increasing your score in the long term.

Learning how to pay off a balance on time can also teach you better money habits, and will definitely help you to fix poor credit.

Settle Your Balances If Possible

Contact your creditors and see if you can settle your credit balances. This will allow you to pay off your debts for less than you owe. Not only does this abolish your debts, it also allows you to have your credit balances reported as paid in full.

A credit report free from past due balances can allow your credit score to rise very quickly. Most creditors are going to be willing to listen to you when you offer a debt settlement.

Consolidate Your Debt

Debt consolidation can make it easier to manage that debt. Some people have low credit scores simply because they could not remember to make the payments on time. Having a single payment to make each month will allow you to keep track of the payments you owe to creditors.

You can make it even easier on yourself by telling your bank to automatically make the payment each month.

Find Co-signers To Improve Bad Credit

Finding a co-signer can make it easier to qualify for a loan with better rates than a bad credit loan. Lower interest rates and higher loan balances can make it easier to get the loan you need to get out of debt. The big thing here is to make sure that you are paying off the balance on time in order to keep your co-signer from having to pay the bill.

Paying off the loan on time will make it so that you do not have to get a co-signer for your next loan.

{Learn why becoming a cosigner for a loan can be a terrible idea}

Establish A Relationship With Your Bank

Financial institutions have to rate you based on a credit score because they need an objective measurement of the risk being taken. However, developing a track record with a lender can go a long way toward easier lending requirements. Credit unions are local establishments that have ties to the community that they serve and generally are more willing to lend to those with less than perfect credit.

Leveraging a relationship with a local lender can make getting a loan possible.

The bottom line is that you have to adjust your spending habits if you have poor credit. Find a lender who will take a chance on you and pay the balance off on time. Doing this will allow you to enjoy a higher credit score and benefit from the perks that go with it.

photo by graur razvan ionut

Budgeting In A True Life Change

Khaleef Crumbley — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:17:05 +0000

Budgeting In A True Life Change is a post from: Faithful With A Few. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

The following is a guest post from Crystal at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff where she covers savings, expenses, and budgeting in the fun stuff along the way.

Hi, my name is Crystal and I work from home. I haven’t always, but after starting my own blog in February 2010 and my own blog advertising management business in April 2011, I was able to quit my cubicle day job in July 2011 and settle into a comfy office chair at home. That would be a big enough life change by itself, right? I agree, but the story doesn’t end there. Mr. BFS just quit his own day job as a school librarian on January 20, 2012 and has joined Crystal-For-Hire full time. I am excited and freaked out at the same time!

So, how do you budget for a completely different life than you expected 2 years ago? You save a lot of money and pray. Specifically, we needed to take a close look at our financial numbers like we did before I quit. I was able to quit when I earned $2500 or more a month for 4 months in a row. We used our current data to make a new target that helped us know that we were ready to take the full plunge into depending fully on our small business income.

Our Current Numbers

Here is how that data looked:

- My husband and I need at least $5000 after taxes and benefits to cover our living expenses and basic savings.

- I pay myself $1150 every 2 weeks and place $500 into the tax account every two weeks.

- Mr. BFS was receiving about $4000 and receiving about $1400 every two weeks after taxes and benefits.

- Everything above the basic $5000 has been being used to pay off our mortgage.

Those numbers led us to conclude that we needed to earn at least $7500 a month to live and save like we do now and way more if we want to pay off the remainder of our mortgage by June 2012 as planned.

Our Target

So we decided on a big target. My husband would resign once we were able to make $10,000 or more for 6 months in a row.

You know what they say about plans, right?

Jumping in Early

We were rolling along very well and hit that $10,000 goal 5 months in a row, and then my business exploded. Advertisers found me, even more clients found me, and I was sacrificing a bunch of sleep to keep up with it all. So we adjusted our goal, justified that we were indeed on target, and my husband quit.

So yes, no one is perfect. We fudged our goal a bit and are taking a risk a little earlier than expected. All I can say is that it feels right and I think we are taking a very calculated risk that shows all signs of being a good idea. We’ll all find out what happens from here. Right now, I am excited and sick to my stomach at the same time. I can only hope we looked well enough before the leap.

