economics-times

Almost all personal finance books tell you to eliminate your credit card debt . . . and to start by paying off the amount with the largest interest rate. Then, they almost all tell you to switch balances to take advantage of 6 month low, "teaser" rates from new card companies. Others go on to encourage you to save money in other ways, such as by refinancing your house, cutting up your credit cards, holding yard sales and carrying your lunch. One Paycheck at a Time has all of that advice, too. What makes this book different is that the advice is structured around a process for measuring, tracking and reducing your expenses. The center point of this material is a form that is applied to each paycheck that the reader receives each year.

In the beginning, you have to do a lot of work to get started. But if you hired a financial advisor, you would have to do the same work (or pay a lot of money to have the financial advisor do it for you). So the work is necessary. You set up a budget for each item you have to regularly spend money on, and then keep the remainder of each paycheck in cash to meet other routine expenses and to generate savings for rainy day items.

The system is one remarkably like the one that my parents used successfully for many years. For most of those years, they did not have a checking account. They would go to the supermarket to cash Dad's paycheck, buy some groceries, and keep the rest in cash which they allocated to different envelopes for different purposes. They kept track of what occasional expenses were likely to be (such as the annual car insurance premium) and saved the amounts needed in advance, one paycheck at a time. If you keep that concept in mind, you'll have the essence of this book.

The book assumes that you get paid twice a month (although you can calculate the amounts easily for a monthly paycheck), and takes you through 24 pay periods. In each pay period, there are extra little lessons on how to save or earn more.

Unlike most of these books where the author is a multimillionaire financial planner who has an accountant to do all of this nitty-gritty for them, Ms. Griffiths is a woman whose divorce left her at age 22 with $25,000 in credit card debt piled up by a gambling husband. It took her 15 years to eliminate that debt . . . and she has created this system to help you get faster results than she did. So she's been there . . . and done that. Despite that experience she doesn't personalize the story very much. This is a personal finance book rather than an autobiography.

If you are terrible with numbers, you will probably have to get someone to help you. Be sure to get a calculator to help you add up lots of numbers and later divide them.

After you've been using this system for 3 or 4 months, it shouldn't take long to apply it. One of the strengths of the approach is that it encourages you to see what you are spending. Seeing the details will probably help you identify lots of ways to save.

If you are looking for advanced tips on saving money, I didn't find any here that I didn't know about already (and I already use many of them). So I think the tips (beyond the system) will be new mostly to young people and to those who have not read other personal finance books . . . or simply haven't thought much about money management.

The book is thin and a quick read. If you actually apply it, you will be only reading a few pages during each pay period. So if you like to keep it simple . . . and want to system to provide some discipline, I think One Paycheck at a Time is a winner for you.

If you decide to read and use the book, I do recommend that you supplement it for investment advice as your debt drops and you have money to invest in areas other than company pension plans.

While the world is stuck on paying bills by the month, "One Paycheck at a Time" is providing an effective alternative, managing your money paycheck to paycheck.

Kimberly Griffiths, the author, is challenging you to look at your money differently and not be sucked in to allowing your creditors to dictate the terms of how you pay your bills. She shows you in great detail how this method can and will provide you with a better understanding of your complete financial picture with debt reduction and eventual elimination as the goal.

What really caught my eye was the enormous amount of money saving strategies found in this book. Each section provides you with tips, tricks and ideas on how to make managing your money a lot simpler and much more organized.

"One Paycheck at a Time" is not just for those experiencing money problems. I would highly recommend it to anyone that is looking for a better way to reduce their debt and get a handle on their finances.

Terry Rigg
Budget Stretcher

As someone reeling from both college graduation and divorce in the same month, this was just the book I needed to get my finances under control. The friendly step by step style offers both humor (if you have to- put your credit card in a bowl of water in the freezer!) and candor (now that Card #1 is paid off, cancel it!) while explaining how to be free of debt and create savings.

This book has been edited skillfully. It contains highly readable articles and essays, especially on population issues.

