Getting Out of Debt: Rule# 5

"Don't use a basket to hold your water."

In short, manage your money well.

As a little boy, one of my favorite pastime was to play with marbles with my neighborhood buddies. What we did was to dig five holes, each hole was small enough for a marble to fit in. Then we took turn tossing a marble into the direction of the holes. The one who could make his marble fall into one of the five holes was declared the winner, and as one song says, "...the winner takes it all." (At least one marble from each losing players.)

For a while my days were filled with fun. Because I was fairly good at it.

But then a new family arrived in our neighborhood tugging along a boy by the name Rico (not his real name).

One afternoon, I saw Rico playing marbles with my old buddies. With a plastic bag full of marbles in one hand, I confidently challenged him. We played the whole afternoon. By the time I decided to quit, I had only a few marbles left. (I cut my losses, but it was a little too late.)

Each step I took my heart sank a little deeper as I graved the loss of my treasures; I had played hard to collect those. I couldn't believe I lost them. The sight of Rico bouncing on his way home, a plastic bag bulging with marbles dangling in his hand, made me feel more miserable. As one song says, "...it (she) used be mine, oh mine."

Don't put your confidence on your money! Simply because you are sitting on a stack of cash doesn't mean that there is no chance on earth that you would sit on the dirt again. If you spend you cash with your eyes closed then I won't be surprised that the thousands (or millions) you have today will be gone soon.

Mismanaging your finances is like putting water on a basket. No matter how many barrels you pour in, it won't hold. So maybe the solution to your financial problem today is a new way to manage your finances. I couldn't imagine my life today if I didn't put in place a system that would help me manage my finances. I'm sure it saved me from a lot of unnecessary headache.

In my next posts, I will share with you little by little my system. If you are in financial trouble, then consider it my way of helping you. It's simple; it's not really revolutionary, but it keeps me and my family floating so far. And yes, I do have of bills coming each month just like you.