Anyone else out there relying solely on a work from home business? How is it working out for you?

photo by Stuart Miles

How To Save Money With Coupons With These 4 Simple Steps

guest — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:16:43 +0000

How To Save Money With Coupons With These 4 Simple Steps is a post from: Faithful With A Few. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

[This is a guest post from Tim at Faith and Finance, about how to save money with coupons. He and his wife are coupon ninjas and recently wrote an eBook called How To Coupon.]

“That’ll be $9.47,” the cashier said as he totaled all our items. It’s always hard to hold back my excitement when I hear a cashier tell say that our total is less than ten bucks, especially when we have three full bags of items worth over $80! Sometimes we’ll literally hear people behind us whisper in disbelief at how low the total is. We try not to make a big deal of it, so when people ask, “how did you do that,” we smile and say, “we just used the right coupons.”

Ok, that’s not entirely true (well, the saving part is, but there’s a little more to the method). You can’t just walk into a store and expect to save 80% on everyday items like deodorant, razors, and toothpaste because you’re holding a crisp coupon in your hand. While couponing isn’t rocket science, it does take some planning and a little knowhow.

Trust me, when we first started, we had no clue how to coupon. In fact, I made up all sorts of excuses about coupons and why it wasn’t worth our time. Man was I wrong!

You’ve probably seen a few examples of Khaleef and Sherrian’s shopping trips on this blog. They understand how to ‘stack’ coupons and use store rewards for their benefit, which is how they can get items at a steep discount, and sometimes even free!

How To Save Money With Coupons

If you’ve been telling yourself, “man, I should start couponing” there’s no better time than now. It may seem like there’s a lot to learn, but don’t feel overwhelmed about it. We’re going to outline the basics here, but if you want an even more thorough explanation of how our family (and Khaleef’s) saves thousands a year with coupons, take a look at our thorough eBook How to Coupon.

1. Get Organized

This may seem like a no brainer, but it’s the key to saving the most money through couponing. Create a coupon binder and use baseball card sleeves to organize your coupons by categories like frozen foods, drinks, shampoo, etc. (The eBook has free dividers for you to print out).

As you find deals online, you can quickly reference your binder to see if you have any applicable coupons. If not, you can ignore the deal and move on to the next one.

2. Set Aside Time

The most time consuming part of couponing is cutting and sorting them. We spend about 2-3 hours a week if we have a bunch of newspapers to pull coupons from.

The bright side is that once you have your coupons organized and your shopping list made up based on your coupons, you can easily get through the aisles of your favorite store very quickly.

3. Follow the Deals Online

There are a few tricks to finding the best deals. Coupon blogs will actually highlight the best deals for the coming weeks. Subscribe to blogs like The Krazy Coupon Lady, I Heart Wags, and I Heart CVS to get a preview of the store deals as well as tips on how you can use your coupons to maximize your purchase.

[Khaleef's note: Another way to save money with coupons is by using our free coupon database]

4. Stock Up

A lot of people will quickly use the excuse: “I don’t need 12 bottles of ketchup, so couponing doesn’t make any sense to me.” I agree. Unless you’re opening a restaurant, there’s no good reason why you need to rush to the store to buy that much ketchup!

It does make sense, however, to stock up on nonperishable items that you go through often. For example, when we find a deal on toothpaste that makes the total cost around $0.25, you bet we’ll stock up on 4-6 tubes. We usually try to get enough to last about three months because that’s generally the sales cycle you’ll find for most deals.

Hopefully you’ve gathered a few helpful tips and found some inspiration to start your journey to save hundreds, if not thousands of dollars each year with coupons.

Do you try to use coupons when you go to the store? If not, what are your reservations about using coupons? Do you think it’s a waste of time?

photo by dmdonahoo

Build Up Your Financial Security In Uncertain Times

guest — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:27:30 +0000

Build Up Your Financial Security In Uncertain Times is a post from: Faithful With A Few. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

[This post is written by Derek from Creating A Passive Income. His goal is to explore every single passive income source there is and evaluate their effectiveness and revenue. If you're interested in extra income, be sure to check out his site.]