As one of those whose writing is included in this anthology, I must say that I feel very proud indeed. My partisanship aside, I speak as a veteran journalist and author: this is a must-read work of journalism--especially for young journalists and general audiences.

I have always found The Earth Times to be a wonderful newspaper covering such critical issues as population, the environment and sustainable human development. This book now gathers together some of the finest articles that have appeared in the newspaper over the last decade. It is highly recommended reading for diplomats, policymakers, students, teachers--everyone who has a stake in the way we live and how our common future is being shaped.

In Life Matters: Creating a Dynamic Balance of Work, Family, Time, and Money, Rebecca and Roger have linked the resources of time and money. The connections are so self-evident that I am surprised it hasn't been done before. In the case of both resources, we can have a consumption or an investment paradigm. The first leads to being overextended and having no margin in our lives, the latter to freedom. Life Matters is full of practical advice on how to break the downward consumption spiral.

Two years ago I attended a seminar where Roger Merrill spoke on some of the ideas in this book. After that day, I began to shift my thinking. For years I had wanted to live on the Upper West Side in New York City. The question I had been asking myself was, "Would I rather live on the Upper West Side or in a 'boring' neighborhood in Queens"? Well, the Upper West Side won hands down. My husband resisted, saying the higher expenses would be a trap and would virtually chain us to our high-paying, high-pressure jobs. Still, I liked the fancy neighborhood. (Life Matters points out how most spouses have different views on money matters). After listening to Roger I began to ask the question differently. "Would I rather have an apartment on the Upper West Side or freedom"?

By staying in our non-flashy neighborhood, we have been able to make some terrific changes in our lives. My husband quit his job to study cooking and music. I have reduced my time on the road and am now writing a book. If the price of freedom is giving up a little flash, I'm persuaded. Maybe Life Matters will persuade you too.

For readers committed to lifelong learning, this book is a must. The seven components or chapters, encourage readers to question and to challenge their traditional understanding of these so-called "matters" in order to design a sense of overall well being and purpose. Money can often be traced to the origin of discord in people's lives - The Merrill's chapter on Money Matters is about the best I have seen.

Congratulations to the authors! They had written an excellent, practical, and realistic book on Life Balancing.Probably the best book on life leadership since 7 Habits and First Things First (actually even better than "F£ÔF", since the writing style and selection of ancedotes and examples are even more mature and veteran).

Congratulations to the readers! We have a chance to read an excellent book on personal/family development, well presented in the 7 Habits/Covey's tradition, but in a less wordy, theoretical, and jargons-filled way.

Both authors are very sincere, writing and sharing usefulideas
from their hearts. They talked about Money Matrix, See Do Get Model, and many useful skillsets for balancing.

They didn't just repeat old ideas from First Things First. Instead, they injected a lot of new ideas and useful wisdoms about life into the book. Very unlike Stephen R. Covey, who is very idle in using new materials and new ideas in his so called new books. He is just so repetitive and wordy sometimes that readers can be turned off by his lack of inventiveness in terms of both form and substance in his new books.

Of course, Life Matters also has its weaknesses . It deals with Work, Family, Time, Money, and Wisdom Literature on Life Balancing. But it didn't mention the word, Health in the book even once, or didn't even mention the importance of Spirituality, by which both are essential elements in human life.

Since health is wealth, there will be no Work, Family, Time, Money, Wisdom, or Spirituality, when people fail to prioritize Health in their life.

In an overall sense, this is a great book that I cannot put down. If more personal development books can be written with Life Matter's type of quality, the readers will benefit-- the society will ultimately be benefited.

My sincere thanks and salute to the authors! This book will be a Mega best-seller, just like 7 Habits or First Things First...
Just wait and see!

Several yours ago i saw the tail end of a commercial that changed my life in about 30 seconds. i would like to know if anyone has or knows how i could get the audio books. please let me know any info you may have....thx dave

Everything Rita does is first class and simply awesome! Amazon... you ought to ask Rita about her newest addition of "Making Time, Making Money in Network Marketing". The tapes are brand new and they are fabulous!

