Hope for your financial life and beyond

My Fight Against Bandwagon Consumer Syndrome

medical injectionDo you suffer from constant cravings or restlessness? Easily excitable…prone to follow the crowd…worried about being left out? Can you become quickly dissatisfied with your possessions?

Do you have an uncontrollable desire to buy what everyone else is buying? Is your time being spent in the activities of the masses just to feel connected and valued?

If any of the above descriptions sound familiar, you may have contracted BCS – Bandwagon Consumer Syndrome. Seek help immediately.

BCS is a condition that affects millions of people worldwide (note: statistic estimated, not actually calculated). It’s the tendency to spend excessive amounts of money or overly engage in activities that have become fashionable within culture. If not treated, it can sabotage budgets, wreck financial futures, waste time and ruin relationships.

Total immunity to this syndrome is rare, as anyone can develop a moment of weakness. However, with the proper medication you can ward off occurrences and resist the onset of BCS 90% of the time (non-calculated statistic #2).

My Personal Fight Against BCS

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An Unintentional Coke Zero Detox

Coke ZeroThe other day, after a rugged morning of shopping with three of my kids, I treated them to lunch at Atlanta Bread Company. Peanut butter and jelly kids meals for them; hot pastrami on rye with spicy mustard for me. And of course, drinks and chips all the way around.

At the drink dispensers, there were multiple drinks that I would consider health(ier) options: water, light lemonade, light pomegranate lemonade, regular unsweet tea and unsweet green tea. I went with another option – Coke Zero. At least it doesn’t have sugar in it.

I love Coke Zero! Have been drinking it for years (maybe one or two a week – nothing outlandish). Regular. Vanilla. Cherry flavor. Doesn’t matter. I even got turned on to Sprite Zero in the process.

But something odd happened when I sat down at the table and took the first cool sip.

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I’m Saving Thousands in 60 Seconds or Less

60 seconds or lessPersonal finance bloggers love to help people develop sound money habits that will yield positive results if consistently applied over time. Many of these habits are hard to develop especially when they require great amounts of sacrifice. It took me a long time to realize I had issues with spending and an even greater length of time to bring that habit under control.

But success with finances doesn’t have to be difficult or take years of intense work learning how to budget or invest properly. In fact, there are some simple, everyday activities that take 60 seconds or less that could greatly impact a person’s future financial well-being. These require only minor preparation and even less time to execute.

Four 60 Seconds or Less Activities

Here are the four, everyday money-saving activities I’m doing right now that take me 60 seconds or less to accomplish:

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