There is a common piece of advice going around between parents and students. “Go to school, find a safe, secure job with good benefits, and you’ll retire well.” Let me be the first to tell you, this advice is terrible.

In our world today, there are fewer jobs than there are people, and employee turnover is higher than ever before. If you make a mistake or if your salary exceeds what is typical for your position, you might very well be on the chopping block. You might have your college degree, but guess what, so does everyone else.

The Typical Response for Financial Security

Occasionally, things just don’t work out with employment. It might not even have been your fault. The decline of the economy, the struggling sales of your company, or a transfer of ownership could be the cause of your job displacement. Whatever the case may be, you should have a financial plan in place so that you’re protected against total bankruptcy.

Once again, there’s some common advice out there – “To protect yourself from financial devastation after a job loss, you must have an emergency fund with funds equivalent to 6 months worth of expenses.” While I do condone an emergency fund, this alone will not protect you against complete financial failure.

After all, what if you just can’t find a job until month number 8? What happens then? You load up the credit cards? I hope not. The problem with setting aside a static stash of cash is that it is not regenerative. If you keep pulling money out and no more money gets put in, it WILL run out!

photo credit: Stuart Miles

The Best From of Financial Security

In these economic times, one really has no sense of security in a typical job. I’ve seen it too many times – people proclaim that no one can do what they do and that they’re too valuable to get rid of. And then….they get the boot….

Rather than depend only on an emergency fund for that potential job loss, I suggest that you focus on two more aspects of financial security.

1) Live well below your means

2) Build a residual cash flow

Live Well Below Your Means

My wife and I both work and we make a point to live off only one of our incomes. That way, if one of us loses a job (it’s happened before), we’re still completely fine financially. Maybe you can’t bring your expenses down to half of what you’re used to, but make an effort to reduce them and you’ll feel much more secure in the event that a job is lost.

Build a Residual Cash Flow

Instead of having just one or two incomes, why not go for three or four? That way, if one of your jobs says “see-ya”, it won’t be that big of a deal. My wife and I both have full-time jobs, plus she does photography on the side and I earn quite a bit of money through various passive income ventures. Now this is a true set-up for financial security, wouldn’t you say?

Perhaps you’re strapped for time and cannot possibly start another venture. If this is the case, then at least have some potential income options written down. You don’t want to lose your job and have no possible income sources. This is how you deplete your emergency savings in record time and make friends with the repo men…

Have you set up an emergency fund in the event of a job loss? Have you done anything more?

article photo by cooldesign

Save Money On Textbooks By Renting

Sherrian Crumbley — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:48:34 +0000

Save Money On Textbooks By Renting is a post from: Faithful With A Few. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

One of the most expensive and tedious things I had to worry about in college was purchasing my textbooks for class. I hated trying to find the best deals online, or holding off for the first week or two after classes started, hoping that someone who dropped would try to unload their books at a discount.

There were many times when I did give up the fight and just pay whatever exorbitant price the school’s book store was charging, of course buying used if it was available.

Thankfully, things have improved quite a bit over the past few years, and smart students have many resourceful ways to save money on textbooks. Seeing the necessity, websites like ecampus.com are offering, not only great deals, but making the process quick and simple for textbook consumers.

Textbook Rental Reviews: eCampus

Right from the home page, one has the option to buy, rent, or sell textbooks. RENT TEXTBOOKS? This was something I would have done all through college. There is nothing worse than buying a textbook new for $200, and then selling it back to the bookstore for $17. The renting option is broken up into three price tiers based on the length of the rental: the longer the rental, the better the deal in price.

Save Money On Textbooks With e-Textbooks?

I was also impressed that many textbooks are available in an e-textbook format (no more lugging heavy texts around). With the examples I perused, one would be purchasing a subscription for the e-textbook for a period of 180 days. In these examples, the cost of the e-textbook was quite a bit higher than purchasing the physical texts.

In at least 2 cases, it was almost twice as much as purchasing a new hard copy. While this would dissuade me from using this function, I can see how one could justify the extra cost for the convenience.

Besides showing the available new, used, rental, and e-textbook prices, there is also a “The Marketplace” tab, which allows you to purchase the text from private sellers at prices set at their discretion. This option could offer you possible additional savings, and makes it quite easy to provide textbook rental reviews, when their are multiple options to save and make money on a site.