Rita gave a speech on time management at a home economics convention in Kansas City when I was a college senior at Kansas State University. I can't tell you how many times I've turned to her book, Making Time, Making Money, to get her advice on a topic in my life. Delegation is a huge issue that she shared. I've always wondered what happened to her wanted MORE of her work. It was a pleasure to find this site today!!

Work Less, Make More is a profoundly useful book. It's filled with strategies for making each working hour a jewel. A core principle is Do What You Do Best -- define your brilliance and build around it. Another one of her strategies has been a lifesaver for me -- divide your life into Focus Days (for just your highest-payoff activities), Support Days (for the chores), and Free Days (for family, friends, hobbies,and relaxation). Work Less, Make More is easy to read , yet challenging and rewarding to put into practice.

I found Jennifer White's book to be excellent. Although she makes the point that "making more" is about a lot more than just money, I found her philosophy very helpful in regards to the way I have been thinking about earning money. Specifically, I'd been using a "work more, make more" mentality. Jennifer's helped me realize that earning more is about exchanging value for money, rather than time for money. I highly recommend this book to other readers.

Jennifer's book is an eye opener to anyone that wants to make a difference in their life. She is witty, challenging, and intelligent. She requests you to think about the things you've been afraid of. She teaches you how to take appropriate risks along your journey of Working Less and Making More. She understands that within each one of us there is a burning desire to have more, do more, and be more in our lives! It's a great read. I highly recommend it to anyone who may be searching for the simple answers to life's big challenges.

I have heard this advice before: If you want to be successful
at something, find the most successful person you can in that area, listen to what they say, and try to follow it. Well, its hard to imagine a football coach more sucessful than Mike Shanahan. Here's a guy who started with a dream: to be a head football coach, started as an unpaid volunteer for a college team, and worked his way to be one of the best, most respected, coaches in the NFL (winning 2 consecutive Superbowls) at a young age.

The great thing is, he has written a book that is designed to help people win beyond football, in any area of life. Shanahan breaks it down for you: the way he prepares, some struggles he's had, some ways he motivates people (including the little things that we learn are so critical), very good wisdom concerning life, and a lot more. Also very critical is the fact that this book is very easy to read and understand.

You even get a bonus section in each chapter written by some of the greatest people and minds in football: Paul Tagliabue, Jerry Rice, Bill Walsh, John Elway, Deion Sanders, Steve Young, George Seifert, Joe Montana, Marcus Allen, Al Michaels, and more. They give their own take on the subject being discussed in the chapter, which is not only informative, but like the book itself, filled with wisdom.

The chapters consist of 16 basic areas to focus on to become successful, things like: Preparing (all of life is preparation, and not preparing is preparing to fail), Sacrificing (don't expect to get anything good done without sacrifice, if it was easy, everyone would do it), Learning (without learning, you will be hopelessly stuck where you are), Detailing (the devil is definitely in the details and that's where things often break down). This is just a taste of the wisdom in this book. Highly recommended for people looking to improve themselves.

A die-hard Broncos fan from the days dying watching those ridiculous striped socks and watching Fran Tripuka get killed, what a job Shanahan did turning it around into two Super Bowls in a row.

Learning of his background and his principles makes me now not only a more avid Bronco fan, but also a Shanahan fan as well. His perseverance from the days of his kidney injury to how he became part of Sooner coaching staff till today is truly one of principles of success through hard work, not gifts or who you know or any of the other myths most people who never get anywhere fall for and are unmotivated. Most of them just don't ever want to work hard at anything, but have it handed to them. Shanahan disproves all that bunk and shows how it came to be. Unbelievable that when given the Raiders head-job, didn't even have the downpayment for a house.

This guy is very endearing to so many of us who never had the backgrounds for those connections, but wanting something bad enough, and always believing it, achieve it one goal at a time.

Great advice, especially appreciate his concern for balance.

Excellent read. Thanks, Mike, from a new fan and admirer.