The site offers other products such as DVDs and college clothing and other paraphernalia. I compared the price of the DVDs to Amazon.com, where I usually purchase them, and the difference in prices were negligible in many cases.

I also compared a few textbook prices to my favorite site for textbook purchases, and that is where the difference was more noticeable. In all fairness, this site in particular is all “marketplace”, and so the private sellers were asking for a great range of prices for the textbooks.

Compared to the prices at other bookstores and online retailers, ecampus.com is definitely a great bargain.

Since I am considering re-entering academia again in the future, I am glad I had a chance to review this site. I will certainly revisit it for the textbook rental option, especially since they have free shipping on orders over $59. Not only that, but they supply you with a shipping label to send the book back at the end of the semester.

Good prices, stress-free experience, and finishing touches to make sure you’ll come back – ecampus.com is worth a look.

Reader Questions

How have you been able to save on textbook costs?
Do you have a lot of professors who don’t require them at all?
Have you had success using and following the previous edition of a textbook?
Do you have any other tips that should be included here?

Financial Blessings – Reader Stories

Khaleef Crumbley — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:30:37 +0000

Financial Blessings – Reader Stories is a post from: Faithful With A Few. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

I recently posted a story about one of the many financial blessings that I have received in my life. It was inspired by a number of people who were anonymously paying off the layaway balances for random Kmart shoppers.

We are constantly bombarded with stories of corruption in financial institutions, people taking advantage of the elderly, and companies ripping off their customers for an extra buck. Then there are all of the negative personal interactions that we have in our own lives. Because of all of this, I thought it would be nice to hear about people helping each other out financially.

I asked the readers of that post to leave their stories of financial blessings in the comments.

Your Financial Blessings:

Tim @ Faith and Finance – “I remember when a guy from my home church sponsored me to go on a missions trip right before I started college. I didn’t have any money at the time and he asked if I wanted to go on the trip. I said, ‘yes, but I don’t have any money to go’ so he said ‘you’re going’ and paid the cost to go. I’ll always remember that.”

Shanendoah @ The Dog Ate My Wallet – “In highschool, I participated in an exchange group, where kids from Spain came to live with us for 2 weeks and then we would go live with them for 2. Sadly, while we could host, my mom couldn’t afford to pay for me to go. So the school in Spain paid $1,200 of the $1,500 cost, and my mom got to send me to Europe for $100/week.
I will always be grateful for the teacher who arranged that “scholarship”.”

Jeff @ Sustainable Life Blog – “I’ve only been that bad off once, when because of practices now outlawed, I spent about 80 cents more than I had in my checking account – of course, these were of varying sizes, but they put the large transaction through first, not leaving money for the other transactions to clear. I quickly got about 8 overdrafts (or more) and was charged a negative balance fee for my account on top of it all. by the next time I would have gotten paid, it would have taken up my entire check – nothing for food or rent or ANYTHING else.
My dad paid it off and I closed the account, but not after he called me a moron and suggested I get a handle on my finances. That moment was probably the turning point in my finances – i still slipped up after that, but it’s been going mostly up since.”

Elle @ Couple Money – “When I was growing up, my mom’s car broke down and needed a engine. As a single parent with 3 kids on a tight budget it was a bigger emergency than she imagined. A friend came through and offered a gift for a portion of the repairs and a no interest loan for the rest. It allowed my mom to continue working. A real blessing for our family that I never forgot.”

Jai Catalano – “I recently was in a financial bind and entered a video competition and won. I never expected to win nor get blessed with a $1000 prize.”

Pam @ Penny Saver Blog – “I remember feeling really blessed when my husband and I were first married. We didn’t have very much money but we were close friends with one couple who continually blessed us by giving us food, taking us out to eat, and being so unbelievably generous to us. It really meant a lot to us during those tight financial times. It’s so cool how God works through others around us at exactly the right time!”

Amanda L Grossman @ Frugal Confessions -”By the way–my sister and her husband were one of the beneficiaries of the Kmart person!! They had $180 of their layaway paid for them by an anonymous person.”

Ryan @ Budgetable – “This isn’t exactly “my” blessing, but a friend of mines. About a year ago he was going through some really hard times. His wife had just left him for another man, he lost his house, car…his new laptop got stolen… it was really raining hard on him. This was all within probably a 3 month span. Anyways, he got behind on his electricity bill and they shut it off. We live in Colorado and this was during the winter… heat is a MUST. He had no money to pay the bill and wasn’t sure what he was going to do. After being in the dark and cold all weekend suddenly his electricity just turned on. He called the electric company to find out what had happened. Turns out a person who wanted to remain anonymous paid his bill. He said it changed his life… after what he went through the past few months, he had been convinced the whole world was terrible.. that made him realize that there were still good people in the world.”

I think it’s inspiring to see that people are still interested in helping those in need. I think one of the common themes in all of these stories is that the recipients will not forget what was done for them! This shows us why it is so important to take notice of those in need.

photo by Salvatore Vuono

Holiday Drugstore Shopping: Spent $9, Made $17, And Picked Up A Lot Of Great Products!

Khaleef Crumbley — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 11:30:51 +0000

Holiday Drugstore Shopping: Spent $9, Made $17, And Picked Up A Lot Of Great Products! is a post from: Faithful With A Few. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

It’s been a long time since I’ve written about our CVS shopping. Actually, we had to stop because we ran out of room to store all of free/cheap stuff! Now that we are in a larger apartment with more storage room, and we now know that we can donate anything we can’t use, we plan to continue in 2012.

Since I posted the CVS Black Friday ad scan, along with many other Black Friday ads, we knew what items would be on sale.

We also took a look at the Walgreens Black Friday ad scan and saw that they offered a lot of free items as well.

Now when I say that these items were free, what I really mean is that each store gives 100% cash back (in the form of store credit – Extra Care Bucks for CVS & Register Rewards for Walgreens).

We went to both stores on Thanksgiving and racked up on all of the free stuff. We then went back to both stores recently to spend all of our store credit before it expired.

As you can see from the picture, we were able to get a lot of stuff for $9.14. On top of that, we also received $17 in Extra Care Bucks!

Here is a rundown of all of the stuff that we picked up:

6 Hydrogen Peroxide
2 Johnson’s Baby Lotion
2 Nivea Body Wash
1 Crest Pro-Health Mouthwash
1 Benefiber
1 Suavitel Fabric Softener
1 24 ct Poland Spring
1 Cetaphil Skin Cleanser
1 Cetaphil Lotion
1 Organix Shea Butter Conditioner
2 Water Block Band-Aids
1 Always Maxi Pads
1 Smooth’n Shine Hair Polisher
1 FX Hair Polisher
1 Motions Pomade
1 Nice Wet Cleaning Clothes (Swiffer)
1 Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Cleaning Gel
1 Vagisil Feminine Wash
4 Ricola Cough Drops
2 Luden’s Cough Drops
2 Blue Diamond Almonds
1 Emerald Mixed Nut Blend
1 Russell Stover Caramel Santa
4 Various Candy Bars

We actually gave away the candy bars, so they wouldn’t ruin my weight loss efforts. Since I’ve already lost 18 lbs, I think the sacrifice was worth it!

So, we picked up all of this stuff for only $9.14, and received $17 back to spend on our next trip! I really missed this in 2011.

Since we picked up those Extra Care Bucks, we plan to get back into our CVS shopping soon. We didn’t even use any coupons (even though my coupon database has been updated) and still made out pretty well!

Did you pick up any great deals around Christmas?

Unexpected Financial Blessings…What’s Your Story?

Khaleef Crumbley — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 11:30:33 +0000

Unexpected Financial Blessings…What’s Your Story? is a post from: Faithful With A Few. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

I came across an article today about anonymous donors paying off layaway balances for various Kmart shoppers. As you can tell from the Kmart Black Friday 2011 ad, they offer a ton of great merchandise around Christmas time!

It’s amazing to consider that people still desire to be the source of these types of unexpected financial blessings! Of course, we know that God is the true source of all blessings…

Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. ~ James 1:16-17

However, God still uses willing hearts to help bring financial blessings (and other kinds as well) to His children. I’ve had people come through for me on many occasions, and I was grateful for every one – no matter how great or small the gift.