Straight-forward, crisply articulated and with practically no unnecessary fluff, Mike Shanahan's book, "Think Like a Champion," compellingly argues that the game of life is basically won or lost before the "players" take the field. Shanahan asserts his point of view over sixteen easy-to-digest chapters (each about ten pages or less) on the diffent tenets of becoming the best at what you do.

What I liked about this book is that while the author culls specific examples from his football career, the "moral of the story" is clearly applicable to ANYONE seeking to become the best in any endeavor. Offering an excellent, enjoyable read to both sports enthusiasts and non enthusiasts alike, the author's writing style is to neither excessively arm-wave nor make unsupported generalizations.

In fact, part of the Shanahan's credibility here is in his willingness to name names when providing examples of people living up to a credo espoused in a given chapter or more dramatically, falling short.

Written with humility, Shanahan's book leaves the reader feeling that there is nothing magical to becoming a huge success -- other than having a plan and putting in the blood, sweat and tears required to make that plan a success. Or as the author concludes, citing legendary coach Vince Lobardi, "Your quality of life is in direct proportion to your commitment to excellence." So true.

Like having a good friend at hand. This articulate, experienced, account travels with me whenever I go to contemplate. For career-changers, mid-lifers, artists, looking for new dimensions, just looking for a breath of fresh air seekers! This single text could replace the entire self-help section! Well worth the time and a place you will re-visit again and again.

Filled with quotes from her personal journal and splashes of lavender, this book is truly marvelous! Tama tackles head-on the "yes, buts...", "the I can't becauses...", and the other typical blocks to making successful life transitions. I found familiarity in her words, both my own and those of clients. Leave a job without a plan? Yes, proclaims the author, how else are you going to have the energy to follow your path if you are exhausted just getting through the workday? "You will engage the totality of your intelligence to find a means to succeed instead of to tally up and analyze the many ways you could fail."

Unlike other books I've read on the subject of:" finding and doing the work you love", this one encourages the reader to simply trust their inspired yearnings and yield to their inner knowing. Rather than follow a step-by-step process (like so many self help books recommend) Tama suggests you allow yourself time to let the path unfold before you. "..we only tend to find our mission once we take an intermission from the work life that doesn't work." As one who took an "intermission" to pursue my dreams, this book totally re-affirms my path. I recommend it to anyone who has felt "inklings" that there is a way to realize authentic, meaningful work.

This Time I Dance! is absolutely inspirational.

It is not a how-to, but I learned a *lot* about How To. I thought I had read all there was to read about how to do what I love for a living and earn what I deserve and live long and prosper. I have read maybe 25 books or more on the subject.

Tama simply tells her own story in a way that inspires me to live *my* story. Listening to her story makes me feel that I can do this, too. It was obviously written with much love and caring.

I thought this was a wonderful book. Unfortunately, you really need a coach to get with the program - my copy is now mired in the mess of my bookcase and papers.

If you really need this book, then do yourself a favor and hire a professional organizer for a couple of sessions to get you going.

With low expectations, I checked this book out from my library. I have read extensively on organization. This book is very worthwhile. I ended up buying it.
It had suggestions for organization that no other book has ever touched on.
The most useful suggestion was to decide how much of "one thing" it is reasonable to keep. For example, is half the garage full of empty boxes--- too many? For most people, yes. Then you go to what is the best amount to keep--- for you. Also if you assess your space, you might revise how much is reasonable and so on. Smart.

I've been chronically disorganized for my whole life. Clutter just seems to perpetuate like a cloud of dust everywhere I go. I've tried filing systems, organizational tools, but nothing worked. Until now.

After reading this book, which describes several case studies of chronically disorganized people, I discovered how to live with my chronic disorganization. I implemented a couple of novel ideas, and already crystals of organization are forming in my life, for the first time.

Particularly helpful to me was the section on time management: Datebooks never worked for me. I now use the "Panel System" described in this book, which is so far, so good. I also liked the 'Paper Police', how manage out-of-control collections of things, alternate filing systems, and how to attack severely disorganized areas in different ways.

The chronic aspect to this book is comforting as it describes me so well. So often organization efforts dwindle and die. Since filing daily is impossible for me, I now have several cubbies on the wall into which I throw papers and receipts (my version of the 'vertical filing' discussed in the book).