Even though the bible constantly warns us about misunderstanding the true value of possessions, we are still commanded to help those in need.

What Were Your Unexpected Financial Blessings?

Reading this story made me want to hear about more stories of people receiving financial blessings that were unexpected. So, I want you to share your own experiences. I’ll start with one of my own.

A long time ago I had a little bit of trouble with my driver’s license. Because of this, I needed to pay off my financed car immediately. The only thing is that I was broke and I still owed $2,000 on the car! If I couldn’t come up with the money in a short period of time (like a week or 2), they would repossess the car.

My wife (who was just my girlfriend at the time) told her best friend about my problem. He then offered to give me a loan for the full amount and allow me to pay it back over 8 months without interest! My car payments were about $241/month, and I was able to pay him back at $250/month.

I had met him a few times and we were cool, but I wouldn’t consider us friends at that point. However, he still felt moved compelled to help me with such a large gift. At that time I was working full time and I went back to school – I couldn’t afford to have my car repossessed. His generosity really helped me get through a very tough time.

Once we pay off debt, one of our goals is to set up an account for this purpose. We always want to be in a position to help others. This is another reason why I hate being in debt bondage!

Share Your Stories Of Financial Blessings

Now it’s your turn. Share how people have come into your life and helped you out when you were in a financial jam.

I really think that stories like this can encourage people to be more helpful when others are in need…even if they are complete strangers!

I may even take the comments that are left here and put them in a future article.

photo by Michal Marcol

How To Reduce Home Energy Costs

guest — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 02:30:00 +0000

How To Reduce Home Energy Costs is a post from: Faithful With A Few. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

[The following is a guest post on behalf of Money Supermarket]

As temperatures drop, it is time to get your home ready for the winter. Some locations see lots of snow and below freezing temperatures. For these people, preparing for the winter takes some time, especially when the goal is to try and reduce home energy costs. For those that live with more moderate temperatures, much less preparation is required.

If not cared for properly, homes may need costly repairs that could mean applying for unsecured loans or even a consolidation loan.

How To Reduce Home Energy Costs

Reduce Home Energy Costs Inside the Home

There are several parts of your home that work together to make sure you stay warm and toasty despite the chilly temperatures outside. Your heating system is one of the most important parts of this system. Consider calling in for a maintenance appointment before it gets too cold outside.

A technician can provide you with an inspection checklist and even take care of minor repairs that you need. Remember that a little bit of money upfront could save you the search for unsecured loans if the system needs to be replaced.

Check your windows and doors for any type of leaks. You want your home to be energy efficient; in fact, this is the key to proper home energy management. When warm air is getting out and cool air is sneaking in, it takes more energy to heat your home. This means higher utility bills along with an inconsistent environment in your home.

Outside the Home

If you have any water lines or pipes outside, make sure that when it gets really cold, that you have them completely wrapped in order to prevent freezing. If a pipe does burst, you could be looking at an enormous water bill, the cost of fixing the pipe and the damage to your backyard. Unsecured loans could be required when you owe this much money in such a short amount of time.

Plants are often ruined during the winter. If the freeze hits and they aren’t protected, it could be the end. In most cases you can wrap them up with a blanket or sheet to prevent freezing. Having several sheets readily available can make it easy to cover plants if a last minute weather warning comes through.

As you look around the yard and the shed or even inside the garage, you may have tools and items that are sensitive to cooler temperatures. While you don’t expect the water, snow, or sleet to make it into the shed or garage if a storm hits, this is a possibility.

Make sure that everything you need that has the potential for damage is brought inside. With warmer weather, you may have just left things outside without worry, but as winter approaches, you don’t want to risk it.

Avoid unsecured loans and make it a point to prepare your home this winter. With a small investment of time (and maybe even money) you can avoid some of the common problems and issues that people face when the temperature drops.

Most of these tips can be applied to business energy management as well. Once these basic things are handled and you are prepared, you can sit back and enjoy the change of weather and the holiday season.

photo by Pixomar

Pay For Spray: Firefighters Let Another House Burn Down Over $75

Khaleef Crumbley — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:59:29 +0000

Pay For Spray: Firefighters Let Another House Burn Down Over $75 is a post from: Faithful With A Few. If you enjoy it, please subscribe to the Feed.

Some of you may remember the story about firefighters allowing a house to burn and pets die over $75 last year. Well, the pay for spray policy strikes again. It happened once again with the South Fulton, Tennessee fire department.

Another homeowner was forced to watch their house, and many possessions, burn to the ground, all because they didn’t pay the $75 “pay for spray” fee (known as a “fire subscription fee”). And, according to reports by WPSD, firefighters were right there watching as well.

Were The Firefighters Wrong?

The point of this article isn’t really to debate the actions of the firefighters in this particular case, but if you want to know my opinion, you have to read what the article revealed about Vicky Bell (the homeowner) first…

Bell and her boyfriend admitted they were aware but thought this would never happen to them.

They knew what the policy of the South Fulton fire department was, but they choose to ignore the fire subscription fee and simply take their chances. Now that their terrible gamble has come back to hurt them, they want the rules to be ignored and everyone to feel sorry for them.

I have sympathy for them because I know what it is like to make a horrible decision and live to regret it. However, they have no right to blame anyone else for their circumstance. They intentionally ignored the fee, and now they have to deal with the consequences. This is similar to the recent phenomenon of elderly foreclosure “victims” (although, sometimes even Bank of America foreclosures go wrong).

The Need For A Pay For Spray Policy

Since some of the rural areas in Obion County are too small to be able to support a fire department of their own, the city of South Fulton is kind enough to make their firefighters available to them. Instead of the residents seeing an increase in their property taxes, they are simply asked to pay an annual fire subscription fee of $75.

This way, they are helping to offset some of the operating costs of the fire department – especially since they now have the added responsibilities that come from servicing other areas. If someone doesn’t want to pay to support the fire department, then they don’t have to.

They mayor of South Fulton, David Crocker, stated that if they do not collect the fire subscription fees, then they can’t survive. He also noted that if they make exceptions to this rule, no one will ever pay the fee.

The Moral Dilemma With Pay For Spray

If a homeowner doesn’t pay the fee (whether by choice or if they forgot), then they are not able to access the services of the fire department for that year.

It is quite common for the residents of a rural community to pay a fee to the fire department of a nearby city, in order to secure their services.

As with the case of Gene Cranick in 2010 (the article I linked to above), the firefighters were simply following the rules and obeying orders. I’m sure that it was extremely difficult for them to fight their natural instincts and training, in order to properly carry out their duties.

The moral dilemma is simply the fact that they had to stand by and watch a home burn to the ground. They were not able to help by putting out the fire, or even trying to save some of the home owner’s possessions.

Every time someone who didn’t pay the fee suffers loss from a fire – and the fire department didn’t help them – there is a public outcry. Many people talk about how immoral and despicable the firefighters were, and declare that they should have helped the people despite their refusal to pay the fee when it was due.

A debate naturally ensues, between those who feel that the homeowner shouldn’t expect to get a service that he refused to pay for, and those who feel that the firefighters should have risked their jobs and lives no matter what!

I can see both sides of the argument, but I think there is something else which must be considered first.

Pay For Spray And Insurance

Here is what I wrote last year when making this comparison:

This is no different than insurance: You pay a fee (premium) for protection from a future event that may or may not happen. If the event happens, you’re covered; if it doesn’t, you don’t get your money back. No insurance company will let you wait until your house burns down to take out a policy! You must have the coverage BEFORE the incident.

Since Vicky Bell (the homeowner), decided not to take out a policy, she wasn’t eligible to file a claim [on the service] when she faced an emergency! I can’t get into a car accident without insurance, but then expect an insurance company to provide me with their service during an accident (even if I tell them that I’ll pay on the spot)! There are smarter ways to save money on car insurance.

You can’t have people decide not to pay, but be given the option to pay the fee at the time of an accident. As, Mayor David Crocker stated, doing this will remove the incentive for people to pay beforehand. This would ultimately lead to the fire department not receiving enough funds to cover the additional operating expenses associated with adding new towns to their responsibilities (unless there happens to be an abundance of fires in the rural communities).