If you just cannot keep your home or office organized, much to the frustration of yourself and others, this book may have insight that will help you. It sure helped me!

As I read this book I felt like I was along on Tama Kieve's journey. Her book is like a "permission slip" which allows the ability to get off the crowded, usual path and onto the extraordinary path... the different, less traveled way AND the way back to our true selves.

Especially heart warming is the truthfulness of the writing.

Just because Kieves is a "Harvard Lawyer" doesn't mean this whole process was a piece of cake... not at all! Her doubts, her fears, her wonderings, musings and continuings are similar to the ones I have felt as I have traveled my "unconventional path."

As you seek your perfectly unique, beautiful -- and perhaps unconventional path -- you will, like me, laugh in recognition and delight to hear of the first Creative Writing class where Tama writes in amazement, "She had plumbing and plumbing problems! Then she yawned, revealing silver fillings. As if all that weren't enough, I happened to notice that a part of her hem hung longer than the rest of her denim, made-in- America, made-on-my-planet, skirt." followed by her HUGE a-ha "This writing guru was an ordinary woman!"

This book is wise, hilarious, inspiring, thought evoking and much much more than can be put into words.

Kieves chooses her words with artful thought. She literally seems to have lodged herself in my thoughts regularly. I know it is a book I will return to repeatedly.

Read this one now. You won't be disappointed.

Sometimes we all need a voice of reason, a voice of direction, but also the "you CAN do it voice," Tama's book provides this voice. An excellent read.

Tama's book is a "must read" for anyone in career transition because it comes from her heart and is so indicative of what so many women go through in career transition. I am a career coach and educator and use her book with clients and students. In the classroom, I am using some of the exercises she used in the book, and having students answer poignant questions arising from their reading.

This book is different than most books written about career transition because it speaks to the heart of the issues -- the fears, the ups and downs, the negative and positive emotions, and the courage to do exactly what you always wanted to do. It challenges people to find their way, with the help of someone who has done it.

I work with women over 40 in my coaching practice, and they find that the book "gives them permission" to pursue goals they have kept hidden while they were raising families. Now, they are able to strike out on their true dreams because they've found a kindred spirit.

I recommend this book highly to anyone, but particularly to those in transition.

This book should be the foundation of everyone's work-at-home resource library. My wife bought it for me so that I could understand the true "ins and outs" of what's involved in working from home with kids under foot. (My wife has been telecommuting from home on a part-time basis for about two years, and I must admit, I've been less than supportive.) Recently, I decided to make the plunge to start a home business and take on a good portion of the child care responsibilities. We searched high and low for resources that could help. "The Work at Home Balancing Act" was the *only* book we found that addresses ALL the issues and challenges of working at home from both a MALE and FEMALE perspective. It's been our lifesaver because we can both relate to it, and it teaches us how to communicate about complicated issues that arise when you work from home. It's written in a reader-friendly style with great quotes and stories from men and women--very realistic and motivational. Lots of nuts and bolts strategies--everything you need to know to set up and run a successful home business or telecommuting arrangement, and then some!

Dr. Anderson's extensive research interviewing work-at-home parents is a must for anyone with children and the desire to work from home. You get tried and true, both common sense and creative, ideas from the many parents who have "been there, done that" and know what works for dealing with children of all ages. It also has an excellent chapter on issues for couples. You will find yourself among kindred spirits. Easy to read, encouraging and engaging, this book is excellent! Barrie Jaeger, Ph.D.

Sandy Anderson addresses the key issues facing people who want to work at home or are currently engaged in enterprise at home. For those looking for a home career, Anderson's chapter on choosing the right business is very informative and guides people through the most difficult part of starting a business-"choosing the right one for yourself." Plus, her insights on managing a household along with a home business are worth re-reading several times. Finally, Anderson's interviews with many different types of homeworkers gives the reader a great insight into the TRUE benefits and challenges of working at home. Tina Egge Family@Work Editor, Work@Home Magazine