Whether it’s home contents insurance, natural disaster insurance, hurricane preparedness, or any other consumer insurance information or coverage you can think of; you need to ensure that you are prepared for the worst (even if you plan to use an emergency fund to cover damages) at all times. Having regrets and trying to pass the blame won’t help you get through a disaster!

I think we can find a way to satisfy the insurance element of it being optional, as well as the moral dilemma that comes when “uninsured” homeowners are in danger of losing their homes.

How To Fix Pay For Spray

Treat it like other emergency services. There are two emergency situations which immediately come to mind. Health problems dealt with in the emergency room of a hospital, and roadside assistance.

The great thing about both health insurance, and roadside assistance is that they greatly reduce (and in some cases eliminate) the costs associated with the emergency service. In both of these cases, you are not required to buy insurance ahead of time (this maintains the “optional” quality of the pay for spray fee).

However, if you need emergency treatment or to have your car towed, you can still access the service, but you will be charged the full cost!

The same can be done with the pay to spray fee. Give homeowners the option of paying the $75 premium at the beginning of the year. If they choose to pay it, then they will be covered for the full cost of the fire department services they consume during that year. If they don’t consume any, they don’t get their money back; as is the case now.

If someone who chooses to forgo coverage has their home catch on fire, they can still receive the service, but they will be charged the full cost! I am not sure what it costs to send a team of firefighters with trucks and expensive equipment to put out a fire, but I’m sure it’s a lot more than $75.

This way, we will never have a case where firefighters watch as a house burns to the ground. Also, most homeowners will choose to pay $75 each year for a service they most likely will not use, rather than pay thousands or tens of thousands of dollars when they actually need it.

Before the firefighters put out the fire of someone who refused coverage, that homeowner would have to agree to it. If someone doesn’t want to pay all of that money, they can choose to let their home burn to the ground.

There are probably two objections to this stipulation:

What If A Neighbor’s House Is In Jeopardy?

If there is a chance that the fire will spread to a neighbor’s home, then it must be put out, no matter what the desire of the uninsured homeowner is. They will then be billed for the full cost.

We have to make sure that one uninsured homeowner doesn’t cause a financial burden for his neighbors. This is why many states require car owners to have at least liability coverage on their vehicles.

What If The Homeowner Isn’t Home?

If the uninsured homeowner isn’t home and their house catches on fire, the fire department will automatically put it out. This will guard against it spreading while they are waiting for them to come home. Also, this is necessary to ensure that there are no unresponsive people trapped inside.

If someone was unconscious and in the middle of the road, they would immediately be rushed to an emergency room. No one would sit around and wait for them to wake up so they could be asked if they want to go, and if they agree to pay whatever the costs are.

We would do the same thing for an uninsured home that caught on fire. Err on the side of caution and take care of the emergency, even when it’s not 100% clear if the person actually wants help.

How Would The Fire Department Guarantee Payment?

This would be handled as any other unpaid debt. First, it would how up as a negative record on their credit report. Then, the fire department would simply put a lien against the house, for the amount of the debt as well as any debt-collection costs.

Think about what would happen. If he wasn’t willing to pay for the service – meaning that he was willing to lose his house and have it burn down – then he would just lose his house to the fire department instead of to the fire.

Most likely, they would have some level of insurance on their home. It can be mandated that the fire department receive their payout directly from the insurance award, unless other arrangements are made ahead of time.

On the other hand, if he actually wanted to have his house saved, he would be willing to work out a payment plan with the fire company. Then none of the debt collection measures would need to take place.

Having these procedures in place would encourage most of the residents to agree to the $75 fee (or insurance premium), since they understand the consequences. It would also ensure that no one who wanted or needed emergency services would be deprived of them, even if they don’t initially buy the coverage.

It also allows the fire department to be able to receive enough money to extend their area of service, and be fully reimbursed when they have to provide their services to someone who chose not to contract with them.

photo by dvs

What Do You Think?

Do you think the firefighters were wrong for not ignoring the regulations and their orders?
Should the homeowner(s) be held fully responsible for this loss?
What do you think about this proposed solution to the pay for spray policy?
Do you live in a town that has to contract with another city for emergency services? If so, has this ever happened?

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